Ode to Pre-War Football Cardboard

[cfhofer]

Jeff,

That is a great photo of Fats Henry! Congrats.

Mark

[cfhofer]

Here’s an uncommon photo of the 1893 Princeton Championship Football Team. This photo contains all but one (Morse) of the Princeton players featured on the 1894 Mayo Cut Plug card set.

[jefferyepayne]

Nice snag, Mark! Between this photo and the Yale album you posted a bit ago, you are on a major roll.

Congrats on picking up some fantastic items.

jeff

[cfhofer]

Jeff,

Thanks, but I’m done collecting. Or at least that is what I’ve been telling myself (and my wife) for the last five years.

Congrats again on the Henry. It looks kinda familiar :-)

Cheers.

Mark

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by cfhofer

Jeff,

Thanks, but I’m done collecting. Or at least that is what I’ve been telling myself (and my wife) for the last five years.

Congrats again on the Henry. It looks kinda familiar :-)

Cheers.

Mark

Anytime you wanna truly stop collecting and start selling, you just let me know, Mark! Fantastic stuff.

And yes, recognized the Fats Henry from our previous conversations. Happy to have him now and hope you got something awesome for him.

jeff

[jefferyepayne]

Haven't posted anything here for a bit but have four things to share.

1890 Harvard National Champs. Photo includes Marshall Newell, 4x All-American.


1898 Harvard National Champs.


1930s Old Gold Cigarettes Ad Display piece featuring Red Grange.


Not technically PRE-war but close. 1943 Ohio State ink blotter showing Coach Paul Brown and a very early image of Pro Football HOFer and early African-American Pro Bill Willis.


jeff

[Angyale]

Nice to be able to bring this thread back. Ive recently picked up this Case - Western Reserve postcard from thier Thanksgiving Day game in 1905. Ive read a few different accounts from researchers as to whether Parratt played in the game (last game of both teams seasons that year) or whether he was suspended earlier in the season by Case after it was learned he was playing for Shelby as a pro by an assumed name. Anyone here have any additional info on Parratt? Is he the QB for Case on the postcard? I can provide better scans via email. Thanks in advanced.

Angyale

[jefferyepayne]

PM me your email address and I will send you something that may clarify this, Angyale.

jeff

[999Tony]

Wow thanks for all the great posts on this thread! Just discovered and read it this morning. Congrats on all the great finds.

[cfhofer]

How was the National this year for vintage football?

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by cfhofer

How was the National this year for vintage football?

As always, lots of mainstream vintage football sets / items. I found this year to be lacking in terms of pre-war items of any significance. I picked up some stuff but most of the pre-war items came from other collectors who brought things with them ... not the dealers set up on the floor.

For me this made the show a success but can't say the items brought in by dealers were that impressive from a football perspective.

jeff

[cfhofer]

That's great Jeff. I don't go to shows anymore but what you describe was the most enjoyable part for me. There is an art to nonchalantly eyeing collectors stuff as they present material to a dealer, hoping they refuse so you can respectfully request to review further. Can't be too aggressive or you are poaching from the dealer (I've seen guys get booted from shows for this). Can't be too passive or you may miss out on a great piece.

Glad the National was a success!

[cfhofer]

Hello,

I recently created an online virtual museum dedicated to the University of Pennsylvania Football teams from 1894-98. I'll continue to add to the site over the next year but it has a bunch of vintage memorabilia, photos and articles. It is very similar to my other site dedicated to Frank Hinkey and the 1890s Yale football teams. Take a look when time permits.

www.vintagepenna.com

Cheers!

Mark

[jefferyepayne]

Fantastic site, Mark! Thank you for putting this together. I really enjoyed looking through it at all the photos and artifacts you've collected.

jeff

[34.54sportscards]

Hey everyone, going to revive this thread. Would love to see if anyone has picked anything cool up in these past 4 years. Especially you, Jeff. If this gets rolling again, I’ll have a couple of things to share.

As for me, I will post a couple of my pre-war collectibles. I also have the Red Grange Yeast foam ad. One of the coolest advertisement pieces of Grange in my opinion.



Also pictured is someone I’m sure most of you football historians would recognize as the person we can thank for the game of football today. 1901 Sweet Caporal Heroes of the Spanish War Teddy Roosevelt.



Lastly, this is a card I’m still trying to do research on. The 1932 Bulgari Sport football card. This card has to be of someone famous. The majority of the other athletes in this set are named, so I don’t think they took a picture of some random guy kicking a ball. I’ve tried image searches to hunt down who this is but it’s been all dead ends. Does anyone know of a 1920s-1930s team that wore pinstripe jerseys? If I can figure that out I think it would be possible to narrow down who this is.

[jefferyepayne]

Great items!!! I really like that Roosevelt, nice football touch.

I've never been able to determine who the football player in the 1932 Bulgarian set is. Half of me thinks this photo isn't of an American football player at all. I've never seen an American football jersey striped like that for either a college or pro team. Anybody else ever able to photo match this player?

jeff

[34.54sportscards]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

Great items!!! I really like that Roosevelt, nice football touch.

I've never been able to determine who the football player in the 1932 Bulgarian set is. Half of me thinks this photo isn't of an American football player at all. I've never seen an American football jersey striped like that for either a college or pro team. Anybody else ever able to photo match this player?

jeff

I have thought before that maybe it wasn’t a football image too. But after comparing it to rugby images, it seems pretty likely that it’s football. Maybe it’s Canadian football though? I messaged Tim Brown over at Football Archeology and this is what he had to say about the picture.

“The stripes on the chest and sleeves on jerseys were known as stickum cloth, stickem cloth and various brand names. The cloth had stickiness and was meant to reduce fumbling, but it soon became a style statement as much as a functional issue. Although the stripes in the picture are narrower than the norm, most teams at all levels wore them, so there is little to go on to identify this team or player.”