Posted By:
Ryan ChristoffHal,
You have conclusively proven that this was, indeed, a trade card.
I'd love to hear more about the 1869 baseball card collecting niche of collectors who purchased 100 of the same card, but this is clearly NOT who Peck & Snyder was targeting with this advertisement. I'm sure you can and will make a case that it was, but that doesn't make it so. I'm sure more than one board member here bought 100 Sam Horn rookies at one point, so why not 100 Peck and Snyders?
It says very clearly on the card that Peck & Snyder were WHOLESALE DEALERS in Base Ball Player Supplies. This does not say that they were a retail sporting goods store, even though we know they did have a retail store as well. A wholesale dealer in base ball player supplies would be exactly the right place for a sporting goods store to purchase 100 blank-back trade cards with the most popular and famous team of the time on the front in order to print their own advertisement on the back and GIVE THEM AWAY at their retail store. It was nothing unusual in those years. If you research the history of trade cards you will find out how popular they were.
Sporting goods stores are not competition for the wholesale dealers that supply them. They're customers.
It's clear that this is a trade card. Whether it's a baseball card or not is a different matter. But the back of the one in the Copeland auction is only proof of it being a trade card.
-Ryan