When Fritsch made the reprints, he essentially took a photograph of an existing photo, which when used in the reprint process, caused there to be a slight cropping from the original. It's as simple as that. That is what you see here.
You claim that you saw "originals" or better yet, "prototypes" of the Ruth m101-5 all those years ago. Show me one. Show me a scan of one. Show me a catalog pic or any other depiction of one. Don't limit yourself to Ruth and Thorpe. Show me one of ANY card from m101-5--you get a couple of hundred to choose from. There are none, none that are not reprints. ZERO--are you following along here?
Your latest post sparked a memory of a thread several years ago when you spouted similar nonsense. There you claimed to be in possession of one of these "prototypes", and were asked repeatedly to show scans. You have had more than 5 years from that thread to do so, and yet, nada.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ghlight=thorpe
There I more kindly suggested that you were in error, and that your analysis concerning Thorpe and Ruth being the subjects of Mendelsohn prototypes was unlikely. I stand by that, and invite you again to post your scan and pray tell, since you seem to be the owner of a six-figure card, why it isn't properly slabbed so as to stand out from the many fakes that ignorant collectors like me would discard. Surely even if you don't wish to sell it you would want protections in place such that upon your passing, your heirs aren't wrongfully told that it is unauthentic, they being unable at that point to consult your expertise. Of course, maybe I am incorrect in my assumption, and that you actually have had your genuine Ruth prototype slabbed. If so, please provide us with the serial number if you are not inclined to show a scan.