T206 Brown OLD MILL cards....are there any more than just 11 ?

[tedzan]

To date, we have confirmed 11 brown OLD MILL cards. The consensus of opinion is that these were T206 "scraps".....that were never inserted into OLD MILL cigarette packs.
So, how these got into circulation is anyone's guess. Perhaps, some kid in the Summer of 1909 found them in American Litho's trash (corner of 19th St. & Park Avenue South,
NYC). Or, perhaps these cards were carried out by a printer employed there.

A previous thread discussed the possibility of 34 Southern League (SL) cards that may be found with the brown OLD MILL backs. That info is found in this thread......
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=124105

My guess is that we may find only one more SL card with a brown OLD MILL back. I base this on my conjecture that T206's were printed on sheets formatted in 12-card rows.
These brown OLD MILL's are most likely the result of several test prints made on the 12-card strip shown here when the printers switched over from their brown HINDU press
runs; and, prior to the SL OLD MILL press runs (with black ink).

I realize that others on this forum may differ with this concept. And, that's fine with me. Anyhow, let's see if we can find more of these strange and very rare T206 SL cards.
And perhaps, my guess of only 12 will be proven wrong.




..............Bernhard......................Foster .........................Greminger................ ......Helm........................Kiernan......... .............Mullaney........................Paige .........................Reagan................... ....Revelle..........................Smith........ ...............Thornton..........................X


TED Z

[ethicsprof]

Ted,
the best i have is a few black OM SL's and a few of the brown Hindu SL's.
but i'll keep looking beyond my own collection.
Great to see your research in this arena, as always.

all the best, ole friend
barry

[tedzan]

I guess I'm going to have to fix you up with a Brown OLD MILL.

A splendiferous T206 collector, that you are, should have one of these in your set.

But, I cannot guarantee you that I'll have one any time too soon....as, I did with the DRUM card.


Best regards....good buddy.

T-Rex TED

[mkdltn]

Is it just me or is there another pattern here?

The Wagner strip, is a strip of 5 portraits, I would bet there is one missing at the end of that strip- another portrait.

The 12 you posted here, 6 portraits and 5 action poses with one missing. I would bet it is an action pose.

I am thinking based on your divisible by 6 theory that the art was originally executed in strips of 6 or blocks of 12. I posted a picture in an earlier post with 12 subjects and they were all action poses. The art between the action poses and portraits differs slightly in execution and that may be the reason they were done as sets.

My question is does this hold for other subsets that you have been talking about?

[tedzan]

Off the top of my head, two 6-card subsets come to mind.

The 6 super-prints......

Chance.........portrait
Chase...........portrait
Chase...........action
Cobb.............portrait
Evers............action
Mathewson....action

and, the six Texas Leaguers......

Bastian..........portrait
Miller.............action
Smith............portrait
Stark............action
Thebo...........action
White............action


I don't see any discernible pattern in the above 6-card subsets. I'll look into the other subsets
to see if any patterns exist.


TED Z

[ethicsprof]

many thanks for looking out for me,ole buddy.
i must say that the drum card framed alongside Jon C.'s drum pouch still catches more eyes in my office than all the other 25 or so framed pieces!!

keep the research comin'!!
best,
barry

[tedzan]

In response to this thread, I have received several emails with scans from collectors thinking they have Brown Southern League (SL) OLD MILL cards.
So far, all these scans have proven to be various shades of faded Black OLD MILL backs (as shown here in the middle scan).

A true Brown (SL) OLD MILL, unmistakedly, looks like the 3rd scan shown here. To date, all Brown OLD MILL cards that have been found are hand-cut.






Hey guys, still looking for some new Brown OLD MILL's. If you have any, please show or tell us about them ?


Thanks,

TED Z