T218 series breakdown and ad backs

[Archive]

Posted By: Bryon

I posted this over on the CU boards last week, but wanted to throw it out here as well. And this may be old news to some, but it was a revelation to me when I recently found a pattern in the T218 cards that seems to break the set into three groups... groups that I suspect are the three different series in which the cards were issued... with 53 cards in the 1st, 49 cards in the 2nd , and 51 in the 3rd... It'd be nice if the splits matched up better with the "51 to 100" notation on the back of the Series 2 cards, but the fact that there are 153 cards in the set would seem to indicate that the issuer wasn't married to the number 50.

I believe that while Mecca ads can be found on cards from all three series, Hassan ads are only found on cards from Series 1 and 2 (a total of 102 cards). So, if you have a card with a Hassan ad and there's no "Series #2" notation on the back, it's from Series 1. All 53 cards in Series 1 with Mecca ads have the phrase "Champion Athletes and Prize Fighter Series". Mecca cards from Series 2 have the same phrase and include the "Series #2" notation. On the 51 cards in Series 3, the phrase is turned around a bit, beginning with "Series of..." Also, all but three of the cards in Series 3 (Thure Johansson, J.J. McEntee, and Edward Payson Weston) have a black border framing the image... and this series includes all the golfers, bowlers, billiards players and aviators plus 24 athletes and boxers. And it seems pretty clear this is the third series because of the dates mentioned in the text. I can't find mention of any events past 1909 on Series 1 cards, there are a few 1910 references on Series 2 cards, and more on Series 3... J.B. Moisant's card notes he was killed on the last day of 1910.

Lastly, after going through all the scans I could find, I'm pretty confident that Tolstoi backs exist only on Series 2 cards, though they don't have the "Series #2" notation like their Mecca and Hassan parallels.

So, the checklists by series would be...


Series 1

Platt Adams
Dan Ahearne
Abe Attell
Chas. J. Bacon Jr
Sailor Burke
Robert Cloughen
Tom Collins
Johnny Coulon
James Crowley
C.M. Daniels (seated)
Jem Driscoll
Jack Eller
Ray Ewry
John Flanagan (full length)
R.E. Frizelle
Jimmy Gardner
S.P. Gilles
Andrew Glarner
Budd Goodwin
H.J. Handy
Harry Hillman
Battling Hurley
Dick Hyland
Frank C. Irons
James J. Jeffries
Jack Johnson (side)
Stanley Ketchell
Bert Keyes
Walter Lee
Harry Lewis
Willie Lewis
Lou Manley
Johnny Marto
Packey McFarland
Phil McGovern
M.J. McGrath
Owen Moran
Tommy Murphy
Battling Nelson
Thomas O'Callaghan
Paul PIlgrim
Harry Porter
W.C. Robbins
Lawson Robertson
Melvin W. Sheppard (side)
Martin Sheridan
Jim Stewart
Jack Twin Sullivan
Mike Twin Sullivan
C.D. Trubenbach
Eddie Walsh
Billy West
Ad Wolgast

Series 2

Patsy Brannigan
Knock-out Brown
Walter Bursch
Young Corbett
Leach Cross
C.M. Daniels (head to waist)
Young Donahoe
W.C. Fielding
John Flanagan (head to waist)
Joe Gans
George Gardiner
H.E. Gissing
Abe Goodman
Jack Goodman
Charley Griffin
J.L. Hartranft
Harry Haywood Jr.
Joe Jeanette
James Jeffries
Harry Jensen
Jack Johnson (front)
Joseph Jordan
Al Kaufman
W.J. Keating
W.J. Kramer
Sam Langford
Young Loughrey
Emilo Lunghi
Honey Mellody
Frankie Neil
Fighting Dick Nelson
Young Nitchie
Smythe Northridge
George J. Obermeyer
Philadelphia Jack O'Brien
Tommy O'Keefe
Billy Papke
Frank Riley
J.A. Ruddy
UNK Russell
Harry Sedley Jr.
Melvin W. Sheppard (front)
C.C. Steinert
Harry Stone
James P. Sullivan
Clarence B. Tippett
Jimmy Walsh
R.P. Williams
Harold A. Wilson

Series 3

Matty Baldwin
Harry Cline
Frankie Conley
Albert Cutler (playing)
Albert Cutler (portrait)
John Daly
Alfredo De Oro
Al Delmont
Calvin Demarest
Dave Deshler
Findlay Douglas
Alex Dunbar
Charles Eyton
Charles K. Hamilton
Johnny Hayes
William Heins
F. Herreshoff
Jack Hobens
Hans Holmer
Willie Hoppe(playing)
Willie Hoppe (portrait)
Arch Hoxsey
Thomas Hueston
Thure Johansson
Lee R. Johns
Ralph Johnstone
Jerome Keogh
Abel Kiviat
Frank Klaus
Patsey Kline
Gusta Ljungstrom
George Low
J.J. McEntee
Fred Meadows
J.B. Moisant
Ora Morningstar (playing)
Ora Morningstar (portrait)
Gil Nicholls
Tommy O'Toole
James Rector
Glenn Riddell
Percy Sellen
Alex Smith
Johnny Summers (seated)
Johnny Summers (standing)
George Sutton (playing)
George Sutton (portrait)
E.J. Sweeney
Fred Welsh
Cowboy Charles Weston
Edward Payson Weston

So, there it is. If anyone has additional info on this, I'd love to hear it.

[enuffsenuff]

I have Frank Riley with Hassan back with no ref to series 2. It was issued by Factory 30. Perhaps the Factory number has a bearing on the back set details. In your explanation this card should have a series 2 back...

[DaveW]

Frank Riley is in Series 2.
All of the Series 2 cards come in 6 different backs:
- Mecca. Series 2 factory 30
- Mecca Series 2 factory 649
- Hassan Series 2 factory 30
- Hassan Series 2 factory 649
- Hassan no series. factory 30
- Tolstoi no series factory 30

So the Hassan cards from factory 30 are printed with both
Series 2 and no series, which makes this set a bit confusing

- Dave

[G1911]

If the card has a series 2 back, it is a series 2 card. Series 2 was issued with a Hassan Factory 30 back that doesn't feature the series byline as well, which is where basic set checklists get confused with the series. A series 2 card has 6 backs (Mecca 30/649, Hassan 30/649, Hassan 30 without series notation, Tolstoi).


Jack Johnson (Green) breaks all the rules - it was evidently released part way through Series 1 and continued in some Series 2 sheets. I've never seen or heard of a Tolstoi back. H.J. Handy was only released in series 1 with a Mecca back, presumably pulled to make way for Johnson. It is a SP. Johnson Green is the most common card in the set. I suspect his late addition was similar to the situation with his Turkey Red.


3 cards in series 1 have spelling variations on the back, all with Factory 649, 1 confirmed with 30, 1 I suspect with Factory 30, and the last a question mark. All are tough, but not equally so.


There are series title variations on the series 3 track cards - perhaps not every card exists with this on factory 30 and 649.


I know of two blank back cards extant as well.


I think 630-640 cards exist, with a few still question marks. I'm about 85% of the way through a total master set of every combination.

[DaveW]

3 cards in series 1 have spelling variations on the back, all with factory 649, 1 confirmed with 30, 1 i suspect with factory 30, and the last a question mark.

B4264A9E-66CD-4E26-871F-8FA9BF06D592.jpg

Maybe 2 confirmed now?

[G1911]

Originally Posted by DaveW

Attachment 363171

Maybe 2 confirmed now?

That would be 2 confirmed, thank you for sharing it! If you ever want to sell it, I’ll overpay



Trudenbach exists with both factories and is the most common, though still tough.

I’ve heard of other F30 Gillis, but this is the first photo I’ve seen. His 649 is a tougher than Trudenbach

The 3rd is Cloughan/Cloughen. I have it with Factory 649 and have never seen a copy I don’t own, though there must be some out there. Have not seen with a F30, and nobody seems to have publicly noted its existence before 2017.


It seems to me that the three corrections were probably made at 3 different times early in the print run, OR the the sheet had double/triple/etc. prints of Trudenbach and Gilles if they were all corrected at once. They appear to have been printed in rows with the same card repeating down the row on the sheet

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by G1911

Jack Johnson (Green) breaks all the rules - it was evidently released part way through Series 1 and continued in some Series 2 sheets. I've never seen or heard of a Tolstoi back.

Nor have I. My guess is that it has something to do with the front-facing (blue) card which is available as a Tolstoi.

Speaking of sheets, I wish there was an intact one to review. I am curious how these cards were arrayed, especially given this:



Clearly the same card printed in a line.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Nor have I. My guess is that it has something to do with the front-facing (blue) card which is available as a Tolstoi.

Speaking of sheets, I wish there was an intact one to review. I am curious how these cards were arrayed, especially given this:



Clearly the same card printed in a line.

Johnson (Green) is also missing the Mecca, No Series notation, Factory 30 card and the Hassann, Series 2 notation, Factory 30 card.

It is known with, from series 1:
Mecca, Factory 649 (presumably the first one printed, with an error on the back not present on the others)
Hassan, Factory 30
Hassan, Factory 649

And from series 2:
Mecca, Series 2, Factory 30
Mecca, Series 2, Factory 649
Hassan, no series notation, Factory 30 (differentiated from the first series print run because the image is reversed in the second series cards)
Hassan, Series 2, Factory 649

I suspect the Johnson Green was printed on it's own sheet, as its late addition in Series 1 does not seem to have replaced any card or created any shortage (If Johnson replaced Handy, as is often said, then one of the cards or both should be notably tougher with a Mecca 649 back. This is not the case), and it was clearly missing from several back runs. Would explain why this card breaks all the rules without creating double/short prints.

The only other rule breakers in the first two series are H.J. Handy not existing with either series 1 Hassan back and Jack Johnson (Blue) may or may not exist with a Hassan, no series notation, Factory 30 back.



The larger format cards are usually not miscut enough to see what the adjacent card is side-to-side; I've been looking them for them here, in T29, T30, T118, etc. sized sets from the ATC/American Lithography that share this size format. I have a side-to-side T68 showing two different cards next to each other, but T68's are a bit different size. Perhaps, unlike the smaller size cards that repeated an image in a column (though not all the way down the column), it was rows that repeated a card for part if its length? I've thought the 9 C52 cards from T218 Series 2 that were printed with C52's run of first series T218 cards with duplicate numbers may have constituted a T218/C52 sheet and give us a clue as to how many cards unique cards actually appeared on a sheet. The possible No-Prints of some of the Series 3 track guys with the caption variation might be a clue to into the Series 3 sheet layouts

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

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