Pricing on 19th century base ball trade card

[pete zouras]

The piece is printed on a thin sheet of paper, akin to the thickness of a cigar label. I can't imagine there's enough paper for it to have been re-backed, and for what purpose? To turn a $25 item into a $50 item? Is it possible for it to have been originally blank backed, and then to have the glass blowers ad added to it later? I dunno. I'm going with Barry's initial assessment that the thing's not worth much, doctored or not. And by the way, the guy's asking price is $250 less 15%; I've concluded to save my $$ (perhaps) for a tasty Brockelman & Luckey offering. Thanks guys!

[barrysloate]

Pete- it does sound strange and if it is paper thin it's either just a layer of the cover, or possibly there was a flyer of some kind issued at the same time. Either way, that glass blower ad was glued on after the fact. I agree you would be better off passing at that price level, since that is roughly the value of the whole book.

[ElCabron]

It looks to me more like the glue is simply the normal kind of glue residue that would be on the back after it was removed from a scrapbook like so many other trade cards often have. I disagree that the Glass Blowers ad was glued on after the fact or is even a separate piece. Then again, it's pretty hard to tell from those pics. Maybe Barry's right. Does the book have glossy covers like the paper of this piece? You can see from the flash reflection that the paper has some gloss to it which doesn't seem to appear on the book. Also, the colors for both all match except for the green background this piece has vs. the brown background on the book. Oh, and can someone point out Anson and Kelly for me?

Interesting piece, whatever it is.

-Ryan

[barrysloate]

Ryan- that back cover illustration appears to be based on the October 14, 1882 Harper's Woodcut of the Chicago White Stockings, although the artist took some liberties, which included removing mustaches from some of the players and shifting some players around. The one seated in the center is Anson, and the other player with the vertical striped jacket appears to be Kelly, although he occupies a different position in the back row of the Harper's. Clearly, the artist who drew this picture did not recreate a precise rendition of the players' faces.