N566 Newsboy Pugilists and their variations

[G1911]

First up, the first of two Corbett portraits. Strictly speaking this is not a 'boxing card', the Newsboy issue had a handful of famous people in it from other professions but the focus was very much on actresses and actors. Corbett is almost certainly included here for his stage career, unlike his fighting stance #72 card.

This portrait is less common than his fighting card. I suspect the amount of possible combinations for it is smaller than for Corbett fighting pose or Peter Jackson.

Key differences in group 1 are that 1) multiple photos of a subject could be found for the same number, 2) the font used for the Newsboy, number and name, and city, 3) the presence of the subjects name on the card itself, and/or on the albumen photo or non-existent, and 4) the same for the card number as for the name.

Here are the three different examples of this pose I have been able to find. Most are #23. Note the two different fonts on the two #23's. One is bolder and thicker. It is said the font differences mix but I suspect there are only two of them at this time, as the pattern holds consistent. The thicker one, with the straighter "y" in Newsboy, also has the thicker city name, a thicker frame line, and as will be seen on other subjects the consistently thicker name and number font. I think there are 2 mounts for this group. I have arbitrarily termed the thicker one font 1 and the thinner one with the curvier "y" in Newsboy as font 2.

Both have the name and number on the Albumen photograph.

The font 2 card shows a hint of the subjects name and number, mostly hidden by the photograph. This is something of a problem for cataloguing, as some cards have the photo pasted down far enough to possibly cover up the name and number, and others were clearly printed with no name or number on the card. These cards were essentially handmade, with the photos pasted onto the card mount and not always very carefully. We can also see they are cropped differently; however this is not a variation. It's just because the albumen photos were handcut to the vaguely right size and then stuck onto the mount.

The third copy is the same photograph, font 2, with name on card, number on card and on photo. Note the name is absent from the albumen photo this time. However, the number is 72, and placed in a different spot within the photograph. The #72 version of this portrait is definitely less common, I haven't seen many of them. There are probably at least 1 other variation of this #72 Corbett Portrait involving the font or the captioning.

Note the photos themselves are rounded; these #23's were produced with Group 3.