The E91 American Caramel Sets...Generic or Name Brand by Brian Parker

[Leon]

I am posting this manuscript for Brian Parker. He will follow up with scans and a comment or two....regards

[Leon]

here are the last 2 pages...

[brianp-beme]

E91A A's, Giants and Cubs

[ChiefBenderForever]

I like the cartoonish image of this set and think it is very 19th century impressionistic.

[brianp-beme]

1st scan: E91A, E91B and E91C backs
2nd scan: E91A Steinfeldt, E91B Steinfeldt (same design + player designations)
3rd scan: E91A Kling, E91B Archer, E91C Gibson (same design + different player designation each set)

[brianp-beme]

Comparision scans of Mathewson and Steinfeldt M116's (ignore the typed name) which I believe are exact photo matches, and the M116 Hartsel, while not the exact photo the artists used to create the E91A card, certainly exhibits the facial characteristics as seen on the E91A.

[brianp-beme]

I thought I would enlist the aid of fellow Net54 members to help "illustrate" an unpublished article I wrote several years ago about the three E91 sets. In the article, which is posted above with Leon's gracious assistance, I argue that the facial features of players pictured in the majority of the E91A and about half of the E91B set are based either on actual photographs as seen in other contemporaneous card issues, or are at least easily recognizable when comparing the E91 card with another, non-exact match photo of the player, also as seen in other card sets. I have posted images of the complete E91A set, and will post side to side images of three E91's with their 'card buddies' to help bolster my contentions.

And here is how you can help. I strictly did my research based upon the E91's in my possession and the full color card images as shown in the Classic Baseball Card book as is mentioned in the article that was issued over 20years ago. I was able to come up with an index of comparision cards from a variety of issues, which is located at the end of the article, that I believe will prove my theories. But since some of these card issues are uncommon (like the T204's and especially the PC760 Rose postcard issue), and others are from sets that I don't actively collect (like the M116's and Fan Craze issues) I am only able to offer the three comparision cards to post with the article. Thus I will enlist your help in posting scans of any cards from the article's index that you might have so that you can help prove, or heck, disprove, my theories.

I hope you will enjoy this article, and perhaps it will succeed in its purpose of garnering a little respect for E91's, which we all know suffer from a horrible reputation.

Brian Parker

[fkw]

Never really looked at the E91s much in the past.

I agree many of them look like the players. Offhand...Especially many of the Cubs like the Evers, Tinker, Reulbach. Also some of the other HOFers like McGraw, Waddell, Plank, Bender, etc. look very similar in the faces.

Thanks for showing and telling Brian, E91's are all that bad

[sox1903wschamp]

Thanks Brian. Great article and nice to see the E91's gaining some respect
Here is the Harry Davis and John McGraw M116's. The Davis looks spot on. The McGraw....not so sure but I am far from a photo expert.

[tedzan]

Brian

Great article and analysis. I have 3 questions for you.......

1st
Certain players (e.g. Waddell with the A's, etc.) tell us that the E91-A was American Caramel's first BB card issue.
Followed by their E90-1 (1st series). So, do you have any idea why Burdick assigned the E91 set "E91"......rather
than "E90" ?


2nd
I'm not sure if you covered this....any thoughts regarding the Walter Johnson image portraying him as a Southpaw ?



My two favorite E91 cards

3rd
......however, is this supposed to be Wagner or Tinker. They printed this image for both. But, Tinker is in the A series
and the B series, while Wagner is in the last series (C) ?








Thanks,

TED Z