1898-99 National Copper Plates and 1899-1900 M101-1 The Sporting News
 

I have always been interested in these sets, but it does not seem like there is a lot of information out there regarding them. It would be great if anyone with any info about these sets would share it here.

Here is the little information that I know about these sets. I will sometimes refer to these as "cards" just for the sake of simplicity. I know that many collectors disagree on exactly what a "rookie" card is and specifically what qualifies as a "card."

I know that the National Copper Plates were issued both in small portfolios that included 6 players. These portfolios were stapled together as a bound volume. These began April 22, 1898 and were supposed to run weekly for 26 weeks. I have only seen the first two issues and have no idea how many they actually issued.

M101-1s were issued by The Sporting News one at a time as supplements to their weekly newspaper. They issued a total of 62 cards starting on April 22, 1899 and ending on October 20, 1900. Each supplement has The Sporting News advertising and its date of issue listed at the top.

There was also a 50 subject portfolio issued by The Sporting News. These do not contain The Sporting News advertising at the top. They were bound together by a string and could easily be separated into individual pieces. I am aware of two known portfolios - one was sold by REA in 2014 and is still intact. The other was sold by Christie's in 2016 and was broken up. The one sold by Christie's has a heavy burlap cover which had advertising for The Sporting News on it. Even though this portfolio was issued by The Sporting News, I think that people refer to them as National Copper Plates since there is no advertising on them, but many do have a National Copper Plate copyright.

Here are the Wagners for the two different sets for illustrative purposes. The M101-1 Sporting News is from the recent REA sale and the Wagner with no advertising is from the Sporting News portfolio of 50 subjects that was sold by Christie's.

These were both issued in 1899 and are dated below the image with the M101-1 having the specific August 19, 1899 date at the top as well.

All of the images are stolen from the internet.

Here is an example of the 6 subject stapled portfolio that National Copper Plate began issuing in 1898. I have included an example of one of the subjects, Anson, which is copyrighted 1898 to the left of his image. I am not sure if these measure the typical 8.75" x 11.00" or not.

There is quite a bit of overlap between the two sets. In total, 87 different players are known.

The M101-1 Sporting News Supplement set (the set with advertising date at the top) contains a total of 62 subjects.

There are 50 subjects in the Sporting News "Portfolio" set (the set with no advertising at the top).

25 of the subjects (such as Wagner) are known in both sets.

25 of the subjects are only known without the advertising at the top.

37 of the subjects were only issued as a weekly supplement to The Sporting News.

Thanks, Kevin, and I will do my best to contribute based on my collection. For one, here is an Anson that was removed from the binding (i purchased it separately from the REA bound volume.) sorry i am away from my collection and do not have a photo of the binder handy, will follow up when i can.

Also, here are two versions of the Kid Nichols, one of which is oversized. I assumed that the one without the sporting news date across the top was a copper Plate, but never sure. And teh versions can differ with that border frame on the picture. Only on some of them.

Here is an image of the cover and a few of the subjects from The Sporting News portfolio of 50 subjects that sold in Christie's. It was later broken up and sold off individually. These measure 8.75" x 11.00". As mentioned, none of the subjects had advertising at the top, but are sometimes referred to as National Copper Plates even though they were issued by The Sporting News. All of the subjects has either an 1898 or 1899 date at the bottom, so it clearly was not issued until 1899.

Wow. These are amazing

I understand the HOF desire for uniformity in the display of those enshrined, and the decision for the bronze plaques goes all the way back to the origin. But it seems to me these fantastic images depict what these fellows really looked like. Some of the bas relief images on the plaques are bloody awful, to put it bluntly, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the individual depicted.

I wish I had something I could contribute to the discussion. In the absence of that, I'll just express my appreciation for showing these beautiful examples. Thank you, Kevin (and others)!

Here is a newspaper ad from the August 19, 1899 issue of The Sporting News that offered their subscribers a portfolio of 50 subjects for free with a $2.00 paid subscription to their newspaper.

Many people refer to these as National Copper Plates since they do not have advertising on them.

A few others to view. The Hoy from only the Natl copper series. The Delehanty (still listed as a “common” in the Standard Catalogue…anyone still use this occasionally besides me?). The young pictures of McGraw and Chesbro (looks 15!). And the Cy from the Sporting News. The backs are a great read, too, will post some of those later (its a little clunky to load the pictures).

Paul

Personally, I think that there are three distinct issues:

1. National Copper Plates - approx 10' x 12" - issued as stapled booklet starting in 1898. Each booklet contained 6 players. It appears that they planned on issuing 26 series, but only produced 6. I think that the large individual players that are known to exist probably come from a separated booklet.

2. M101-1 The Sporting News "Supplement" cards with advertising at the top - 8.75" x 11.00" - issued as a supplement to their weekly newspaper in 1899 and 1900.

3. M101-1 The Sporting News 50 subject "Portfolio" cards with no advertising - 8.75" x 11.00" - issued in 1899. Due to the lack of advertising, many collectors refer to these as National Copper Plates. I think that this is a misnomer since they came housed in a portfolio with The Sporting News advertising on it and, AFAIK, were only offered by the newspaper as a premium for their subscribers. Each of these features two holes at the left border so that they could be bound by a string. These portfolios could be taken apart without damage to the cards so that each could be displayed individually.

Has anyone seen a 50 subject "Portfolio" that was issued National Copper Plate advertising on it?

I would love to hear other's opinions on this set.

Those are awesome Paul. I personally like the M101-1 Sporting News supplements with advertising the best. I love the fact that they are associated with such an important hobby paper and can be specifically dated to single issue. I also think that it is cool that Burdick game them an ACC number.

Kevin, Is there a five-premium booklet in existence that has the fine still intact?

Also, the natl copper booklet i have came bound with all 45/50 still bound with string, was it also offered unbound?

Where did the larger format ones come from?

The descriptions from the Standard Catalogue as a reminder of the established line on these two groupings.

Not sure that I understand what you mean by "fine still intact?"

I think that the Portfolios were only issued in bound editions of 50 subjects. We know that The Sporting News offered these Portfolios housed in their cover. I am not sure if anyone else issued them. These portfolios were only held together by string and could easily be dismantled into 50 individual cards plus the cover. These are easily distinguishable due to the two holes used for binding on their left hand border.

From my notes, I have the measurements of both the individually offered M101-1s and the "portfolio" cards as being 8.75" x 11.00". There is reference to larger ones that measure 10" x 13", but I do not know where they came from. Possible from the NCP 5 card stapled portfolios from 1898. Maybe offered individually somewhere else?

Do you have any that measure larger? If so, what do they measure?

BTW, much of the information that I have posted is based solely on my assumptions from the limited information that I have gathered. Please feel free to correct anything that is off.

When I heard a thread was going to be created about these, I was eagerly awaiting the ability to read it. GREAT pics, everyone!

A couple years back, I fell in love with M101-2s, and then later heard of the M101-1s. I saw a Lajoie and instantly fell in love.

It wasn't until a year or so later that I knew a Wagner existed. I bought mine from a private collector, and felt/feel like I have something that belongs in a museum! A 19th century Honus Wagner rookie. Just mind blowing to me, still.

The date portion adds a specialness to it for me. Earlier this year, I posted pics of it, and someone chimed in "hey, the Wagner piece's birthday is coming up!" I don't know why, but that makes it extra cool.

Here is what I posted on 8/19 a few months back - the anniversary of the day it was offered to the public back in 1899:

https://tanmanbaseballfan.com/wp-con...1/08/bday2.jpg

Goofy? Absolutely, but right up my alley! :)

I meant “five” not “fine”. Did you mean 50 not five?

If you see the images of the nichols above, there are 9” x 13” ones too (sorry, i cant remeasure it right now, but you can see the larger size in the picture next to a normal one.

There are two NCP booklets that I know of. They each had 6 players. They are both intact. They were not meant to be separated, but obviously some were over the years. I will post pictures below.

Thanks for the Nichols image.

I am not certain where the larger cards came from. I assume that they were removed from the NCP 6 card portfolios.

Here are the images that I have of the first NCP portfolio.

I would agree with this. BUT I think you meant to show M101-1 Sporting News w/ Advertising at top as being issued as a supplement weekly from 1899 to 1900 (not 1898 to 1899).

Here is the second:

Yes. Corrected. Thank you.

I have a National Copperplate Ewing that is definitely the larger size. It will not fit in my 9x12 sleeves.

Paul - I wonder if the larger ones were taken out of the stapled portfolios. Here are the images of the oversized Nichols along with the one that is in the stapled binder. They seem to have similar spacing.

Here is the one out of the 50 card portfolio. Obviously, it does not contain a border and is cropped different - notice the bottom of the "B" on his uniform.

That is what it looks like. The bordered pictures with no holes are NCP portraits that were in those five player booklets. Those could all be the larger sized ones.

Then NCP (or as you pointed out, maybe the Sporting News offered these, after obtaining the image rights?) also issued a full 50 portrait booklet of just the NCP series, which were all hole punched and bound, in the smaller size. That size was then maintained for the Sporting News inserts, which were then sequentially issued with some players deleted from the roster and more current ones added, and then some additional ones created to reach 62 in the Sporting News. Dropped were such old favorites as Anson, Hoy, Ewing, Keeler, Robinson…added were Delehanty, Young, Lajoie, and others.

Just developing a working thesis….

I just found these ads that the National Copper Plate Co. placed in the April 9 and July 9, 1898 issues of The Sporting News. The ads specifically mention that they intended to issue 26 parts - each with six prints (I had thought 5). They state that they measure 10" x 12", so these are certainly the "large" versions that exist.

I have not been able to find any ads after July 9, 1898, so I assume that the National Copper Plate Co. stopped offering them on their own in and instead licensed them to The Sporting News who offered them both in portfolios of 50 and individually as supplements to their weekly newspaper, removing some subjects as time went by and adding others.

The July 9 ad states that they have 6 different series available - the same amount as their June 4 ad, so I assume that their promotion lost steam and they stopped at just the 6 series even though they had planned on doing 26.

What a great thread. Wish that I could add something to it.

Would love to see any other six-player booklets of the stapled NCPs, beyond just the first two you shared.

Booklet Part 1 had Cap Anson, Chief Zimmer, Kid Nichols, Thomas Dowd, JM Goar, and Michael Griffin

Booklet Part 2 had Bill Joyce, Joe Corbett (brother of HOF boxer James Corbett), Monte Cross, Bill Lange, Lou Criger, and Fred "Bones" Ely

Would love to know if other "larger" NCPs without the holes (meaning pulled from these stapled booklets) can be documented, beyond the 12 players listed above from booklets 1 and 2. Does every Sporting Life Supplement and Sporting Life Portfolio of 50 that overlaps with the NCP oversized, stapled booklets have an 1898 date or NCP credit somewhere on the photo? That would be interesting...Could be a clue into which players were issued in the booklet format.

Here is the checklist of 87 that I have:

Only issued in the Sporting Life "Portfolios" of 50 (25 total) :

amole
anson
becker
corbett
cross
dexter
dowd
dwyer
ely
esterquest
ewing
friend
gilpatrick
goar
hill
hoy
joyce
mercer
padden
shindle
stein
thompson
wilson
yeager
zimmer


Only issued in the Sporting News weekly "Supplements" (37 total):

beaumont
breitenstein
callahan
chance
chesbro
clark
corcoran
dahlen
davis
delehanty
dineen
donahue
donlin
dunn
freeman
hahn
hamilton
hanlon
heldrick
jennings
jones
lajoie
leever
lewis
long
mcginnity
mcguire
peltz
phillippe
ritchey
scott
tannehill
tenney
thomas
waddell
williams
young


Issued in both the "Portfolios" and as "Supplements" (25 total):

bergen
collins
criger
cross
demontreville
donovan
doyle
duffy
flick
griffin
griffith
hughes
keeler
kelley
kennedy
lange
mcgraw
nichols
nops
o'connor
robinson
stahl
wagner
wallace
willis

The only thing I can add to this thread is the memory of Kevin Mize selling his Wagner, longest running BST in the history of net54, I think he may actually get his number now. To quote:
"Thanks for the inquiries, still available...
RIP

My Ewing has what looks like stitching holes along the left border. Maybe they are staple holes. It definitely appears it came from a binder of some kind.

I have seen some bound volumes that were hand made after the fact by a professional bookbinder. My guess is that your Ewing came from something like this.

I am always up for a good laugh. Do you have a link?

Paul - Here are some images of one of the binders that I was referring to. I would guess that your Ewing came out of something like this, which appears to have been assembled around 1940.