New-found issuers of m101

[nolemmings]

In conducting recent research I have found that two other newspapers (besides Altoona Tribune) advertised the m101 Mendelsohn sets– The Okmulgee (OK) Daily Democrat and the Arkansas Democrat. I found full-page ads for Okmulgee dated April 3, 1916 and April 23, 1916. Each had drawing-ish likenesses of the actual poses used for Chapman, Wagner, Collins, Evers and Alexander, although no card numbers were shown. It also included a pic of the Napoleon Lajoie “card” but it had the hands on hips pose found in the Mendelsohn flyer and the 1915 M-Unc set. The ad offered 100 cards to anyone who could get a new four-week subscription sold and 200 cards if two such subscribers were found– they needed to fill out the coupon/form and so did the kid who found them. The two ads appear to be identical. No indication of whether the backs had anything on them.

As for the Arkansas Democrat, they offered a full page ad with the same format as the Oklahoma pair, although they added images of the Joe Jackson and Heiny Zimmerman cards on either end of the fanned-out display. Kids were required to obtain a ten-week subscriber to earn 100 cards and another of the same for the other 100 cards. After the initial ad on April 7, 1916, frequent ads ran thereafter until May 22; however, all of these were simply a quarter page or so in size and had the heading “Boys! Boys! Boys!” followed by the offer and then most of the rest as a subscription form. These subsequent ads ran on April 8, 12, 18-20, 22, 26-27, May 3-5, 13, 15-17 and finally 22. Like the Okmulgee cards, there is no indication of whether the backs had anything on them.

Given the Lajoie pose and early dates of the initial ads, these were most probably m101-5 cards being offered.

Because no one has yet found m101s with ads for either of these newspapers on the back, PLEASE BE WARY OF any that pop up from now on. There's a very strong chance that if any of these exist they are blank-backed-- heck you may already own some

I will post scans of the ads shortly.

[nolemmings]

Here you go:

[Leon]

Great stuff, Todd. Nice research and thanks for sharing.

I am a little surprised, since we haven't found any of these backs, that they didn't somehow put their name on them. What are the chances we find any real ones with ad backs?

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[calvindog]

This is wild. And yes, presumably because they've never appeared with those backs, they must have been issued with blank backs. Not even a stamp.

[gregndodgers]

Very interesting! Thanks Todd!!!

[Baseball Rarities]

Love this stuff! Thanks Todd.

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by calvindog

This is wild. And yes, presumably because they've never appeared with those backs, they must have been issued with blank backs. Not even a stamp.

I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that these ads were aimed at their newspaper delivery boys, and that there was not intended to be a general distribution of these cards. Hence, the newspapers didn't feel it was worth the cost to get ads printed on the backs of the cards.

[oaks1912]

Great info Todd. And blank backs make the most sense...Thanks

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that these ads were aimed at their newspaper delivery boys, and that there was not intended to be a general distribution of these cards. Hence, the newspapers didn't feel it was worth the cost to get ads printed on the backs of the cards.

Good observation Val. Reading the part about “something to do in your spare time” leads me to believe the promo was aimed at kids in general, much like when we sold magazine subscriptions as kids.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that these ads were aimed at their newspaper delivery boys, and that there was not intended to be a general distribution of these cards. Hence, the newspapers didn't feel it was worth the cost to get ads printed on the backs of the cards.

Val, While your position makes some sense, I’m not really on board with it. The two Democrat Newspaper ads seem to run the same offer as Altoona Tribune, or very close to it, and of course that sponsor put printing on the back of its cards. The Tribune directed its ads at the kids of the community, telling them they could have the entire set if they would “Simply call at the office and you will receive two coupons. When the coupons are filled out properly the 200 Pictures are yours”.

This sounds like the Okmulgee ad that requires a subscriber and kid to “fill out the following subscription blank”, and prompts the youngsters to “solicit your friends and your neighbors”. The Arkansas ad also has a subscription blank and says “Try your father and mother first, then your uncle and aunt.... [H]ave them sign the subscription blank and mail or bring it to the Democrat office. We will attend to the delivery and the collecting”.

So it seems to me they were just drumming up business and all the local kids were given a chance to build a collection, not just delivery boys. That being the case, I could see them wanting to put some ad printing on the back of the cards, but who knows.

I believe the likelihood that these are blank backs is owing to the fact we have not seen any with ads yet, although that too is not the strongest argument. Unlike m101-4, which Mendelsohn sold directly and which had blank backs, there is no known advertising for blank-back m101-5s. Because his flyer offers bulk cards to businesses and says "Remember, your own advertisement will appear on the back of every photograph", it would seem like any enterprise looking to buy from Mendelsohn would take advantage of having an ad or logo printed.

Still much to learn.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

It also included a pic of the Napoleon Lajoie “card” but it had the hands on hips pose found in the Mendelsohn flyer and the 1915 M-Unc set. The ad offered 100 cards to anyone who could get a new four-week subscription sold and 200 cards if two such subscribers were found– they needed to fill out the coupon/form and so did the kid who found them. The two ads appear to be identical. No indication of whether the backs had anything on them.

Not sure if this is redundant to what you have said,Todd, about the "Mendelsohn flyer," but I assume you're talking about the one I consigned to an auction at the National some years ago that I'm sure you remember as serving as kind of the Rosetta Stone for these sets. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the inside of the flyer itself where it speaks to the manner of purchase and distribution of said sets with ads on the back, but I did copy the front and back as mailed that has cards depicted, including the Lajoie. I don't believe the strip of "cards" was not blank backed, but had printing from the contents of the flyer itself on the backside. Apparently, I scanned this in 2012, but I can't remember whether it was auctioned at the National in Baltimore that year or perhaps in Chicago the next year, but I didn't have the flyer very long., if that helps at all.

[nolemmings]

Thanks for posting that Hank. Maybe it is better called a mailer than a flyer, but I've been stuck in my ways. Anyway it was sold in a Legendary Auction back in 2012, and it was a beauty. I am forever grateful that you posted about it here back in March of that year because as you say, it serves as a sort of Rosetta stone.

It does appear that Mendelsohn may have pitched his cards to newspapers before this mailer went out because no known newspaper ads appear on the back of cards except for Altoona Tribune, and yet it seems foolish to me that they would have opted out of Mendelsohn's offer to print something there for them. Importantly, the Tribune did not promote its cards to the public until June 12, 1916, a full two months after the other papers, and it was selling the later-issued m101-4s, not the m101-5s tied to the Chicago Examiner, Iowa, Oklahoma and Arkansas papers, so Altoona likely was aware of Mendelsohn's mailer terms. Anyway, given that these other newspapers were offering "sets" of 100 or 200 cards for each fulfilled coupon, I would assume they had pretty good size amounts on hand, and the lack of any being found with back advertising in the past century solidly supports that they were blank backed.

[nolemmings]

Moose, thanks for posting that Iowa newspaper ad. It looks like these papers were either owned by one parent company or that Felix Mendelsohn played a part in preparing a general layout for all of them to use.

Connor, I do believe that the 1915 W-uncs are related to m101, or at least come from the same family tree-- just that they are different enough that they can't be called m101-4/5s. Yours is truly an intriguing card-- kind of a missing link, because the early Chicago Examiner cards, first advertised in mid-March, 1916, already had corrected the Lajoie card to show him holding a bat. It's unclear to me when and how your card would have been produced given that timeline, although we know from the Mendelsohn flyer/mailer that the other pose was still on hand for him to use.

[nolemmings]

Here is the inside portion of the Mendelsohn flyer which, as Hank has just shown, is unaddressed and not post-marked, making its origins and target audience unclear:



To me this makes it very unlikely that legit m101s will be found with a stamped as opposed to printed advertising back. Why go through all that extra work of hand-stamping to produce what would likely be a more shoddy-looking back?

[st.moose]

full page ad in March 19, 1916 Galveston (TX) Daily News