Question for the E90-1 Experts

[FrankWakefield]

Well what I didn't manage to say very well up there is that what if 10 or 15 cards that we think of as relatively common were actually printed from 2 separate sets of lithographic stones or plates? The cards are very, very similar, so much so that we've not noticed. And then the 'other' cards from each set of stones are only on one or the other, not both, making them less plentiful.

It would be neat to get several hundred of each of the subjects, spread them out on a table with some good light, and us gathered around... then we could bunch them different ways and see what's there.

[barrysloate]

Scott- that dimpled style is very telling. Many of the scarce cards have a dot matrix pattern that cards from other series do not.

Ed H. and others: do you think one artist was responsible for drawing all the images on a given sheet, or do you think more than one was involved? I know we can't say for sure.

[edhans]

Barry,
I very much doubt that we could attribute all the subjects on any given sheet to one artist. If we postulate 30 card sheets, I don't think that we could identify 30 subjects drawn in the manner of Duffy, Mitchell et al. Given the number of different poses and the compressed time frame involved, it would seem that several artists were employed on the project and the manufacturer simply chose from the images available.

[barrysloate]

Thanks Ed. Makes sense.