Posted By:
Hal LewisSo who do you consider "The Trade" to be in this case??
Only sporting goods distributors... or basically ANY type of business in the United States that wanted to advertise?
Surely you would agree that Peck & Snyder would have sold 100 of these cards to the owner of a Bread Company if an order had come in, right??
Maybe the Bread company gave them away with every loaf of bread he sold.
If so, then they are DEFINITELY baseball cards, since "bread cards" have been a part of the hobby for 100 years.
And surely you would agree that Peck & Snyder would have sold 100 of these cards to a Saloon owner if an order had come in, right??
Maybe the Saloon owner then gave them out to his customers.
How is this any different than any business in modern times giving away a baseball card as an enticement to come into their business?? The card is still a card.
And surely you would agree that Peck & Snyder would have sold 100 of these cards to a Department Store owner if an order had come in, right??
Maybe the Store owner turned around and SOLD them to their customers for even MORE than he paid for them...since he IS in the business of making a profit.
How is this any different than Topps in 2005?
They sell the card to Wal-Mart... and they turn around and sell them for MORE.
Conversely... I seriously DOUBT that a SPORTING GOODS manufacturer like Peck & Snyder would have sold these cards to their COMPETITORS and allowed THEM to use the same exact cards as advertising for THEIR business!
They were not in the business of selling "marekting tools" to companies across the country.
They sold "sporting goods"... so to argue that they were suddenly in the business of printing and selling blank-backed marketing cards for OTHER types of businesses just does not make sense to me.