E90-1s have plate scratches too!

[edhans]

With advance apologies to those who think that T206s are the only set worth discussing, I present a surprising new (at least to me) discovery. I picked up this Demmit on ebay a couple weeks ago. I saw the plate scratch on an E90-1 for the first time. Strange, as I've been collecting the set for more than 30 years.



I immediately thought of the remakable work done by Pat, Steve and others on the T206 sheets and wondered if scratches could help unravel the mysteries of the E90-1 distribution. For decades, E90-1 has been thought of as a three series issue; the first in late 1908 to early 1909, the second as 1910 and a third in 1911. This is clearly inadequate to explain the varying levels of difficulty among the cards. I have postulated at least eight separate "printings" with additions, deletions and replacements along the way.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the scratches. I checked my set and dupes (125 cards in total), hoping to find a few more. And I did.

Much to my amazement, the Demmit I already had, had a different scratch.



This is causing me to rethink some of the theories I've been developing. Demmit was either double printed on one sheet or printed on two separate sheets. I also found four others, three of which fit the pattern of scarcity I was expecting:
Gray


Joss (throwing)


And Tenney



These three are less common than most (as is Demmit) and I was not surprised that they could be sheetmates.

I was very surprised at the last subject, Bailey


Bailey is among the most common E90-1s, surely in the top five. Of course this doesn't necessarily mean that all of these subjects were printed on the same sheet. There could have been multiple sheets with scratches.

Enough for now. I need two things from the board: 1) everyone drop what you're doing and inspect your E90-1s and report any additions you find; and 2) someone with the time and photoshop skills to replicate Pat's extraordinary t206 analysis and apply it to this wonderful set. Regretably, I have neither.

Looking forward to everyone's comments and suggestions.

[Leon]

Cool research on a great caramel set. I wish I could help, Ed, but I am down to only one E90-1. I do believe I have seen multiple examples over the years with those types of scratches. Thanks for sharing....

[Bliggity]

I just checked my 15 E90-1s, and two of them have plate scratches:

[frohme]

Found two from images of previously owned cards:

* Miller (fldg) - through the bats downwards to right ... also, lower right corner??
* Overall - through "American Caramel Co" downwards to right

For the record - that was 2 with scratches out of 23 cards
 

[Pat R]

That's great Ed. I'm sure no one would be surprised that I'm interested in
this. If you or someone else would like to do some work on this I would
be happy to help.

What I found works best is to make up some sheets like this... ( I made this
in a couple of minutes but it takes more time to make an accurate one)
img899.jpg

Then draw the scratch in like I did with the first Demmitt you posted.
img898.jpg

You can do this with several scratches and as you find new ones you can see if they fit any
of the spots on either side of an existing scratch. The main reason I find this
works best is all the cards are cut different but this will give an accurate placement of where the scratches should be.

The second Demmitt you posted has two vertical scratches so it will probably
be a good one to start with. I just did a quick check and found this Jennings
with two vertical scratches going in the opposite direction of your Demmitt.
E90-1 Jennings.jpg

[Pat R]

You already have an opposite sheet mate match.

Mikes Overall is a match to your Demmitt so there's probably an Overall
that matches the Demmitt you posted with the two vertical scratches.
E90-1 Demmitt.jpg

[Luke]

Great thread Ed! I have nothing to add but I'll be following along.

[Webster]

Ed - great project.

Overall_0001.jpgOverall_0002.jpg

[Webster]

Chase2.jpgChase2_0001.jpg

Tannahill.jpgTannahill_0001.jpg

Crawford.jpgCrawford_0001.jpg

Cobb.jpgCobb_0001.jpg

[Pat R]

Ed,
It looks like Jesse Tannehill might line up with Tenney,
but there is a strip of blue on Tannehill that eliminates
Tenney so it must be another player that matches
the Tenney scratch. Any ideas on players to check for this scratch?
Tenney-.jpg
Tannehil Front.jpgTannehill Crop.jpg

[Pat R]

One thing that's going to make it a little tougher is that there are two
scratches through a sheet(s) that are similar.

This Marquard is very close but just a little lower than the Tenney.
Tenney - Copy.jpgTenney - Copy (2).jpg

[edhans]

Pat,
That blue mark on the Tannehill looks like a slightly misaligned color pass. Might be difficult to identify. I did find a Lumley that may correspond. I would consider the two potential sheet mates. Haven't had time to look any further. Hope to do so this weekend. Interesting observation on the Marquard/Tenney scratches. I'm sure I would have missed that one. Thanks again for all your efforts. Happy Thanksgiving.