Mystery Lajoie Card in Legendary Auction

[fkw]

I think there is at least 2 of the Lajoies floating around...
Here is an image I have of the Lajoie, I dont think its the same card as in the SGC-40 slab, there are some similar wear, but on this card there is even more wear on the edges and some other slight differences in print and dirt. sorry about the bad scan Ive had this scan for years lifted from some place I dont remember.

[Matthew H]

Hank, here is a link to a sheet with what might be an original frame:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ght=m101+sheet

[glchen]

Here are a couple of other sheets with different advertisers for M101-4.

Link 1

Link 2

[Hankphenom]

It looks to me that this program by Mendelsohn was a real bust. If there's only a handful of the uncut sheets known, and no duplicates by back, it would seem that not a single advertiser took them up on their offer of 250 uncut sheets for $1.05 each. All of the three uncut sheets posted here are the framed versions, one of which was provided gratis to each advertiser, according to my solicitation mailer, and I presume there are cards known with backs of each of these advertisers for whom framed uncut sheets have surfaced. And if there are only 21 known backs, it can be assumed that this represents the total number of companies that signed up for the program at all. The minimum order for cards was 500 sets, and I'm guessing that most of the orders were for that amount. Are there some backs (Sporting News, for example) that are known to exist in significantly greater quantities than others, indicating a larger order? And the scarcity of complete sets might be explained by the stinginess of the Successful Farming offer, which required advance payment of a SEVEN YEAR subscription to get the complete set of 200 cards. One last question: before the surfacing of my mailer, was it presumed that the cards were produced by the individual advertisers themselves rather than, as it now appears, by the Mendelsohn Company?

[glchen]

I am far, far from an expert, but I thought that other than Sporting News, the other advertisers purchased blank backed versions of the M101-4/5, and stamped their advertising on the back of the cards themselves.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by glchen

I am far, far from an expert, but I thought that other than Sporting News, the other advertisers purchased blank backed versions of the M101-4/5, and stamped their advertising on the back of the cards themselves.

From the mailer: "At a trifling expense per set of 200 players you can obtain these photographs with your advertisement on the back of each..."

"The time to place your order with us is now so that these photographs can be printed with your advertisement and delivered in time for you to get the utmost of benefit."

"Remember, your own advertisement will appear on the back of every photograph and all photographs will be of the same quality of clear and lifelike photography as THE SAMPLE HEREWITH ENCLOSED."

So clearly Mendelsohn did the printing of the back ads and delivered them that way. And the "sample herewith enclosed might explain the Lajoie card (and others?) that have something to do with this set. Or, they might be referring to the strip of six "cards" on the mailer as the "sample herewith enclosed." Unless the mailer was intended to be sealed somehow (mine shows no indication of that, but then it was never mailed, either--perhaps coming from the Mendelsohn files themselves?) I don't see how a sample could have been enclosed, so perhaps they are referring to the strip of six on the outside of the mailer.

The sets should perhaps be renamed the M101-4 and M101-5 Mendelsohn's.

Great stuff.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

From the mailer: "At a trifling expense per set of 200 players you can obtain these photographs with your advertisement on the back of each..."

"The time to place your order with us is now so that these photographs can be printed with your advertisement and delivered in time for you to get the utmost of benefit."

"Remember, your own advertisement will appear on the back of every photograph and all photographs will be of the same quality of clear and lifelike photography as THE SAMPLE HEREWITH ENCLOSED."

So clearly Mendelsohn did the printing of the back ads and delivered them that way. And the "sample herewith enclosed might explain the Lajoie card (and others?) that have something to do with this set. Or, they might be referring to the strip of six "cards" on the mailer as the "sample herewith enclosed." Unless the mailer was intended to be sealed somehow (mine shows no indication of that, but then it was never mailed, either--perhaps coming from the Mendelsohn files themselves?) I don't see how a sample could have been enclosed, so perhaps they are referring to the strip of six on the outside of the mailer.

The sets should perhaps be renamed the M101-4 and M101-5 Mendelsohn's.

Great stuff.

Burdick, in his final edition (1960) of the ACC gave the superset of M101 the name of "Sporting News" and then went on to classify them as 1-9....He said the -4s and -5s were "Premium Cards". Us collectors gave the M101-4/5 series the "The Sporting News" name. They should really be called "Premium Cards" which would be a bit more correct imo.....AND to think, a short 15 yrs ago the backs weren't even collected too much.