Anyone else collect original photos that were used to make cards?

[drc]

I owned a large collection original photos used to make 1930s-50s Exhibit Supply boxing and wrestling photos. These were the actual photos with all the crop marks and Exhibit notes, etc and came from the Exhibit Supply's owner/president. This included the all the photos for complete card sets in the original folders, including art for cards that were planned but never made. The photos for unfinished cards are listed as 'ghost cards' in the set checklists. The keys were the Clay and the 1930s photo for the wresting exhibit card of Bronco Nagurski, where only one card is known to exist. When I had the Nagurski photo, the card was not known to exist and was added as a ghost card to the set's checklist. One finished Nagurski card was later discovered. My collection added several cards to the Exhibit checklists and pointed out some cards as short prints and solved some set mysteries. For example, the back of one card for one had a dated note note that it was to be removed early from printing and replaced by another. All the photos were 8x10 and originated from different sources, including private studios, Ring Magazine and news services. Several of the photos had the original proof test sheets pasted to the back, which listed how many and what kind of proofs were made. Also, all the names on front, whether faux signatures or printed, were added over the top of the photo. Most of the photos had some sort of aesthetic enhancement, including painted in back grounds. In the Nagurski below, everything is painted over in silver, grey or white ink, except Nagurski. In the Ezzard Charles below, notice how his trunks and part of his glove are painted in. You can see the horizontal line where the photo edge ended and they kept on painting. The Charles is part photo and part painting.



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