[Baseball Rarities]

Personally, I think that there are three distinct issues:

1. National Copper Plates - approx 10' x 12" - issued as stapled booklet starting in 1898. Each booklet contained 6 players. It appears that they planned on issuing 26 series, but only produced 6. I think that the large individual players that are known to exist probably come from a separated booklet.

2. M101-1 The Sporting News "Supplement" cards with advertising at the top - 8.75" x 11.00" - issued as a supplement to their weekly newspaper in 1899 and 1900.

3. M101-1 The Sporting News 50 subject "Portfolio" cards with no advertising - 8.75" x 11.00" - issued in 1899. Due to the lack of advertising, many collectors refer to these as National Copper Plates. I think that this is a misnomer since they came housed in a portfolio with The Sporting News advertising on it and, AFAIK, were only offered by the newspaper as a premium for their subscribers. Each of these features two holes at the left border so that they could be bound by a string. These portfolios could be taken apart without damage to the cards so that each could be displayed individually.

Has anyone seen a 50 subject "Portfolio" that was issued National Copper Plate advertising on it?

I would love to hear other's opinions on this set.