Sorry for my procrastination, but I finally soaked it.
I was advised to immerse it in distilled water, which I did. The paper didn't come off easily, but I rubbed it gently and it came off slowly, like stubborn old wallpaper. It's still not a clean back, looks like pencil drawn on it, but there's no American Caramel Co.; it appears that it was originally a blank back, not an E121.
As we've pretty much ruled out the W575, that leaves it as a Koster's.
When it dries, I'll post a scan.
Here's my thinking as of now: For reasons already stated, I'll either trade or auction it here on Net54.
First, I'll field trade offers. I'll trade it for a big name T206 in decent [fair or better] condition, graded or ungraded. I may do better trading it than selling it if one of you has an extra T206 he's willing to part with. By big name, I mean Cobb, Johnson, Mathewson, Young, Speaker, or another hall of famer in that rarefied atmosphere. I do have a few of them [Cobb, bat on shoulder, Johnson, glove at chest, Mathewson, dark cap, Young, following through], but I need 75% of those names. If your card warrants it, i.e., is worth substantially more than the Hoyt, I'd be willing to add money.
I'm going to take trade offers for 7-10 days; if nothing knocks me out, I'll auction it. Please email me [my pm box is full!] at
djdoremus@msn.com, and include scans if you can.
Thanks.
Doug