1898-99 National Copper Plates and 1899-1900 M101-1 The Sporting News

[Baseball Rarities]

Personally, I think that there are three distinct issues:

1. National Copper Plates - approx 10' x 12" - issued as stapled booklet starting in 1898. Each booklet contained 6 players. It appears that they planned on issuing 26 series, but only produced 6. I think that the large individual players that are known to exist probably come from a separated booklet.

2. M101-1 The Sporting News "Supplement" cards with advertising at the top - 8.75" x 11.00" - issued as a supplement to their weekly newspaper in 1899 and 1900.

3. M101-1 The Sporting News 50 subject "Portfolio" cards with no advertising - 8.75" x 11.00" - issued in 1899. Due to the lack of advertising, many collectors refer to these as National Copper Plates. I think that this is a misnomer since they came housed in a portfolio with The Sporting News advertising on it and, AFAIK, were only offered by the newspaper as a premium for their subscribers. Each of these features two holes at the left border so that they could be bound by a string. These portfolios could be taken apart without damage to the cards so that each could be displayed individually.

Has anyone seen a 50 subject "Portfolio" that was issued National Copper Plate advertising on it?

I would love to hear other's opinions on this set.

[h2oya311]

Originally Posted by Baseball Rarities

Personally, I think that there are three distinct issues:

National Copper Plates - issued booklet form starting in 1898. Each booklet contains 5 players. These were not individual "cards,' and would have to be torn out of the booklet to display individually.

M101-1 The Sporting News with advertising at the top - issued as a supplement to their weekly newspaper in 1898 and 1899.

M101-1 The Sporting News 50 subject "portfolio" cards with no advertising issued in 1899. Due to the lack of advertising, many collectors refer to these as National Copper Plates. I think that this is a misnomer since they came housed in a portfolio with The Sporting News advertising on it and, AFAIK, were only offered by the newspaper as a premium for their subscribers. Each of these features two holes at the left border so that they could be bound by a string. These portfolios could be taken apart without damage to the cards so that each could be displayed individually.

I would love to hear other's opinions on this set.

I would agree with this. BUT I think you meant to show M101-1 Sporting News w/ Advertising at top as being issued as a supplement weekly from 1899 to 1900 (not 1898 to 1899).

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by h2oya311

I would agree with this. BUT I think you meant to show M101-1 Sporting News w/ Advertising at top as being issued as a supplement weekly from 1899 to 1900 (not 1898 to 1899).

Yes. Corrected. Thank you.

[paul]

I have a National Copperplate Ewing that is definitely the larger size. It will not fit in my 9x12 sleeves.

[Baseball Rarities]

Paul - I wonder if the larger ones were taken out of the stapled portfolios. Here are the images of the oversized Nichols along with the one that is in the stapled binder. They seem to have similar spacing.

[Baseball Rarities]

Here is the one out of the 50 card portfolio. Obviously, it does not contain a border and is cropped different - notice the bottom of the "B" on his uniform.

[paul]

Originally Posted by Baseball Rarities

Paul - I wonder if the larger ones were taken out of the stapled portfolios. Here are the images of the oversized Nichols along with the one that is in the stapled binder. They seem to have similar spacing.

My Ewing has what looks like stitching holes along the left border. Maybe they are staple holes. It definitely appears it came from a binder of some kind.

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by paul

My Ewing has what looks like stitching holes along the left border. Maybe they are staple holes. It definitely appears it came from a binder of some kind.

I have seen some bound volumes that were hand made after the fact by a professional bookbinder. My guess is that your Ewing came from something like this.