Early John McGraw Postcard ID Help

[prewarsports]

Hello All

I picked this up recently and thought at first glance it might be a Rotograph but it is different and was wondering if anyone knew the set this came from. It is absolutely genuine and I think it is a VERY early Baseball postcard, probably 1902-04. It was found with one of those Falk Studios Postcard which I stupidly did not buy, but it was pretty rough. The paper stamp and the red "SPORT" stamp were added later by a photo archive.

Any Ideas?

Rhys Yeakley

[Bicem]

Hey Rhys,
Just like the Falk Giants postcard that you saw, it appears to be a picture of the Rotograph printed on a postcard back.

The Rotograph itself has a much sharper image.

[prewarsports]

It would have to have been done before 1906 because it is a predivided back and the photo is absolutely genuine to the time period so it is not a photo of a photo. I have owned several thousand postcards from this era and it is 100% original to the time period. They might have used the same photo as the rotograph company did but it is not a photo of a rotograph. I think the rotographs just used Carl Horner images and whoever made this one used the Horner image as well but it is 100% original to pre 1906.

[Bicem]

I hope you're right but how can you be certain that the photo is 100% original to the time period? Seems strange that the photo quality would be that inferior to the Rotographs. As for the back, if the creator was simply trying to make it look like an original postcard then you would really have to throw the pre-divided / divided back rules out the window.

[prewarsports]

I have owned rotographs before and holding this one person it is not inferior at all, Just a slightly different photo process. Rotograph postcards were just Horner images made by the Rotograph company. They used HIGHLY reflective silver gelatin photo process and not just on their baseball players (I have owned over 1000 Rotograph actor and actress postcards over the years as well). However, postcards made with that photo process are not common and most real photo postcards were made with the same process as my McGraw. Gelatin photos that were slightly reflective but nearly to the extent of the Rotographs. So comparing this photo postcard to a rotograph is Apples to Oranges but they are both original Horner images on postcards.

As to it being rebacked/reattached, no chance. It would be impossible to do this to a gelatin Real Photo Postcard as the front would disentegrate. If you look at the front of the postcard along the edges and you see a couple of minor white flakes, that is tiny spots of wear where incredibly thin gelatin photo has chipped. This is a photo process that was basically extinct by about 100 years ago.

No doubt whatsoever when holding it in person this postcard is 100% original to pre-1906.

Anyone know the set or seen anyone else like this?

[Bicem]

Do you recall what the back of the Falk Giants postcard looked like?

This or something different?