Posted By:
Ed HansTed,
Excellent observation on the A's ringed/white caps. I hadn't considered that angle before. I'm not sure I agree that the designs correlate exactly to the series though. I'm also not sold on the "reddish-orange" theory, as there are numerous common subjects with red or orange backgrounds (Chase, Clark, Summers, Mullin etc.)
One of Frank's posts above mentioned the possibility of some of the difficult subjects being printed in the early print runs. I strongly concur with this idea.
I'll repeat what I said above-E90-1 simply can't be thought of as three series; 1909, 1910, and 1911. The vastly different levels of rarity alone are enough to confirm this. I believe that the E90-1 set was issued in 5-7 series (printings?); the first two in 1909, at least three others in 1910, and possibly one in early 1911. I am still trying to piece together a theory on E90-1's distribution that will fit the existing patterns of scarcity, player movement, artwork, and backgrounds. Keep the ideas coming!