Differences between W515-1 and W515-2

[glchen]

I recently purchased a lot of W515 strip cards that were closely trimmed to inside the borders, and I have been trying to determine if they are w515-1 or w515-2. The typical determining characteristics between the two according to old cardboard and the Standard Catalog are:

(1) W515-2 have the words "THE LITTLE WONDER PICTURE SERIES" above the top border of a full strip.

(2) The sizes of the cards are slightly different when you have the full box borders.

(3) The pictures of the players are cropped differently or look slightly different. For example, if you take a look at these W515-1 and W515-2 Walter Johnson's from another W515 thread here: Link, you can see that there is a lot of blue space above Wojo's cap in the W515-2, and there is lesser space above the W515-1 card.

For me, #3 is important because I can't use the #1 and #2 criteria since all of these cards I have are cut inside the borders (except for the bottom which still shows the player's name). However, this is something that is mentioned ambiguously in the Standard Catalog, but after reviewing a lot of these cards, I believe this can also be used as a criteria:

(4) The @U&U copyright for the W515-1 is on the same line at the player's name just below the bottom box border or just above that bottom box border while on the W515-2, the copyright is above the top border. If you look at the Walter Johnson cards from #3 criteria, you will see this. For cards that are cut inside the borders, the name on bottom is rarely cut off. Therefore, I believe that if I see the @U&U copyright on the bottom of the card, it is a W515-1. If I don't see it, then it's a W515-2.

Does anyone from their experience know if this #4 criteria is valid or are there some players in these sets that do not comply with this? If this is true, it would make it much easier and faster for me to determine what card is a W515-1 and W515-2 since I wouldn't have to compare the cropping differences using criteria #3 with known W515-1 and W515-2 images for each player off the internet. Thanks!


Edit: per post #3, rule #4 only works for cards #1-40 and not for 41-60.

[glchen]

To make it easier, I've directly attached the picture of the W515 Wojo cards from Val's post here.

[glchen]

Looking at Paul's complete W515-2 set that he posted here: Link, there are many cards that do not follow rule #4 on where the @U&U copyright symbol is. That is, for these W515-2 cards, the symbol is not above the top border, but is instead at a position similar to where it is on the W515-1. Basically, rule #4 only holds for cards #1-40. For cards #41-60, the W515-2 also has the copyright symbol at a similar place to the W515-1's. And there are some cards (e.g., the #47 Babe Ruth card) where the copyright symbol does not exist anywhere on the card for both the W515-1 and the W515-2 sets.

[h2oya311]

Thanks for the investigative work, Gary. I'll keep this post handy for any future W515-X's I pick up.

[T206Collector]

There is also a key to finding the differences in the use of yellow. For instance, the first 20 cards in the W515-2 set are awash in yellow. This is really apparent when you lay all of the cards out as I did in the other post about finishing the set. My Aaron Ward is a great example. How can you tell that it's a W515-2 and not a W515-2? You can't look to the borders, which are gone as it is heavily trimmed. But check out the yellow in his shoulders and up the middle of his jersey with the buttons. You don't see that use of yellow in the W515-1s. (Of course the different location of the copyright helps, too!)



I think you can also see that difference in WaJo's cap in the post above. The W515-2 has some yellow in it. Not so the W515-1.

[glchen]

Thanks for the input, Paul. I've put the images that Paul has above for #19 Aaron Ward to make it easier for everyone to compare (not to scale). The W515-1 is on the left, and the W515-2 from Paul's set in on the right. As you can see, the W515-2 has yellowing on the shoulders and cap area as well as other parts of the card, which aren't on the W515-1.

[glchen]

I will try to go through the list of cards #41-60 (using Paul's set for the W515-2) and show the differences for each card to distinguish W515-1 from W515-2. I will try to use the easiest distinguishing factors although there will usually be several differences, and I will not go through them all. You can look at the scans for more details. The W515-1 scan will always be on the left and the W515-2 will be on the right. The scans for each card are not to scale, so please do not compare the sizes of the W515-1 to the W515-2 that I am showing.

#41 Jim Johnston - on the W515-1, the copyright is on the lower right. On the W515-2, the copyright is on the lower left side.

[glchen]

#42 Willie Kamm - the copyright is on roughly the same place on both cards, so you can't really use it for this card. If you have the top border, you will notice there is much more space between the top of the head and the top border on the W515-2 than the W515-1. If you don't have the top border, then if you have the right border, you will notice that the second set of vertical lines near the bottom right corner touches the right border on the W515-1, but they don't touch the right border on the W515-2.

[glchen]

#43 Sam Jones - the copyright is on the bottom right corner for the W515-1 and more towards the bottom left corner for the W515-2

[glchen]

#44 Frank Snyder - the copyright is on the lower right corner of the W515-1, and it is in the middle of the bottom border (in the red sleeve) of the W515-2

[glchen]

#45 John McGraw - the copyright is on roughly the same place on both cards. If you have the top border, you will see there is more space between the top of the cap and the top border on the W515-2. If you have the right border, you will see the shoulder curve down much lower on the W515-2 than the W515-1.

[glchen]

#46 Everett Scott - again the copyright is roughly at the same spot for both cards. If you have the top border, there is more space between the cap and the top border on the W515-2. If you have either the left or right border, you will see that the shoulder extends slightly longer in both directions on the W515-2.

[glchen]

#47 Babe Ruth - no copyright seen on the either cards. If you have the top border, the space between the top of the head and the top border is larger on the W515-2. If you have the right border, you will notice that the green area under the armpit is larger and the arm extends longer on the W515-2.

[glchen]

#48 Urban Shocker - again no copyright. If you have the top border, the space between the cap and the top border is larger on the W515-2. If you have the right border, the shoulder also seems to extend out longer on the W515-2 than the W515-1.

[glchen]

#49 Grover Alexander - the copyright is on the bottom right corner of the W515-1, and it is on the bottom left corner of the W515-2.

[glchen]

#50 Rabbit Maranville - the copyright is in the same position for both cards. If you have the top border, the space between the cap and the top border is larger on the W515-2. If you have the right border, the arm extends longer on the W515-2. If you don't have the top of the card, notice that on the lower left corner, the copyright touches the back of the player on the W515-1, but there is a blue space between the copyright and the back of the player on the W515-2.

[glchen]

#51 Ray Schalk - copyright is in the same position on both cards. If you have the top border, the space is larger between the head and the top border on the W515-2. If you have the left or right borders, the shoulders extend slightly longer on the W515-2.

[glchen]

#52 Heinie Groh - copyright is in roughly the same place on both cards. If you have the top border, the space between the head and the top border is larger on the W515-2. On the bottom right corner, notice that the copyright is much closer to the arm on the W515-1 than it is on the W515-2.

[glchen]

#53 Wilbert Robinson - copyright is roughly at the same place on both cards. If you have the top border, the space is larger between the head and the top border on the W515-2. If you have the right border, notice that the shoulder extends slightly further on the W515-2 (note the longer shadow line on that shoulder).

[glchen]

#54 George Burns - copyright is in the same position on both cards. If you have the top border, the space between the head and top border is larger on the W515-2. If you have the left border, notice the arm extends further and there is much more dark shading in the lower left corner of the W515-2 than the W515-1. If you don't have these borders, then notice that there seems to be whites under the eyes in the W515-2, but not the W515-1.

[glchen]

#55 Rogers Hornsby - copyright in same position for both cards. If you have the top border, the space is larger between the head and the top border for the W515-2. If you have the right border, the space is larger between the elbow and the right border for the W515-2 than the W515-1.

[glchen]

#56 Zach Wheat - copyright in the same position for both cards. If you have the top border, the space is larger between the head and the top border on the W515-2. If you have the left border, notice more of the hands showing on the W515-2 than the W515-1.

[glchen]

#57 Eddie Rousch - copyright again in roughly the same place on both cards. If you have the top border, the space is larger between the head and the top border on the W515-2. If you have the right border, notice there is a sliver of yellow in the bottom right corner on the W515-1, but not on the W515-2. If you have the left border, the shoulder extends slightly longer on the W515-2.

[glchen]

#58 Eddie Collins - no copyright on either card. If you have the top border, the space is larger between the head and the top border on the W515-1 than on the W515-2. (Note that this is usually the other way around on most other cards in these sets.) You will see much more of the pants on the W515-2 than the W515-1.

[glchen]

#59 Charlie Hollocher - no copyright on either card. Note that on the W515-2, you see much more of the foot going forward than on the W515-1.

[glchen]

#60 Red Faber - copyright at roughly the same location. However, if you have the left border, the copyright touches the border on the W515-2, but there is a space between the border and the copyright on the W515-1. On the W515-2 the shoulder near the left border extends further. The team name (SOX) is much closer to the bottom border on the W515-1 than it is on the W515-2.

[T206Collector]

Excellent work! Future generations of W515 aficionados will now have a guide I didn't have when putting together my set. Bravo!

[glchen]

Thanks!