T218 series breakdown and ad backs

[scooter729]

Thanks guys - great work and would love to jump in. I've got maybe 500 or so T218s, along with a few dozen C52s, so I'll be happy to help if I can...

[DaveW]

Scott,
Thanks for joining in. Your data would be greatly appreciated. If you give me your email address, I'll send you my spreadsheet with all the T218 and C52 data I have and you can see what you've got that is not already there. I'm really interested in your C52 cards. Right now, it looks like all the C52s numbered between 1 and 50 come from the Mecca series 1 cards with the "Champion Athlete ..." backs and all of the C52s with numbers between 50 and 100 come from the Mecca cards with the "Series of Champion ..." backs.
- Dave

PM sent with my email address

[DaveW]

Thanks to all who have shared their data with me (especially Scott S) - this is what is so great about this site! I'm getting pretty close to understanding this set, but I need a little more help. If you have any of the following cards, could you please let me know (a scan would be great, but not absolutely needed)?

T218:
Johnny Hayes or Gusta Ljungstrom with "Series of Champion Athletes & Prize Fighters" on the back (not just "Series of Champion Athletes")

Any Hassan back of H.J. Handy

A Mecca or Hassan (no Series 2 designation) or C52 of Lunghi or James P Sullivan
A Hassan (no Series 2 designation) back of Joe Gans or Jack O'Brien

A Tolstoi back of Jack Johnson (side view, green)

Also any C52 card with a number above 50

I'll be happy to share all of my data with anybody that wants it, just PM me.
Thanks,
- Dave

[GasHouseGang]

I went through my set, and I didn't have any of the variations you were looking for. Drats!

[RBrown]

Dave,

Here's a few you asked about.

[DaveW]

Thanks for looking through your cards and for the scans. I'll add them to the known cards spreadsheet.
As a reward, here's an interesting thing I discovered about one of the cards in the T218 set. George Sutton was a famous billiards player of the day and was pictured playing pool on one card, but in real life he had no hands! He lost them both just below the elbows in a sawmill accident when he was 8 years old - but on the card he is pictured with hands.
- Dave

[scooter729]

Interesting about Sutton, Dave. I just searched and saw the same thing - here is a picture of the handless wonder. One possible thought - this is "George H. Sutton" of billiards fame - apparently there was a "George F. Sutton" who was known in the billiards world then - any chance the T218's feature the other George Sutton - you know, the one with hands?

[DaveW]

Scott - You may be correct. It's hard to believe that there were 2 George Suttons playing in the 1910 era, but it's even harder to believe that they missed the fact that the one was handless. The picture also looks more like George F Sutton. I still think that it's amazing that a guy with no hands could get to be a top flight billiards player. Good catch.