Completing the t218 Master Set Checklist - Cash Reward for proof of missing cards

[DaveW]

Wow! I didn’t think the Weston card would ever show up. I guess there is hope now for the Kiviat and Rector cards. I wonder why these are so rare. Also, did you happen to notice that the T219 Red Cross back Jeannette card that recently sold also has the 1 “n” error spelling on the back like the T218? The HLC ones also have this error. I wonder if that’s just a coincidence or if it tells us something about when these were printed with respect to each other.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by DaveW

Wow! I didn’t think the Weston card would ever show up. I guess there is hope now for the Kiviat and Rector cards. I wonder why these are so rare. Also, did you happen to notice that the T219 Red Cross back Jeannette card that recently sold also has the 1 “n” error spelling on the back like the T218? The HLC ones also have this error. I wonder if that’s just a coincidence or if it tells us something about when these were printed with respect to each other.

I was feeling 90% confident about my 632 card checklist before this, now I feel like only 30% confident it's 633. With some of these long caption M30's being so incredibly rare or uniquely known, it's going to be impossible to cross off Kiviat and Rector as probabilities at this point.

I believe McEntee also has 1-2 copies known (Do you have 1? I believe I have only seen the copy I own). As I recall, you and I only confirmed Johansson in 2021. Sweeney is also very very tough, but I think there are 3-4 confirmed examples now. I am confident Ljungstrom and Hayes do not exist, as the 649 long caption backs are not that tough with any subject and they have never surfaced. I think the scarcity probably correlates to sheet layout and design. We have considerable deductive evidence that series weren't actually released all at once or done at once, and had 'waves' in some sets. T220 was 2 sheets, T218 I think was 2-3 sheets depending on series with some weird layouts (in series 1, some sheets had rows upside down to each other for some reason, and I strongly suspect there were sheets containing only the superprinted Johnson cards for part of production). I think the 3 levels of scarcity here (somewhat tough, very rare, non-existent) for the M30 long captions backs reflect 3 sheets and the times those sheets first entered production.


On the Jeanette, I compiled all my notes a few months ago into a book-type compilation and went over all the puzzle pieces I have in my documents again to try and resolve this. I still couldn't make full sense of this. Hassan 30, no series notation production of series 2 is strongly suggested by the evidence to be the first back produced for series 2. The packing dates for this series in the ledger I find to be rather dubious, but it was certainly a mid 1910 production. T219 cannot possibly have been done before ~March of 1911, 7+ months long after the error was corrected. Perhaps when modifying the cards for T219 they just used the originally filed materials from the previous year? It is strange, but it's all that I can see fitting into the evidence pieces. Perhaps you will figure it better than I have been able to . All 4 backs of the T219 Jeanette only exist with the single 'n' spelling, at least, as far as I have seen. I've been looking at each one I come across to try and find a variation and haven't yet.

[G1911]

And here is the subset, with the categories, based on what I have seen and all those who have been kind enough to let me poke through their holdings and record data. My sample is never complete and may not be representative, as it is biased to the holdings of a subset of collectors with a similar interest. Sweeney is the one I am least positive on grouping this way, he is more common than the other 3 in the tough tier with a few examples having surfaced. I'd be interested in how Dave, George, Cliff and our other learned gentlemen would group them and if our data aligns together.

These 2 groupings + the 2 definite no prints represent 3 sheets at minimum for series 3, which I think is more than series 2. The ATC ledger notes that indicate printing by sport are demonstrably wrong from miscuts.

My less than scientific conclusion from the datasets available to me suggest that this subset and one of the Johnson Green's are actually the hardest cards in the set and the true hardest obstacle to a master, not the Tolstoi's which are a pain because there are 50 of them but there are several examples or more of each card.