rather interesting item

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Posted By: warshawlaw 

This strip card of Babe Ruth. I'd never seen one like it before. It reminds me of some arcade cards of cowboys I've seen, so I took a plunge and bought it. Anyone got any idea of what it is?

Item #4129908072

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Posted By: RobertS

These cards are from the 1927 movie "Babe Comes Home." I have seen them designated as R94s (although they aren't in the SCD big book).

Some of the cards show Ruth in uniform in what looks like an old Los Angeles outfit. There is a large 'A' on his cap.

These cards came in a variety of color tints.

Here's an example of another from the set (forgive the large scan):



I will dig around for another link on the Web to another card from the set if you wish...

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Posted By: J Levine

Isn't that "The Clown Prince of Baseball" in the photo as well? Neat card...

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I wish that was funnier...

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Posted By: warshawlaw

It looks a lot like some early mutoscope arcade cards of hollywood stars.

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Posted By: Chuck Ross

As noted above, these Babe Ruth cards are from the R94 set (actually R94-1 as there are two different subsets with two different sizes). They are 2 and 3/8 by 2 and 15/16, blank-backed, manufacturer unknown. They were probably issued in about 1930 and according to Chris Benjamin, they appear to be machine cut and not issued in strips. There are 11 other movies in the R94-1 set in addition to "Babe Comes Home" but I've never heard of any of them.

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Posted By: Chuck Ross

I have to say, though, looking at your scan that if your card was machine cut then the machine's operator must have been out drinking with the Babe

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Posted By: Chuck Ross

looking at the two scans, i think these have to be strip cards, so either they came both ways or my other info was in error

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Who is Chris Benjamin and where did you get the specifics on the R-94 set?

It would not be unusual for a card to be issued in multiple formats in that era (W-517 for example).

I can hardly wait to see it "live"

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Posted By: Chuck Ross

sorry about the bite...I wasn't even casting. Chris Benjamin wrote the Sport Americana guides to nonsports cards. Those cover most of the R cards between R1 and R200 (i.e. the ones that aren't baseball, R300 - R346). He also took over the Card Collectors Bulletin from Buck Barker who took it over from Jefferson Burdick. From the 1940's to the 1970's, the CCB was the main source of info for collectors on both sports and nonsports card issues.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

It is definitely a strip card. The left border is clearly hand-cut. Closest resemblance is the W517 in terms of weight and feel. I would have to classify it as a W-unc. circa 1927 (when the film came out). A nice addition to my collection.

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Posted By: RobertS

Both of these Babe Ruth cards can be found on the Movie Card Web Site (which has been around since 1997, btw). Here, too, they are designated as R94 cards (click on the image to see both cards):

http://www.moviecard.com/zamerican/assorted/R94moviescenes.html

Other movie scene cards from this same issue can be seen, here, also designated as R94s:

http://www.the-forum.com/EPHEMERA/r94card.htm

These cards on The Forum site show various film scenes, most with the identitical white lettering in the lower right corner.

So...they ain't uncataloged, they just haven't been listed in the SCD and Beckett guides for us baseball collectors!

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I love this site! something comes up that I've never seen before and we collectively can usually identify it and provide more information than could be imagined.

I have an R-94 Ruth card...