'41 Playball Pee Wee Reese

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Posted By: peter chao

At last weekend's Tri-Star show in SF I was close to purchasing a '41 Playball Pee Wee Reese, when I looked closely at the card it appeared to be faded so I passed on the card. I've seen this card faded and with a brighter more distinctive background.

I've always believed that the fading was simply from sunlight, but I'm not sure. Are there any other explanations for the fading? Maybe, it's a printing variation?

Peter C.

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Posted By: Anthony

I've seen lots of yellowing on Playball stock, especially '41's. Someone explained it once, but basically it was just cheaper paper.

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Posted By: Paul

In my experience, 41 Playballs are very susceptible to fading in sunlight, especially the red tones.

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Posted By: John Harrell

Peter,

The 41 PB set has two types of paper, a higher quality paper used in 41 for the low series and a lower quality paper used in the 41 hi numbers and 42. The Reese is a hi number card and is more susceptible to browning and possible fading. You can tell low #'s from 42 by the absence of the date on the back of the card.

John

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Posted By: peter chao

John,

Thanks for the explanation, I'm going to hold out for a more attractive '41 Playball Reese.

Peter C.

Edited to add: Was there a 1942 Playball set?

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Posted By: Paul

I think what John is saying is that the 1941 high numbers were actually distributed in 1942. I hadn't heard that before, but it could very well be true. There is no separate 1942 set.