Jim Rowe Postcards

[slidekellyslide]

There is no catalog for them...They were definitely made in the 1960s or 70s. Not sure how he went about selling them...he may have advertised in the Sporting News or something like that. In 1977 he apparently sold sets of the 1956 Braves and 1929 Cubs..The SCD lists the original price for the sets so he must have advertised them somewhere. I've heard lots of people say that the Rowe postcards go back to the 1950s, but I have yet to see any proof of that.

I think if you were trying to collect all the postcards that Rowe put out it could be a neverending task.

[abrahamrudy]

I'm not trying to collect all of them, but I am trying to identify this one particular postcard. It strikes me as odd that he would sell a postcard of a no-name player 20 years after his retirement, which is why I'm suspicious that it dates from the late 40s or 50s.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by abrahamrudy

I'm not trying to collect all of them, but I am trying to identify this one particular postcard. It strikes me as odd that he would sell a postcard of a no-name player 20 years after his retirement, which is why I'm suspicious that it dates from the late 40s or 50s.

Almost all of the Jim Rowe postcards are of players who were retired...and it's not odd to see a "no-name" player...I see them all the time and have owned many. Jim Rowe was not making postcards in the 1940s or 50s and I'll stand by that until someone offers proof.

[abrahamrudy]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

Almost all of the Jim Rowe postcards are of players who were retired...and it's not odd to see a "no-name" player...I see them all the time and have owned many. Jim Rowe was not making postcards in the 1940s or 50s and I'll stand by that until someone offers proof.

I'll take your word for it. I just wondered because my internet research came up with surprisingly little for Jim Rowe. I'll keep looking.

[scgaynor]

He did them as a collector issue for guys who wanted player photos of a specific team or a specific year. You can't have a complete 1948 Phillies set without Sam Nahem, so he created a postcard of Sam Nahem. There was a relatively small group of early collectors who would write to each other looking for specific player photos and Rowe was one of the guys that would fill their needs, especially since he had Burke's images.

Scott

[abrahamrudy]

Originally Posted by scgaynor

He did them as a collector issue for guys who wanted player photos of a specific team or a specific year. You can't have a complete 1948 Phillies set without Sam Nahem, so he created a postcard of Sam Nahem. There was a relatively small group of early collectors who would write to each other looking for specific player photos and Rowe was one of the guys that would fill their needs, especially since he had Burke's images.

Scott

So basically he was a photograph collector. I guess that makes sense. I wonder how the licensing worked for those pictures...

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by abrahamrudy

So basically he was a photograph collector. I guess that makes sense. I wonder how the licensing worked for those pictures...

He wasn't a collector as far as I know, but he was a photographer who I believe worked with George Brace and thus had access to probably the world's largest archive of baseball negatives.