more on the m101-4s and m101-5s

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Posted By: Todd (nolemmings) 

I was paging through an old Beckett annual price guide from 1981--that's right, volume 3, more than 20 years old-- when I saw the author's description that m101-5 was issued in 1916, and "is essentially an updated version of m101-4". Now this has been an occasional topic over the past several months, as to when m101-5 was issued, etc., so I thought I'd revisit it.

I, and probably others, assumed that the ACC, Burdick or other card gods deigned long ago that 1915 was the year of issue for m101-5, although I never understood why it would have a higher card set designation than m101-4 if issued a year earlier. It seems Beckett matter of factly has (or had in 1981) them in reverse, and we now know that m101-5 was not issued in 1915.

So, when and how after 1981 did things get mixed up?

Also, consider the irony if Beckett was right, and m101-4 came first. All of those people who insist their Babe Ruth sporting news cards were m101-5, not m101-4, even when the two appear identical, would then be hard-pressed to say that such cards could be construed his "rookie" under any scenario.