1930s-40s Apex Photography Co 5x7 photos
 

I somehow managed to buy a nearly identical photo to one I already had. The player is Joe Heving, and I had previously purchased a nice 1930s Apex Photography Co 5x7 photo of him. Of course I couldn't pass up the next photo of him I saw, completely forgetting I already had one, so I picked up another 1930s Apex Photography Co 5x7 photo.

Once I realized I had purchased the same photo twice, I immediately thought to keep the nicer one and move along. However, I noticed that they are not notated the same way, nor is the player number (AL-1295) present on the front of both photos. My earlier purchase is a nicer example, but the later purchase has the number on front. Both have the Apex Photography Co. stamp on the back, but my earlier purchase has the name and team hand-written, and the later purchase has them typed out at the top.

I believe them both to be period and genuine. I have other photos that follow either format, but this is the first one I have seen with both formats for the same subject to compare.

Can anyone shed some light as to what's going on with the different formats? Is one earlier/one later, or the result of two different people at Apex cataloging them differently, or something else? Is one version more collected than the other?

Those are from a series released by the American League Service Bureau. They are actually numbered like baseball cards on the front and quite a comprehensive run starting about 1930 and running through the decade. There are several that also carry photographer stamps on the back like Underwood for example and they usually have a stamp from the AL Bureau on the back but not always. They were released over a long period of time so the style is probably just a change in paper at some point.

Rhys

Thank You, Rhys!

Jason, Do you know of any other Apex photos of Cleveland players other than Heving, Hal Trosky and Clint Brown?

Cleveland Indians Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photos
 

Here's the ones I have, but there are definitely many more. I have not really catalogued by number/format/pose so that might be a good next step. My dates below may or may not be accurate:

1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Louis Berger
1940-41 Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Lou Boudreau
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Lloyd Brown
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Bruce Campbell
1940s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Gene Desautels
1939 Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Harry Eisenstat
1940s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Tom Ferrick
1940s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Les Fleming
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Odell Hale
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Jeff Heath
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Henry Helf
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Rollie Hemsley
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Ken Holloway
1946 Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Vic Johnson
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Bill Knickerbocker
1940s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Bob Kuzawa
1937 Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Lyn Lary
1940s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Ray Mack
1928-29 Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Johnny Miljus
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Jake Miller
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Blas Monaco
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Glenn Myatt
1940s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Mike Naymick
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Eddie Phillips
1940s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Al Smith
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Roy Spencer
1930s apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Walter Stewart
1929 Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Jackie Tavener
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Forrest Twogood
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Bill Zuber
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Roy Weatherly
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Harry White
1930s Apex Photograph Co 5x7 Photo Oscar Vitt

Thanks Jason!