R308 Tattoo Orbit set (self-developing) issued in 1934, not 1933

[brianp-beme]

This post on the September Pick-up thread of a Mickey Cochrane R308 card motivated me (it doesn't take much) to look into this less popular set:

The Detroit Collector
Eric

New Pickup, Curious if anyone knows why these are considered 1933. Mickey Cochrane wasn't a Tiger until 1934.


Mickey Cochrane, who happens to be the only player featured twice in the set (card #155, a number also seen featuring Charles Grimm, and #186). Both cards identify Cochrane as being a Detroit Tiger. Mickey was traded to the Tigers on 12/12/1933.

So I checked the rest of the players careers and card images on the internet (several of which I was not able to locate, so there might be more examples worthy of consideration), and this is what else I found that is relevant:

#169 George Earnshaw (identified on card as a White Sox) - traded to White Sox on 12/12/1933

#173 Goose Goslin (identified on card as a Tiger) - traded to Tigers on 12/20/1933

#182 Lefty Grove (identified on card as a Red Sox) - traded to Red Sox on 12/12/1933

#187 Max Bishop (identified on card as a Red Sox) - traded to Red Sox on 12/12/1933. I was unable to locate an image of this card on the internet. If consistent with the other December 1933 traded players, the team identified on this card would be the Red Sox. - confirmed Red Sox designation by Net54 member spec.

#191 Burleigh Grimes (identified on card as a Cardinal) - signed with Cardinals on 7/31/1933


So for the players that switched teams in 1933, only Burleigh Grimes was acquired mid-season of 1933. The other players switched teams at the tail end of 1933, with most having been dealt on 12/12/1933, and Goose Goslin being the latest on 12/20/1933.

Thus, this set appears to have been issued in 1934, not 1933. Thanks again Eric for posing the question on the other thread.

Although not positive, I do not believe this set was issued at separate times. However, the set numbers run from #151 to 207, and 7 numbers starting with #196 have not been identified, so there is that little mystery to unravel.

Just so you know what the cards look like and what in the heck I am talking about, here is an example of a R308 Tattoo Orbit (the small example on the upper left, along with the very rare 4x larger version, and the much more popular R305 Tattoo Orbit color set...note that the same image was used in the creation of each set).


Brian