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Posted By: davidcycleback

Nowhere in the REA description does it refer to this item as baseball card or rookie card. It's a collectable double autographed postcard from Gibson's rookie year, but I would consider it dubious at best for someone to call it Gibson's rookie trading card or a trading card unless someone uncovers proof they were sold commercially to the public (As already noted, evidence indicates they weren't). Interestingly, I have yet to hear anyone clearly claim it's a rookie card or baseball card. In their half self promotional article ('Another first for PSA!'), PSA kinda sorta does, but really doesn't. Hal, it appears you're safe.

It should be noted that in the early 1900s, the postcard photograph was a common form of family photograph. It wasn't because they were intented to be mailed (some were, to friends or family members), but that the postcard was a convenient size for such photos. If you look in your old family photos, you may find real photo postcards of ancestors that were never mailed and obviously weren't intended to be sold at Woolworth or Life magazine. I have a WWI real photo postcard of my grandfather in sailor suit. He had it shot and made at a small studio in France as a souvenier for himself and the family back home in Minneapolis ... Many times, the printed stampbox and address lines on back are just something that happens to be on the back, and the photo was never intended to be sold or even mailed. The postcard often went straight into the family album or on the livingroom desk. Many old high school baseball and football team photos were real photo postcards. Again, most of these were made as mementos for the players and their families, just as with your little league or cub scout team photos.