1898-99 National Copper Plates and 1899-1900 M101-1 The Sporting News

[Baseball Rarities]

Here is an example of the 6 subject stapled portfolio that National Copper Plate began issuing in 1898. I have included an example of one of the subjects, Anson, which is copyrighted 1898 to the left of his image. I am not sure if these measure the typical 8.75" x 11.00" or not.

[Baseball Rarities]

There is quite a bit of overlap between the two sets. In total, 87 different players are known.

The M101-1 Sporting News Supplement set (the set with advertising date at the top) contains a total of 62 subjects.

There are 50 subjects in the Sporting News "Portfolio" set (the set with no advertising at the top).

25 of the subjects (such as Wagner) are known in both sets.

25 of the subjects are only known without the advertising at the top.

37 of the subjects were only issued as a weekly supplement to The Sporting News.

[Baseball Rarities]

Here is an image of the cover and a few of the subjects from The Sporting News portfolio of 50 subjects that sold in Christie's. It was later broken up and sold off individually. These measure 8.75" x 11.00". As mentioned, none of the subjects had advertising at the top, but are sometimes referred to as National Copper Plates even though they were issued by The Sporting News. All of the subjects has either an 1898 or 1899 date at the bottom, so it clearly was not issued until 1899.

[mrreality68]

Wow. These are amazing

[jingram058]

I understand the HOF desire for uniformity in the display of those enshrined, and the decision for the bronze plaques goes all the way back to the origin. But it seems to me these fantastic images depict what these fellows really looked like. Some of the bas relief images on the plaques are bloody awful, to put it bluntly, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the individual depicted.

[terjung]

I wish I had something I could contribute to the discussion. In the absence of that, I'll just express my appreciation for showing these beautiful examples. Thank you, Kevin (and others)!

[Baseball Rarities]

Here is a newspaper ad from the August 19, 1899 issue of The Sporting News that offered their subscribers a portfolio of 50 subjects for free with a $2.00 paid subscription to their newspaper.

Many people refer to these as National Copper Plates since they do not have advertising on them.

[puckpaul]

A few others to view. The Hoy from only the Natl copper series. The Delehanty (still listed as a “common” in the Standard Catalogue…anyone still use this occasionally besides me?). The young pictures of McGraw and Chesbro (looks 15!). And the Cy from the Sporting News. The backs are a great read, too, will post some of those later (its a little clunky to load the pictures).

Paul

[puckpaul]

Thanks, Kevin, and I will do my best to contribute based on my collection. For one, here is an Anson that was removed from the binding (i purchased it separately from the REA bound volume.) sorry i am away from my collection and do not have a photo of the binder handy, will follow up when i can.

Also, here are two versions of the Kid Nichols, one of which is oversized. I assumed that the one without the sporting news date across the top was a copper Plate, but never sure. And teh versions can differ with that border frame on the picture. Only on some of them.