Need a little info on T5-derived postcards

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Posted By: warshawlaw 

I scored a couple of these recently. For those of you who are not clear on what I mean, the T5 Pinkerton cabinets had very attractive numbered photos that were used later on to make postcards. I know they are vintage items because I saw a few in the Burdick Collection when I was in NY earlier this month.

My question is this: what the heck are these things called? Is there an ACC classification that I'm not picking up on? Are they anywhere in the big books?

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Posted By: Glen V

I think T5 postcards are W530 - they aren't in the price guide, unless they have scorecard backs. Then they are under Pinkerton Scorecards.

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Posted By: hankron

They are definitely vintage. A guy I know had a blank backed one that was used as a postcard, and the postmark was somewhere in the 1910s.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I have the 2003 SCD book at the office; the W530 listing must be in the 2004. I wonder why a W designation for a postcard (why not a "PC" designation?).

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Posted By: hankron

Adam, I have always referred to them simply as 'Pinkerton Postcards' or 'Pinkerton Scorecards.' Though it seems unlikely that, other than the shared images, they have a relationship with Pinkerton brand tobacco.

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Posted By: Patrick McMenemy

I picked this example up off EBAY a few months back. The seller mentioned in his description that it was part of a 1910 era lot of postcards he purchased.





On a side note, the Max Stein Meyers postcard uses a similar image.

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Posted By: hankron

For clarity's sake, I beleive that these various Pinkerton items were issed a bit after the T5s (likely stating the obvious to many). For those unfamiliar with the cards, they are the size of postcards and can be found with postcard backs, baseball game scorecard backs and blank backs.

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Posted By: fkw

The 1912 Pinkerton Postcards are found with a scorecard back or a blank back (sometimes used like a postcard). I have never seen one with actual postcard markings on back. The Pinkerton Postcards are from the exact time the true T5 Pinkerton Cabinet cards were made. I have 2 cards in my collection that were originally used as postcards with postmarked dates, 1 cent stamp, writing etc. King Cole #203 postmarked "Findlay OH Aug.11, 1913", and Clark Griffith #419 postmarked "Greensburo LA. May 7, 1913". I have seen these scarce cards listed as W530 in the past so thats what I havce always call them. Frank

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Posted By: warshawlaw

so he can revise the standard catalogue description for these cards.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I suspect that the "set" was issued in series. I got my two cards today. #501 Bender shows him with Philly, which dates the card before he jumped to the Feds. #208 Tinker states he is manager of the Feds and shows him in a Chicago Federals uniform, meaning that it has to be issued after he jumped. The typeface on the two cards differs, leading me to suspect that the Tinker was issued later on.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I noticed that there are only a few of these cards in the catalogue. Which ones do we collectively have?

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Posted By: Mike Peich

This is an interesting thread, and I welcome the suggestion of determining which of the Pinkerton postcards we own. I picked up three this week-end at Ft. Washington:
Mack #505 (scorecard back)
King Cole #203 (scorecard back)
Mike Mitchell #424 (plain back, with handwritten date of March 1, 1914).

If no one else is interested, I'd be happy to compile a list that we can later send to Bob Lemke, and circulate among ourselves. We should include the following information:
1. Name, number, and team
2. Type of back: scorecard, plain, postcard (does anyone have one of these?)
3. Any dates like a postmark, jersey type, team played for, etc.
4. Any other data?

Once we agree on the information we wish to include, you can send me data offline at mpeich@comcast.net. I'll construct a database, and we'll see how many cards, beyond the four in SCBC, we can discover. Thanks to all for suggesting this information collection. I look forward to hearing from everyone.

Cheers, Mike

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Posted By: fkw

This is what I have right now (I have owned about 4-5 others a few years back, but have no list of the players/teams/# etc., so they are not included in list).

Babe Adams #865 Pitts NL blank
King Cole #203 Chi NL blank but used as a postcard
Eddie Collins #511 Phil AL blank
Larry Doyle #260 NY NL scorecard
Clark Griffith #419 Wash AL (2) blank, blank but used as a postcard
Christy Mathewson #251 NY NL blank
Fred Merkle #252 NY NL scorecard
Chief Myers (Meyers) #264 NYNL blank
Honus Wagner #872 Pitts NL (2) blank, scorecard




Frank

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Posted By: Roy Miller

Finally! I've been trying to identify these, too. I have a scorecard back Eddie Collins #511. Thanks for the info.