Can anyone identify these Toledo Mud Hens Cards?

[Aug06]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

Just after WW II, paper manufacturers commenced to add brighteners to paper. Makes it look better. Brighteners fluoresce when exposed to uv light. Black light, ultraviolet light. If those cards fluoresce, then they come from the late 1940s to 2025. Black lights would cost you about $20 or a bit less. They can potentially quickly save you from paying a few thousand dollars for a cool looking $2 card. Google "optical brighteners wikipedia"

The cards look real. But... tearing them apart doesn't seem to be something that someone would have done a few years ago. I'd think someone tearing it apart would have been a kid from about 110 years ago, or a kid of that kid about 20 years later. However, the edges of those cards don't look like they were torn apart that long ago... cards torn apart 90 years ago would have more wear on the edges, fraying would be present.

So, I lack certainty, about the cards' authenticity. A black light would be an easy test. Those things could be from the 1890s - 1900s. Or they could be from a mailing, a promotion, a book page or insert, from the 1960s or more recent times. If they don't fluoresce, they may well be real. If they fluoresce, the cards most certainly aren't. It's such an easy test.

Like you said, my attention immediately went to the tearing and how "White" the tears/rips were. I would think they would be much more discolored....but i dont know.