Ever seen this 1886 baseball greeting card?

[CarltonHendricks]

Thanks Paul...That's pretty good speculation, might be just that. But I was hoping for someone to come forward with another example. By the way, John Gennantonio says the mask is a Thayer...only one or two are known I believe....That's interesting since a Thayer would be from 1877 and this card is from 1886..

[perezfan]

That was the first thing that hit me about it... the Thayer Mask. There was one on ebay for quite a long time, up until recently (with a $5,000 min bid). I am not sure whether it sold, or if the seller simply took it off the market.

I also believe there are certainly more than 2 survivng Thayer Mask examples, although the real number could well be under 10. Cool piece!

[olsport]

I have noticed (at least for patents) that it took like 7 years later many times for the item to come out after patented. I am not sure about copywrites, but it may have taken quite a few years after copyrighted to final printing.