Gam(bl)ing
In the San Francisco region during the mid-teens to mid 30's a craze called "zeenut shooting" was part of the culture growing up, almost like pitching pennines but with baseball cards. Different techniques were used by different kids ranging from clipping corners (smooth edges do not bounce back from the walls as much as a pointed edge) to dipping the card in wax (adds weight to the paper, better control and brakes). A high percentage of Bay Area collections assembled during that era will contain cards with clipped corners. Not all of the cards will necessarily be clipped, but there are usually some. A recently acquired (Bay Area assembled) collection contained examples of E-120, E-135, E-136, T-206 and T-212 cards which had been subjected to this modification.
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