1911 Obak backs---Is this something new?

[Archive]

Posted By: AdamBaxter

After looking at my 1911's, Brian Parker's list (Thanks!), and the LOC website the checklist is currently at 40. The majority of the examples are NWL players at 23 with PCL players at 17.

The players so far:

PCL:

Los Angeles: Criger, Howard
Oakland: Christian, Knight, Miller, Pearce, Zacher
Portland: Barry, Rodgers
Sacramento: Danzig, Lalonge, Nourse, Thompson
San Francisco: Zamlock
Vernon: Raleigh, Sheehan, Stewart

NWL:

Portland: Bloomfield, Lamline, Mensor, Stovall
Seattle: Butler, Leard, Skeels, Spencer
Spokane: Bonner, Frisk, Hasty, Holm
Tacoma: Annis, Gordon, Higgins, Schmutz
Vancouver: Swain
Victoria: Dashwood, Householder, Reddick, Roche, Starkel, Ward

I suspect that Davis, Victoria NWL also has the bar w/ leaf design, but the only example I could find had significant damage so I don't know for sure. Unless an example is found of a player with the design and without, then it is not really a seperate type. I think Brian is right on the money when he said that the design was probably put there to fill empty space. It appears that any 1911 card with less then 1/4 inch of space on the back between the bio/stat info and the "O" in Obak will NOT have the design. But if the space measures 1/4 or more, then it probably will. The two truly borderline exceptions that I found were Million and Mitze. Both appear to have 1/4 inch of empty space on the back, but neither have the bar w/ leaf design. Several others seem to have also barely missed the cut. It's likely that the producers used more precise measurements then I did and that's why they don't sport the bar design. It is interesting that the two different styles have not been documented whether insignificant or not.