[Archive]

Posted By: Jay

Get hold of Lew Lipset's Encyclopedia of Baeball Cards Vol. 1 and he illustrates the appearance of cards from each year. Basically you tell by the way the Goodwin & Co ad is presented at the bottom. If the card only says "Goodwin & Co. , New York" at the bottom it is from late-1886/1887. If it has a 3 line ad with only the word "Cigarettes" as the middle line it is from 1888. Now it gets a little tougher. If it has a three line ad at the bottom and the middle line says "Cigarette Factory" AND there is no PL or NL after the players team or inscribed in the photo (only PL's) it is from 1889. There are one or two exceptions to this but for this discussion they can be ignored.If the card has the ad presented as would an 1889 card but has a PL or an NL then it is an 1890 card. The PL or NL stands for Player's League or National League and such clarification was only necessary because of the formation of the Player's League for the 1890 season.
BTW, the copyright date on the picture does not tell when the card was issued, only when the photo was taken.