Amazing E95 Discovery

[ErikV]

As many on the board are probably aware, I'm a big Philadelphia Caramel
collector and researcher. Today I just uncovered a 104 year-old mystery.

Back in 2009 Heritage auctioned off this Ty Cobb E95 look alike with some
sort of advertising on the reverse including the words "Paste Drops, Jelly
Confections, Chocolates" and the like. See images below.

The following Philadelphia Caramel Advertisement dated May 1910 depicts the
same arrangement of words in almost exactly the same format. (Area shown
in red box.)

I have little doubt now that this Cobb was in fact part of a large advertisement
of perhaps 4 or 5 E95 cards and at some point was hand cut from the ad. With
today's discovery my theory that the E95 set was actually issued in 1910 seems
to have gained some credence. Wouldn't it have made sense that this new
promotion debuting in May 1910 would have fit right in to baseball's opening day
which began two weeks earlier on April 14, 1910?

Thoughts anyone?

ErikV

[4815162342]

Great discovery - thanks for sharing!

[petecld]

Very cool find.

I love the line, "...qualities from fair to superfine." Hate to know why some product was just considered "fair" quality. Talk about truth in advertising.

[JeremyW]

Very cool. It looks like there may have been room for two more cards.

[tiger8mush]

Very neat discovery Erik!

[caramelcard]

Nice Erik.

The flip side of the ad probably included Cobb and Jim Jeffries. (Adam Warshaw has the Jeffries on his site)

E95 set was probably issued in 1909 and continued into 1910.

Thanks for sharing the ad.

Rob

[Jobu]

Excellent find Erik - where did you come across the ad?

I do not know much about E95 - the writing "Cobb Detroit Amer." isn't typically found on E95, right? Are there any other known examples with writing like that?

Thanks.

[Jcfowler6]

Just an honest question. How do you justify the difference in format?


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[Runscott]

I owned a blank-back version of this card. We always suspected that it was from a candy box.

[FirstYearCards]

Very interesting topic and not my area of familiarization, but I have to agree with Jon. Yes very similar advertisement, but off a bit. Can't assume card was from advertisement. Bill.

[Exhibitman]

Far out! Here's mine:

[ErikV]

This advertisement was located in the May 1910 issue of the periodical
"Confectioners Journal." Many of Philadelphia Caramel's ads were published in
this particular periodical.

I think a reasonable difference in format could have been that with the larger
name and team atop an ad would have made these properties more visible from
further away rather than having a small printed name and team at the bottom of
the picture that no one would be able to see. Just my opinion.

As far as dating the E95 set, I believe the key is Cy Morgan shown as a
Philadelphia Athletic on his E95 card. He was traded from Boston to Philly on
June 5, 1909. As mentioned in a previous post about how common E cards are,
many will agree the E95 set is a very easy and common set to collect. This
suggests to me that a large number of these cards were printed and distributed.
That in mind, Philadelphia Caramel issued the E95 set no earlier than mid-to-late
Summer 1909. Would a set like this have lasted thru the end of a baseball season,
all winter, all spring and into the following baseball season? Personally I believe it
fits better that a new promotion, which would have taken time to print,
package and distribute would have been better served being issued at the start
of the new baseball season, 1910.

Most collectors will say the E95 was issued in 1909 because that's what we've
always been told, but I think my theory fits as well as any I've heard yet.

ErikV

[Matvoo]

Very cool find!!!!

[Jcfowler6]

This is very interesting.


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[GasHouseGang]

Great detective work! That ad in some slightly altered format certainly made up the back of your card. And it looks like that Jeffries could have been on the same sheet.

[orator1]

The two backs side by side:

[ullmandds]

nice work...i've always coveted that cobb...i'd love to have one!

[Jay Wolt]

Very cool thread, love the detective work

[Rickyy]

Great detective work. Nice cards too...always liked this series...

Ricky Y

[ErikV]

In following up from my original post from October 23rd, I found this note
this morning. It was from the May 1910 issue of Confectioners Journal.
I believe this discovery now provides a definitive issue date to both the E95
and E79 series issued by the Philadelphia Caramel Company.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ErikV

In following up from my original post from October 23rd, I found this note
this morning. It was from the May 1910 issue of Confectioners Journal.
I believe this discovery now provides a definitive issue date to both the E95
and E79 series issued by the Philadelphia Caramel Company.

Nice work Erik!!

[ErikV]

Someone just got ahold of me and asked if this notice is not referring to a
new(er) set as in the E96/E80 release. There is validity to this question. I'll
continue to investigate. At this point I'm pretty determined to find the answer.

ErikV

[brianp-beme]

I was just about to ask the same question. By the way the statement is worded, it definitely could be construed to indicate a new (another) series of boxer and baseball cards were being issued, which to me would indicate the E96 set (I am not too familiar with the vintage boxing issues).

Brian

[shammus]

Well, that's a strong theory for that particular Cobb and a solid find by Erik. But we haven't solved everything yet! What I'll bring to the table here is proof that there is in fact two different hand-cut e95 esque Cobbs with the script writing at the top. Here is the 2nd version - it actually has a blank back and if you look close at the borders, you can tell it was cut off of something red. Candy box perhaps?

If memory serves when I did my research before, there were two blank backed "Script Cobbs" and 1-2 ad-backed variants that were known.

photo 2.JPG

[Exhibitman]

What you have is a companion piece to mine:



The red is a border.

The boxing set with this pose is E79