1929 Kashin R316: any examples of back stamps?

[Leon]

Hi Eric
As we discussed there is limited interest in the set but there are some neat cards in it. I will look up some more info soon but here is a scan from stuff from my last collection...

[Shoebox]

Hope perhaps you can find further information as I am fond of the premiums and lesser regarded sets of the era.

My own example:

[Baseball Bob]

Thanks guys for your responses - anyone else out there have any info?

[ls7plus]

Sorry I don't have any background info on Kashin Publications, but there are indeed some neat cards in the set, including a Mel Ott rookie and early cards of other HOF'er's. The Ruth is a card that can be picked up for a reasonable price, as my info is that there were four times the Ruth's printed, compared to the other cards (the cards, per the Standard Catalog, came in a 25-card boxed set, with, I believe, 101 cards total, but there was a Babe in every such box).

Good luck on your endeavors with the set,

Larry

[nolemmings]

Have you checked with the folks on the non-sports vintage cards side? They may have developed info chasing the movie stars set. I note from a few minutes of google research that the movie star set for some reason contained 96 cards, distributed in four different colored boxes like the baseball players. Odd that they would not round up and include an additional 4 actors/actresses. I also saw where the boxes for that set can be found with "Kashin Publishing Company" on the back bottom instead of "Kashin Publications", and that the former likely came first and does not mention made in USA.
Good luck.

[Baseball Bob]

Yes, it is true that the movie stars set is only 96 cards. I have pondered long and hard about why the set was limited to 25 baseball cards per box, and why the "short prints" were omitted from the listings on the box backs. Long story short, I have not yet found the Rosetta Stone that explains it. Still more research to do!
Some of the explanation may have to do with whether there really were single card sales prior to the boxed sales. I have seen one auction listing purporting to have a "single card holder" but the photo showed no company markings and it looked kind of home-made. If the cards were sold singly first, then the short prints could be better explained.
Thanks
Eric

[nolemmings]

What I find strange is that the box size changed or at least the set changed from 96 to 100 when going from movie to baseball stars. Of course the baseball cards could have come first and then the set size reduced, but it's hard to believe that they could not come up with 4 more stars to keep the set size the same.

I brought up the change in company name on the back of the box to suggest what you likely already believe-that there was more than one printing of the cards. In that case, it's possible they did not have Ruth's blessing when the set first came out, and it was only after he gave his approval that his cards supplanted the 4 so-called short prints. I collect m101-4 and m101-5, and when the earlier of these was issued, it did not include Ty Cobb, which seems ridiculous. It could not realistically be considered an oversight, but rather some difficulty that caused the omission. The same might hold for the Ruth and R316, and might explain the "substitution" theory. Still, I recall from prior threads and posts from those who collect this set (I do not) that one of the four short prints--Todt?--is much more plentiful than the others; if so, one wonders why that would be so if all four were pulled evenly to make room for Ruth.

Finally, if you want a long shot, maybe look into Maurice Kashin. He was on Broadway in the early part of the last century, then bought and/or operated the Kashin Theatre in Montreal. An account of his death in 1946 said that he spent the last 20 years of his life in advertising. So there's a New York, theater and advertising connection. We know that some r316s (or cards of the same design and size) carry ads for theaters on the back. Felix Mendelsohn, the progenitor of m101-4/5, was involved in a variety of activities in the teens, including pushing arcade games. Maybe this Kashin was of the same spirit. Like I said it's a longshot, but who knows?

[Baseball Bob]

Todd
Great suggestions! The connection to the theatres is a cool lead. I had not heard of the actor Kashin you identified either. The mystery deepens! Interestingly, the theater back stamp example that Leon posted is from Chicago...
Yes, the Todt card is POP 17 (SGC+PSA) which is roughly three times as many as the Haines, Seibold or Hadley, and I have another I am going to get graded soon. I like the idea that maybe they started issuing without Ruth due to a contract or other snag. I have also looked into the source of the photos and the vast majority of them are readily traceable to Conlon. Oddly, the Ruth photo is not. I have been unable to locate the source. This may tie to the late issue idea as well.
Cheers
Eric