1941 Play Ball printed date question

[drapala]

I've been looking to buy 1941 Play Ball cards. I've noticed that some cards have 1941 listed as the year in the bottom left corner next to the copyright symbol on the back of the card, but others are blank. I thought that maybe the cards that lacked dates were reprints/reproductions, but that doesn't seem to be the case as both types have been authenticated.

Does anybody know more about this? Is it just a variation? I've included two photos of graded cards that are currently available on ebay. Thanks!

[BCauley]

Cards 1-48, the first series, can be found both with and without a copyright date. The second series, 49-72, doesn't have a copyright date.

I'm not sure why the first series has both options and I don't know if one version is more rare than the other or not. I've looked in the past but couldn't find an actual reason for the difference.

[drapala]

Thank you! I was not aware of that at all, and really had a hard time finding anything about it online.

[brianp-beme]

Here is a recent (about a week ago or so) thread that discussed this very issue, with some great input/conjectures from other members:

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=309604


Brian

[drapala]

Somehow completely missed that, thanks so much!