E90-1 Series Mystery solved?

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

I started collecting the E90 cards in the mid-'80s....and, completed this set in the early '90s. Then,
I sold my complete set at the Philly Show in 1998 (big mistake....my Joe Jax was an Ex card, and if
I kept Joe Jax, I could sell it now for the $$$$$ I got for the entire 120 cards.

I have since started a 2nd set, so here are my observations on the E90 cards.

I don't think you can arrive at any conclusion with respect to "rounded" cornered cards vs "square"
ones. And, I'll illustrate this with scans of some of my cards.

Before I get into that, though, the 1st series of the E90-1 set was issued in 1908 and comprised
of 30 (or perhaps 40) cards. The Subjects in this 1st series appear to be most plentiful. Here are
some Stars from this 1st Series......which includes Joe Jackson and most of the Phila. A's, and Cy
Young (Boston).








The 2nd series of cards were issued in 1909 and are somewhat tougher to find. This throwing pose
of Wagner was issued in this series....





Upon issuing 100 Subjects, American Caramel decided to extend this set with an additional 20 cards
that were issued in 1910.
As we all know, these 20 Subjects in the last series were definitely Short-Printed; and, they are......

Clarke (Pittsburg)
Donlin
Duffy
Peaches Graham
Karger
Lobert
McLean
Mike Mitchell (Cinc)
Shean
Speaker
Stahl
Bill Sweeney
Upp
Walsh
CYoung (Clev)

and the 5 horizontal cards....

Brown
Hall
Joss (pitching)
Keeler (throwing)
Seigle

Additional note on this last Series....I've seen many of these 20 cards with "diamond cuts".







Notice how many of these cards are graded AUTH....my point is that there was a lot of trimming go-
ing on with these E90's (prior to the early 1990's). So, to try to determine (nowadays) which cards
were printed in the 1st or 2nd series as a function of their corners, is not really possible.

Here are 3 examples of this....the McGraw (blue CROFTS) is typical of many of the E-type cards of
that era. Oversized and "rounded" corners, of which many were trimmed by collectors to be "square",
such as the Tinker or the Upp cards in this scan.





Guys, it's just my opinion......but, it is based on many years of collecting the E90-1 cards.


TED Z