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Originally Posted by wolf441
Thanks for the reply and the information.
I agree that the smaller companies could have ignored the law. And if the letter was on behalf of the lithographers, it would make sense that there would be fewer of them needed than if they had to be obtained by each individual tobacco, candy, gum firm that included them with their products.
I thought about the fact that the letter was from an fairly average player, rather than one of the stars of the day. But, if you were trying to make a convincing forgery, wouldn't that be the type of player that you would choose? Also, the all of the facts around the 1912 article dealing with Honus Wagner's refusal to grant permission to use his image were well known by the 1980's. So the content of the letter is not sufficient proof that it is not a forgery. Is there an explanation as to why it is on New York Highlanders stationary?
I am not arguing that the letter is a forgery, I'm just trying to understand how this letter survived where no other copies have every been discovered.
If they had to get sign off from everyone in the set, you would think that in some cases, they would have had to send more than one letter if players did not respond to the first request. Why have no copies come to light when the personal effects of the players of the time were sold off by family members in the decades after the cards were issued?
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By consistent with the later evidence I am not referring to Wagner at all. In that time the hobby was focused on the tobacco companies and not the printers, it is consistent with the information we have gleaned since from other sources. A forgery would likely be on behalf of the ATC, as it is only very recently we have begun to understand that the lithographers played a much more active role in these sets than just printing them for ATC.
I agree with Steve, this is hardly the first letter from a sports writer on team letterhead, kickbacks from the team were common and the press was usually in bed with the team ownership. It doesn’t seem out of place to me. Also makes sense the team would be supportive: it’s free advertising.
The survival rate isn’t a red flag, I think. How many printing stones and plates from the ATC sets have been found? How much other internal documentation? It’s almost none. I wouldn’t expect these letters, fairly insignificant at this time, to survive in greater quantity than other documentation has.
I am a big fan of skepticism, separating fact from probability from personal opinions. We cannot say beyond any doubt the letter is genuine, but it is more reasonable to think it real than to think it a clever forgery, as there is no evidence for the later.