T209 Website launch

[Michael Peich]

Dear All--

I am pleased to announce, on Opening Day 2014, that my new website is ready for your viewing pleasure.

http://T209-contentnea.com

Some highlights of the site include:
• Photo gallery of individual player cards
• Photo gallery of T209-II cards organized by team
• Image gallery of the Erwin-Nadal T209-II card album
• Revised versions of the Old Cardboard articles on T209 with significantly updated information
• Gallery of shared poses of T209-II and T210
• Fred Stoehr letters written while he pitched in the southern leagues 1908-1910. Fred appears on a T209-II card.

I think you’ll enjoy viewing the images, especially of T209 and T210 cards, but also reading the revised versions of the T209 articles that Tim Newcomb and I wrote. The new information clarifies some important facts regarding the set.

Of particular interest are the Fred Stoehr letters. I have had time to upload only two of them, but more will be added in the coming weeks. They are a first-hand treasure trove of what it was like playing in the southern minor leagues from 1908-1910.

So, click on the link and enjoy navigating the website. And I am always anxious to receive constructive and helpful feedback to make the site accurate and informative.

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Mike

[the 'stache]

Very nice site, Michael. Bookmarked.

Does the set focus exclusively on Southern League players?

[Jason]

I just took a quick glance at the site.Michael that is a great looking website and I look forward to checking the whole thing out this afternoon after work. T209's are a awesome issue of cards.

[sb1]

Mike,

Nice work!

On the panels, I believe the unknown player on panel one may be Beusse spelled incorrectly. The unknown player on panel two is Kite.

Also if you recall the second panel has some block text at the very bottom cut off, unfortunately not enough to make out what it says. I believe these pieces were part of a store/counter display.

Scott

[kkkkandp]

Very nice looking and interesting site!

[Michael Peich]

Scott,

Thank you for your kind words.

Yes, I agree on Beusse and Kite as the other players on the panels. I had come to the same conclusion, but in my haste to launch the site on Opening Day I forgot to note those clarifications in the narrative! I'll do so later today.

I'm not as certain about the panels as advertising. I originally thought they were advertising pieces, as Tim and I noted in our Old Cardboard essay on T209-I. But the more I became aware of the photos and the way they were taken, proof sheets made more sense to me.

That being said, maybe the website will help uncover some new information that will clarify the panels' origin. Stay tuned!

Cheers,
Mike

[sb1]

Mike,

I am fairly sure these were originally part of a larger piece and cut apart, but do not match on the cuts, I think there may have been more to it. Perhaps photo or maybe only text?? I doubt we will ever know lest an intact one surfaces. I think the stock is much too heavy to have been any type of printing process example, but a finished display or advertising piece.

Scott

[shernan30]

Nice site. Can't wait to read through it to learn a little more about the set.

[RGold]

Mike, very nice website. You may want to check how the site appears for iPad users.

[frankbmd]

T209 Series One Pope and T206 Clancy are pictured in front of the same building in the background. Take a look

Pope is pictured in a Raleigh uniform



Clancy is pictured in a Buffalo uniform



I suspect that the Contentnea cards were produced in NYC like the T206s and that the same artist may have been responsible for the background, but........

Have we ever figured out if the building in the background really existed?

Granted the building on Pope's card has 4 little doohickeys below the roof on the left side and on Clancy's card there are only 3 little doohickeys, but the similarity of the rendition of the building is otherwise striking. Artistic License??

Clancy played briefly for the Pirates in 1905 and then exclusively for both Buffalo and Rochester until 1912.

Ashley Pope was a nineteen year old rookie in 1909 for Raleigh and never played outside the South.

It does not appear they ever played close to one another in the 1908-1910 time span or at any other time for that matter.

Just wondering as this is the first time I have looked at the Series 1 Contentnea cards.

If I'm all wet, so be it (it wont be the first time). Just thought it was worth a post. Thanks for the website Michael, which should help educate the Contentnea novices on the board.

[ethicsprof]

great work on the website.
I've appreciated your research(and Prof. Tim's) in this area of vintage
scholarship for some time now.
all the best,
barry

[ullmandds]

Very nice site, Mike!


Frank...keen observation! But are you sure they are doohickeys and not thigamabobs?

[wonkaticket]

Mike, amazing site!!!

[Vintagecatcher]

Michael,

Nicely done!

Thanks for sharing.


Patrick

[Ronnie73]

The site looks great Mike. Its not to friendly on my android phone though. Not sure if WordPress has a plugin for mobile use but they might.

[E93]

Mike,
Nice job. Thank you.
JimB

[Michael Peich]

Thanks to all of you for the many nice comments on the T209 website. I hope to have the hand-held/tablet formatting issue resolved by tomorrow.

Frank—Thank you for your very interesting observation. Like Pope the cards of Fullenwider, Hoffman and Stubbe all have a similar T206-inspired building in the background. Their photos were probably purchased from a photographer who sold images of players to cigarette manufacturers. This is most evident in the Series Two photos. Further, if you look again at the two panels of player images, one of them contains Al Orth in his T206 pose. That is part of the reason I think the panels were probably (with a nod to Scott) proof sheets. An individual manufacturer had many choices from which to choose a photo to be used on a card.

Was Pope produced by ATC? I don't think so for at least two reasons. Contentnea was an extremely small, regional cigarette manufacturer. If the cards had been produced by ATC they would most likely have been printed by American Lithographic Company in Philadelphia which, like Buck Duke and ATC, had a monopoly on card production. Because of their size, I doubt Erwin-Nadal, owners of Contentnea, used American Litho. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if ATC didn’t own the rights to “doohickeys” and their use!!

More importantly, had ATC or Am. Litho produced the cards, they would not have overlooked printing the tax stamp information required for the backs of all tobacco cards. As Tim and I pointed out in our essay on Series One, the lack of the tax stamp suggests a hastily produced set of a modest sixteen cards, probably printed locally.

Thanks again for looking!

Cheers,
Mike

[wonkaticket]

After viewing the site for the past day or so I'd like to say its just full of images and info. I have really enjoyed this site if you haven't checked it out you should. Once again solid job Mike.

Cheers,

John

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Michael Peich

...
More importantly, had ATC or Am. Litho produced the cards, they would not have overlooked printing the tax stamp information required for the backs of all tobacco cards. As Tim and I pointed out in our essay on Series One, the lack of the tax stamp suggests a hastily produced set of a modest sixteen cards, probably printed locally.

Thanks again for looking!

Cheers,
Mike

Hey Mike
With this comment are you referring to the fact that the series one didn't have printed tobacco stamp information? Some of the cards were hand stamped, as we all know. Great site and thanks again..

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Michael Peich

Frank—Thank you for your very interesting observation. Like Pope the cards of Fullenwider, Hoffman and Stubbe all have a similar T206-inspired building in the background. Their photos were probably purchased from a photographer who sold images of players to cigarette manufacturers. This is most evident in the Series Two photos. Further, if you look again at the two panels of player images, one of them contains Al Orth in his T206 pose. That is part of the reason I think the panels were probably (with a nod to Scott) proof sheets. An individual manufacturer had many choices from which to choose a photo to be used on a card.

Was Pope produced by ATC? I don't think so for at least two reasons. Contentnea was an extremely small, regional cigarette manufacturer. If the cards had been produced by ATC they would most likely have been printed by American Lithographic Company in Philadelphia which, like Buck Duke and ATC, had a monopoly on card production. Because of their size, I doubt Erwin-Nadal, owners of Contentnea, used American Litho. Besides, I wouldn’t be surprised if ATC didn’t own the rights to “doohickeys” and their use!!

More importantly, had ATC or Am. Litho produced the cards, they would not have overlooked printing the tax stamp information required for the backs of all tobacco cards. As Tim and I pointed out in our essay on Series One, the lack of the tax stamp suggests a hastily produced set of a modest sixteen cards, probably printed locally.

Thanks again for looking!

Cheers,
Mike

I really enjoy the site.

The wordpress "follow T209" ad that doesn't give any option besides following the new posts by giving an email address is both new today and really annoying. But that's probably a wordpress thing rather than yours.


The panels are interesting in a lot of ways.

I think they may be samples of what the cards would look like in black and white. They aren't actual photos, but aren't exactly proofs either. I think that maybe they were made from the original art - photos with altered backgrounds- as a specific monochrome image.

A couple points to the above.
ALC was in NYC

They were also an very large printing business. They were almost certainly not in an exclusive arrangement with ATC. But they might have turned down a small job from a competitor to a very large customer. That's assuming contentnea could be considered a competitor in any real sense.

The factory number wouldn't have been ALCs responsibility. They would have printed what the customer asked for and approved. If that number was left off they might have mentioned it but unless they were asked to add it they wouldn't.

But I also don't think ALC produced the cards.

While there's some art that's similar for the type 1s, the overall production is quite different than the ALC cards. The number of colors used and the way of screening the colors used is very different.

The similar art is an odd mix as well. The Fullenwider and Pope are very close to the T206 art. But the Hoffman is a bit awkward looking. The T206 background buildings seem deliberately blurred giving them a more mythical feel but the one on Hoffman is a very crisp portrayal that's nice but for me doesn't work as well. The one on Stubbe I think actually works better than most of the T206 buildings despite being a crisper image.

All that makes me think the panels are done from either cards, or the original art to show what a simple change to black and white would look like. And I guess they were abandoned in favor of just using a finer screen to produce unmodified images from photos.
(An expensive experiment for someone! Generating the halftones was a big part of the expense. )

It all makes me appreciate my two type IIs a lot more. (Gastmeyer and Kite, both pretty beat)

Steve B

[steve B]

Is it possible they originally intended the cards to be given out rather than as inserts? That might not have required the factory info, but would have had its own problems -like merchants not giving them out or letting people choose the one they wanted. That would have made them less effective as a promotion.

Steve B

[wolf441]

Really great site Mike!!! Thanks for the research, another great bookmark to add!!

[Michael Peich]

Steve—Thank you for the thoughtful post. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote that ALC was in Philadelphia. A “duh” moment. Mea culpa.

I agree with you that the cards were not produced by ALC. Despite being color lithos, they are a bit crudely executed by comparison with T206. I still think photographic jobbers had samples of player poses for customers to choose, and that’s what Erwin-Nadal went with, and then used their own printer to produce the cards.

I do think the cards were inserts since it was a successful business model for ATC, and Contentnea was trying to attract customers. Keep in mind that Erwin-Nadal had local competition (Wilson, NC) from Carolina Brights who were publically owned by Wells-Whitehead, but secretly owned by ATC. Erwin-Nadal would have known the ATC business model regarding cards and probably emulated it. And, as Scott Reader’s research establishes, the cards contained in brands owned by ATC created a collecting frenzy, one that E-W tried to capitalize upon.

Leon—Of course there are examples of hand-stamped backs, and thanks for displaying yours. In the essay on Series One, Tim and I hypothesize that Erwin-Nadal was working hastily to get the cards out. When they discovered the tax stamp omission, E-W quickly started stamping by hand. Fortunately for you, and others of us, it created an interesting back variation. I love the hand-stamped backs and am pleased to have a number of them in my Series One set.

Thank you for your interest and responses!

Cheers,
Mike

[sreader3]

Great site, Mike. Thank you for the effort. Scot Reader

[Michael Peich]

Folks--

The T209 website is now formatted for hand-held and tablet devices. Enjoy!

http://t209-contentnea.com

Cheers,
Mike

[JeremyW]

Great site, Mike. Your site, along with the Old Cardboard article, have put a nice spotlight on a group of cards that was long overdue.

[ValKehl]

Hi Mike,
Congrats on this very nice achievement. I look forward to when you have added biographies of the T209 players to your web site.

BTW, I checked my meager collection of 11 Virginia League T209-2s (the only ones I collect) against your T209-2 want list and discovered that I have one you are seeking - Griffin (Lynchburg). I'll email you scans of it, and if you want it, we'll find a way to get it into your collection.
Best,
Val