Babe Ruth/Harry Heilmann 8X10 Premium Identification

[frankh8147]

Hello all!

I posted this premium several years back (original thread below) but never got a definitive answer as to if it's authentic to the time period. I did show it to some folks who deal with antiques who stated they believed it to be old, but again, nothing definitive. The other suggestion was that I get a black light and shine it on it to see if it is modern or not. Well, I did get the black light but honestly, am unsure how to use it and what to look for so I figured I would take some pictures, post them here and see what everyone thought!

As always, all help is greatly appreciated. Let me know what you think!
-Frank





https://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=206877

[frankh8147]

Please note - there is a modern white piece of cardboard behind this one..

[FrankWakefield]

Illuminate a new piece of typing paper and the photo (front, then back) at the same time.

Brighteners are used in most modern, post WW II, paper. Those will fluoresce a bright blue if hit with uv light. Old paper won't glow. If you walk around in the dark in a room with a desk, papers, books and such, some of that stuff will fluoresce and some won't. The paper that doesn't glow is most likely old.

[Leon]

Never have seen that before. Very interesting.

.

[frankh8147]

Got it! I'll take some pictures this afternoon of the blacklight on some newer stuff... I do think I see the difference you are talking about...

[frankh8147]

Well, for what it's worth, it does look like it passed the black light test. Here is front and back compared to two different modern pieces of paper.

[frankh8147]

One last shot before this goes back into the dreaded 'unknown' category until I bump this thread in 2025!

On Father's day, June 17, 1934, the Detroit Tigers faced the New York Yankees. With the kids involved in this premium, could this have possibly been a give-away at the stadium?

[Exhibitman]

During the Depression? Unlikely. My SWAG is that it is a cut-down portion of a newspaper premium. There were lots of those in the mid-1930s in varying degrees of color.

[frankh8147]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

During the Depression? Unlikely. My SWAG is that it is a cut-down portion of a newspaper premium. There were lots of those in the mid-1930s in varying degrees of color.

That gives me something to research! It's decently thick (although not quite as thick as an Exhibit) so that might help narrow it down.

My guess is that it would probably had been from one of the biggest newspapers, who had the resources to include an item like this at that time.

Does that sound about right?