What Am I?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Could it just be a sad case of someone taking an interesting Fred Clarke piece and trying to gussy it up to make a killing? The cancelled stamp being added and the writing over existing creases suggest that to me.

[Throttlesteer]

The signature is off too. I think you may be right about gussying it up.

[sb1]

They had no idea what it was, and expressed that they had looked up the signature and did not see a match just similarities. I paid about $10 per postcard, about the going rate for generic RPPC's.

I am disappointed the stamp and cancel are not tied to the piece for an exact date, but still believe the piece has been with the others for decades. Especially since the Clark item is dressed to a known member of the communities wife.. why not make address it to him for a ploy as he is a googleable(made that word up).

All that being said I am much more interested in what these Pirates "cards" were cut from, several like the new Clark have bits of red border showing when cut wide. None of the ones I have from the initial group can be put together by the roughly cut sides, so there must have been ample space between them and cut to size???

[sb1]

If you were going for a forgery, why not use the correct 1 cent Benjamin Franklin stamp? And why use such an obscure lithograph of which there are no others known(other than the group I have).

I think it's more likely some local citizen/Pirates fan had this Clark piece at his disposal, albeit a bit creased/cracked and decided to send it to his neighbor, which in those days it was not uncommon to drop an item in their rural mailbox without mailing it and he just stuck a used stamp on it.( I am tempted to remove the stamp and see if it has toning from the perforations indicating the stamp had been attached for a long time).

[Tao_Moko]

Maybe it was a kid who recycled the stamp for hand delivery. Might explain the poor handwriting too. Never seen it before.

[steve B]

The stamp also has perforated initials of a company, called a perfin in that hobby. Doing that was approved in I think 1908 to help companies prevent mailroom pilferage.
Pattern B152 used by Bankers Life Association in Des Moines Iowa if you're curious.

It's perforated 12 - 12 holes per 2cm. It was current from 1908-1912.
It comes with two different watermarks, but they are very hard to tell while a stamp is on paper. I have the device needed, and have never gotten it to work reliably. The change came in 1910, but old stock would have been used for some time after.

I doubt it was mailed, either as a postcard or as a piece of first class mail.

[oldeboo]

Not that you don't already have enough, but I have a few more headscratchers for you.

"Pittsburgh" wasn't officially "Pittsburgh" again until mid 1911 after a decent hiatus, it was "Pittsburg" up until then. Now you do see the "h" used on occasion like on the 1910 Tip Top cards, but it was less common and not correct. Think about the T206 Wagner that uses "Pittsburg" across the chest. Even in the 1912 T207 set "Pittsburg" was still being used. Changes like that take time to catch on, you see it on all sorts of things like postcards well into 1912 and even 1913 some.

The image of Byrne is also used for many different items as you can see below. The T204 was doctored a little to smooth out the front. On the M116 the wrinkles are still there. It would certainly not have had "Pittsburgh" across the chest when he was playing for Saint Louis. "Pittsburg" across the chest as seen on the T206 Wagner card and others was just a fantasy, the uniforms didn't look like that. I can't find any other images at all with the color added like yours across the chest and collar. Someone put a decent amount of effort into coloring that.

To top it off, both of your cards with bottoms use different font and words. The Pittsburgh line is a different font style. Also, one uses "club," and "team" is used on the other.

What very odd and strange pieces.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by steve B

I doubt it was mailed, either as a postcard or as a piece of first class mail.

Plus, the stamp was clearly not cancelled while on this card, as the cancellation doesn't extend beyond the stamp.

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by steve B

The stamp also has perforated initials of a company, called a perfin in that hobby. Doing that was approved in I think 1908 to help companies prevent mailroom pilferage.
Pattern B152 used by Bankers Life Association in Des Moines Iowa if you're curious.

It's perforated 12 - 12 holes per 2cm. It was current from 1908-1912.
It comes with two different watermarks, but they are very hard to tell while a stamp is on paper. I have the device needed, and have never gotten it to work reliably. The change came in 1910, but old stock would have been used for some time after.

I doubt it was mailed, either as a postcard or as a piece of first class mail.

To add to what Steve said, this is a machine cancel not a hand stamp. A machine cancel would continue onto the item to which the stamp is affixed. It could not start and stop at the perfs.