Identifying 1936 vs 1937 EXHIBIT 4-on-1 from one another ??

[Spartan]

HOW does SGC, PSA or anyone TRULY, ACCURATELY determine a 1936 EXHIBIT 4-on-1 card from a 1937 EXHIBIT 4-on-1 card, esp, when the 4 players and photos are ‘identical’ within the two years of issue… Example, the card with FOXX, GROVE, CRONIN, FERREL. One particular reference on the internet tries to define some reason in the text, but I do not find this to be the case when looking at 1936 and 1937 graded exhibits 4-on-1 that I own or can view on eBAY.... the rule below either is not true, or not followed by the grading companies...

1935 16 slate blue 4 on 1. Single color only.
1936 16 olive green 4 on 1. 'Ptd. IN U.S.A.'
1937 16 green, blue 4 on 1. 'Ptd. In USA'
1938 16 brown on 1. 'Made IN USA'

Of all the 1936 and 1937 exhibit 4-on-1 that I see like on Ebay labeled in SGC holders, they all seem to be “Ptd. IN U. S. A.” , no differences, so how the decision to define it as 1936 or 1937 issue I do not know. The accuracy in the registry on these two issues could be quite confused. Does anyone concur or can you give me a way to be certain the identification is extremely accurate and not arbitrary guesswork ? I don't know if this SGC graded card is truly 1937 or 1936. Thanks everyone for your considerate and knowledgeable feedback.

[smtjoy]

To answer your question it's nearly impossible to tell the difference between 36 and 37 exhibits that have the same players on them.

The only real way i can tell (and it's not 100%) is the color of each year is a little bit different. The problem is that 70 plus years of wear and fading make many look the same. I have a set of each year and if you lay them all out next to each other you can kinda see a difference between each year. The 36 have a blueish tint where as the 37 are closer to green/grey tint but its very hard to tell.

Here are two examples (first set its pretty easy to see the difference, second set both are faded and its much harder to tell if at all)-

[Spartan]

Thanks for the considerate reply. Do you believe the SGC and PSA registries are very misleading. My card should be highest graded 1937 but it may not even be a 1937 issue. The Internet details have no credibility to this point thus far. Experts. Chime in please

[Spartan]

When I receive the card I can compare it to the same one I already have for 1936. I can imagine slot of mislabeled graded cards. I have an email into SGC top 3 graders. No reply thus far. Thx people.

[smtjoy]

I would think the registries for 36 and 37 exhibits would have plenty of issues and both companies have made mistakes (I believe in my skills telling them apart much more than both grading companies). The fact is on some of the cards from each of these years we will never really know what year they were from.

Last night I looked over my sets of each and here is what I saw-

1936- 14 of my cards are easily recognizable as 36 with 2 faded that its hard to tell the year (one is the NY AL I posted above)

1937- 13 of my cards are easily recognizable as 37 with 3 faded that its hard to tell the year (one is the NY AL I posted above)

That means over 80% of each year I am sure on the year but means 20% that if the players are the same I would not be able to tell them apart.

I just feel its one of the quirks of collecting exhibits.

Just from the scan shown imo yours looks like a 1937.

[leftygrove10]

Scott and I had a conversation on the BST a while back regarding this very topic. The link is below. Some of my scans are missing, but Scott's scans are still there.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=114438

[smtjoy]

Hi Brad, I remember the thread Grove is one of those same players each year and very tuff to tell apart, you can see the different tints on mine-

1936 Blueish Tint

1937 Greenish Tint