Update on 1912(?) Cobb and Marquard pickups......
 

Well, the mailman delivered the Cobb and Marquard today. Got me what they are, but here is what I know:

8 1/2 long by 5 1/2 wide. Top border has been altered because that border is uneven on both items.
Thin cardstock.
Removed from an album.
Blank backed.
They have not been bound.
They do not have the "International News Service, N.Y." (Thank you Old Cardboard and Leon) copyright label of a M113:

http://www.oldcardboard.com/m/m113/m...?cardsetID=971

Here are scans of the fronts and backs:

Never seen these before, they are cool. I wonder whether they might have been notepad covers that had a spiral binding at the top - hence the trim.

Bryan,

Thank you. I like the notepad cover idea, but not so much the spiral binding. Maybe it was a flip cover for a notepad. Spitballing here. Still, I compared the two to the first two pages of a Cambridge 8 1/2 x 11 writing pad. The two had a thickness that was much thicker than the dust cover of the writing pad but less thick than the pad cover beneath the dust cover.

I guess I said spiral bound because they don't appear to have creases near the top as might be expected if they were more rigidly bound and then folded open (they could have been cut off right away, of course). What is the pink spot on Cobb? Could that be glue from the original non-spiral binding?

Bryan,

It's possible.

A very knowledgeable hobbyist, with many decades of experience, emailed me and said he thought of Plow Boy Cabinets when seeing these.. On the road to ID this has been a popular observation....

"The two cards Brian has look exactly like Plowboy cabinets, which were only issued for the Cubs and White Sox. The style and size is nearly identical except for the type at the bottom which I believe (from memory) are different and of course they're not Chicago players and the Plowboy ad is not on the back."

.

When I saw it listed in Ebay. My first thought was Monarch Typewriters. Plowboys is a great guess to.

Good observation. Also, thank you, Jay, for your observation.

The design, except for the name and team display is very similar. The stock, however, is thinner.