"Sweet Recollections"....Erik's Philadelphia Caramel story

[ErikV]

Mike brings up an interesting topic; a timeline of when Philadelphia Caramel cards were released. Specifically, the baseball and pugilist cards.

In the book this issue was difficult for me to expand upon. Some of their sets were a bit easier to decipher than others. But overall, there was a fine line between keeping a casual reader interested in the story and a collector wanting to know these interesting tidbits. It is for this reason that the following information was omitted from the final version of the book.

There is wide acceptance within the hobby (and verified in the book) that the E95s were produced (and issued) after the summer of 1909. I tend to believe the E79s were released in conjunction with the E95s. (In his post Mike lays out an excellent theory as to a general timeframe for the E79 being issued.)

As for the E96 and E80s, I believe Philadelphia Caramel began working compiling names for these sets in the fall of 1909 and the start of 1910. (I didn't save the exact date, but with the exception of the St. Louis players in the E96 set, all remaining players played on their corresponding teams until the fall of 1909.)

In the spring of 1910 boxers such as Adolph Wolgast turned pro. He fought Oscar Nelson for the Lightweight Championship on Feb. 22,1910. A card commerating this fight is listed last on the E80 checklist.

All of this seems to coorespond with Mike's and my theory that the E79/E95 are "related" as are the E80/E96 sets. This also lends some credence to the theory that the E79/E95 may have been released in the fall of 1909, possibly even into 1910. When this supply was exhausted, the follow up sets (E80/E96) has already been compiled and were then released sometime after the spring of 1910.

I'd be happy to hear other opinions or input on this subject.

[justmike]

Where can I get a copy of this book?
Mike

[toppcat]

I just finished this; it was very informative and well researched. Erik is to be commended for such a fine job on an obscure subject. I imagine the research was far flung which makes it all the more impressive. The bookmark was a real nice touch too.

Hopefully we will see other monograph type books like this in the future from a few folks here.

[Hal Kaplan]

Erik,

I got mine yesterday and I've already finished it. I was the winner of the Net54 contest. Thanks Erik for your great book! It will be an important hobby reference for many years.

I have a question about something I didn't see mentioned in the book that may relate to Philadelphia Caramel. Christopher Benjamin's book "Most Valuable Baseball Cards" (1990) shows a picture of an "E95" Cobb that was hand-cut from a cardboard Philadelphia Caramel advertising sheet printed in 1909. The advertising card is missing the black border and the name and team designation at the bottom, but has Cobb's name and team in white script at the top of the photo. Do you know anything about this advertising sheet?

[ErikV]

Hal,

Glad to hear you enjoyed the book and thank you for the kind comments.

Sorry, but I'm not familiar with Mr. Benjamin's material. If you want to
contact me offline, I'd like to learn more about his work.

Erik