The 1915-1922 Black-and-White Sets: Many Distributors, One Producer?

[spec]

The reuse of many E135 designs (not just the same photo, but with the background painted out in the same way) in the early E121 series lends credence to your theory of a link between those sets.

[nolemmings]

Love the topic Scot. While I believe your connection of Sheffer to both the 1917 and 1921 sets is plausible, I believe Felix Mendelsohn is the sole "brains" behind the m101-4/5 issues.

Mendelsohn was not all that mysterious, but instead was a fairly prominent publisher in Chicago, with offices downtown in the People's Gas Bldg (where there is now a Bennigan's or similar Irish chain bar). He published "The Story of 100 operas"--multiple printings-which is still readily found today (check ebay), as well as a cookbook. He was probably proudest of some more coffee-table style books that discuss the movers and shakers in Chicago's history. He published soft-cover items including baseball-related "Facts for Fans" and I recall from my old research that he also was into selling arcade-type items through the Sporting News.

My suspicions have been that in 1917, when Mendelsohn learned of the E135 cards surfacing in Chicago (actually H8101-8 Boston Store), he scrapped his idea of what we know as m101-unc because it was too similar in size to E135 and went straight to m101-6s, which he endeavored to copyright. His photos in that set I believe to be the first of their kind, although many were copied in subsequent sets. I have wondered if after that set he was involved with the Exhibit Supply Co., which also operated out of Chicago and which coincidentally started issuing baseball player subjects in 1921-very shortly after the last release of m101-6. This company would likely have been a direct competitor of Sheffer. I've just been too lazy to dig into the origins and principals of ESCO-- maybe the Exhibits experts here would find that to be an interesting project.

[sreader3]

Todd, Thanks for the input. Perhaps Sheffer was merely a local competitor trying to emulate Mendelssohn's success with M101. Is it your view that the Felix Mendelssohn Company was actually founded and operated by a person with that name (as opposed to being named after the composer)? Scot

[nolemmings]

Yes, Felix was a real guy. I have some bio info from ancestry.com or someplace, and even have a scan of his signature (but no photo, yet). His son was his namesake, and wrote some less than spectacular novels such as Super Baby and Club Tycoon. His son never married, and I didn't trace his daughter's lineage.

[Leon]

Nice discussion guys. Felix Mendohlson did seem to be a prolific printer. I have a booklet, somewhere, put out by them. They certainly made some cool cards. I always wondered if they printed this one too? It's much larger than standard M101-4/5s.