Posted By:
MillerhouseHi, everyone. I've been collecting S74s for nearly forty years (since my grandfather gave me seven that he'd saved from the days when he acquired them in the packs of Old Mill Cigarettes that he smoked) and am down to needing only a couple of S74-1s with backs. Unfortunately, I never thought to ask him about the folding issue before he passed away.
I nonetheless have a couple of comments to offer, based upon my years of pursuing these, pertinent to the comments above. First, trying to ascertain which is the rarest color among the S74-2s is probably a thankless task. I have seen so many silks in so many different shades of nearly every color that trying to draw lines between those colors is difficult. My impression is that the manufacturer fed whatever color ribbon he had available that day into the machine. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason -- at least that I can ascertain -- regarding which players appear in which colors. And, indeed, the collection of Klings above demonstrates that quite clearly.
Second, the idea that any of these (S74-1 or S74-2) were actually folded before insertion into the packs seems unlikely. If the packs were too small to handle one or the other unfolded, how does one explain the presence of some S74-1s that appear never to have been folded? My suspicion is that the adhesive by which the silks were attached to the backings provided a source of tension that led to the creasing. I can't prove it, but it always seemed like a more probable explanation -- especially since the amount of creasing from card to card varies as much as it does.
Just the ramblings of an old man, but I've sure run through plenty of S74s!
Regards all,
Millerhouse