I only have one Zeenut, but it is one of the good ones!

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

No, it has real limited value.

But to me "the good ones" are those years which make this issue stand out: the early years 1911 through 1923 (plus 1932). These years Zeenuts produced cards which were an unusual and striking design.

Unlike the OJs which had simulated backgrounds to obviously contrived action scenes, and unlike most other sets which incorporated drawn colored background representations, and still other photographic cards which had actual ballpark backdrops to the simulated action shots; these Zeenuts had no background for their action shots at all!

We often see in the recent pick ups thread examples of the various shades of dark brown offered in the earliest sets, occasionally we see the red/orange hued border to the non-existent background of the '18 set, but less often we see other examples of the light shades and plain white backgrounds.

Mine is the last issue of this initial stretch of no backgrounds. The white 1923. After this date they included actual park backgrounds until 1932 where they resumed the white background for one year.

I think the no backgrounds really make the player stand out. And this design feature is one of the reasons which this set maintains its popularity.

What do you think?

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Posted By: martindl

I think most all of the Zeenuts are stunning looking cards - whomever the art directors were had a real good sense of aesthetic appeal.

My favorites are the 1920 issue - they have the backgrounds, but very muted and good dark player images. Just wish I could find more.

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

I hadn't seen that muted background before, martindl, thank you. I guess that most of the Zeenuts Ive seen are a bit scruffy, and details like that are not always clear. But I agree, it doesn't detract at all, maybe it enhances the presentation.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

In the Old Judge days, photography required longer exposure. This is why you don't see live action images. There's no question that the Old Judges pseudo action poses can be comical.