Ever seen this 1886 baseball greeting card?

[CarltonHendricks]

9 1/4" wide x 7 1/2" tall
Has anyone ever seen this card before? I found it about 20 years ago in a box full of old paper, at the Marin City Flea, about 3 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. I probably gave a quarter for it. It appears to have a slight fold line down the center so I know it's a greeting card. But it's blank other than the images on the front. I used to use the image to copy and I'd mail it out to people as an example of the kind of bat I was looking for, as it's the quintessential 1880's bat...It's kind of a mystery to me I've never another example. It's actually a light green but didn't come thru in the photos. Below more shots

[olsport]

Hey Carlton! After looking at this piece my guess would be this is not a greeting card at all, but a blank for a scorecard. The ball club would purchase these blanks, then have there own printer design and print up there own box score area, ads, and lineups on the other open areas. Take Care!

[CarltonHendricks]

Thanks Paul...That's pretty good speculation, might be just that. But I was hoping for someone to come forward with another example. By the way, John Gennantonio says the mask is a Thayer...only one or two are known I believe....That's interesting since a Thayer would be from 1877 and this card is from 1886..

[perezfan]

That was the first thing that hit me about it... the Thayer Mask. There was one on ebay for quite a long time, up until recently (with a $5,000 min bid). I am not sure whether it sold, or if the seller simply took it off the market.

I also believe there are certainly more than 2 survivng Thayer Mask examples, although the real number could well be under 10. Cool piece!

[olsport]

I have noticed (at least for patents) that it took like 7 years later many times for the item to come out after patented. I am not sure about copywrites, but it may have taken quite a few years after copyrighted to final printing.