help identifying a 1920s-ish type card
 

Is this a real issue that I'm overlooking or is it some kind of bogus reprint? It is the image from E121/W501/W575 but they aren't toned yellow, are they?

Thanks for any help-

I think probably reprint. That printing isn't focused whatsoever. Maybe others will know more. Not sure why that would be reprinted either.

These were pulled from a pack.

Tim, I don't know if your card of Clarence Hodge id real or repro, but I think I can help you ID it. Notice how close together the 2 lines of print below the player are in the W575-1 cards Leon showed. This same closemess of the 2 lines also appears in the E121-80 cards. The Standard Catalog lists Hodge in the W575-1 set, but not in the E121-80 set.

The 2 lines of print are farther apart in your Hodge card, like they are in the E121-120 and W501 cards The Standard Catalog lists Hodge in both of these sets.

It has now been recognized by SGC that there are two variations of the W501 cards. The W501-1 variation has the date and card number in the upper corners, whereas a W501-2 card does not have this info in the upper corners. It is believed that for a very long time, many W501-2 cards have been misidentified as being W575-1 cards.

In conclusion, I believe your Hodge card is a W501-2 card, which are known to have a grainy, less sharp pic than the W575-1 cards. Hope this helps.
Val

The man knows his stuff
 

Val,
I think you are spot on with this. Back in the dim recesses of my memory,some of which are extremely dim, I recall there being an obscure variation of w501that had puzzled people. This has to be it. It does look like a period card, just one with a crappy grainy texture.

Thanks for sharing your expertise!

Tim

Tim, the credit for any expertise I have re the W501 cards belongs to Rhett Yeakley. Rhett wrote a wonderful article for the Fall 2011 issue of Old Cardboard Magazine that I have often referred to over the years. Below are the 2 pages of Rhett's article that include his comments about the W501 set.

I have also come to realize that another way to distinguish the W501-2 cards from the W575-1 cards is that the rectangle containing the player's image is slightly smaller, both in length and width, on a W501-2 card.

From what you’re saying, it sounds like you might be dealing with a reprint or a variation, especially if the card tone looks different from the usual yellowish tint of the originals like E121/W501/W575. Those sets are pretty old, so originals usually have that aged look. If yours looks too fresh or the colors seem off, it could be a modern reprint or a fake