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T206CollectorOkay, they make the cards worth a lot less than they would with clean backs, but I think I really neat article in a vintage card magazine would be about the stuff people stamped on the backs of their baseball cards back when they were first (or maybe just recently) pulled from a cigarette pack. I have scanned a few of my favorites below.
Of particular interest is the John Anderson, Saturday Evening Post, stamp. I sent an e-mail to Dwight Lamb, Production Manager for the Saturday Evening Post and asked him about the stamp. This was his response:
In the first half of the 20th century (and maybe the end of the 19th),
magazine subscriptions were sold door-to-door and distributed weekly mostly
by "POST Boys". These were boys between the ages of about 10 to about 14 who
made a little money or earned premiums (toys, sports equipment, bikes, etc.)
for doing the distribution. There were also adults who received the copies
and passed them along to the kids. I think all were called "agents". Since
this is a tobacco card, this may have been one of the adults.
The Curtis Publishing Company (then owner of the magazine) was located in
Philadelphia until the mid-1950's. It then moved corporate to New York and
in the late 1960's to here, in Indianapolis. If the records ever existed,
they are long gone. I assume the address was probably Mr. Anderson's home.
Perhaps, the county clerk for Bath, PA could give you some history of the
address.
There are several books on the history of the Curtis Publishing Company and
The Saturday Evening Post. You should be able to find them at you local
library.
Dwight E. Lamb
Production Manager
The Saturday Evening Post
I have not gone to the county clerk for Bath, PA, but I might one day. I was wondering if anyone else had any cool/interesting back stamps that they might want to share. (Has anybody else seen the cards with photos clipped out of Spalding Guides and pasted to the backs? Seems like I've had a few over the years...)
