Credit found on the back of each cabinet
Much about these beautiful cabinet cards remains unknown. For example, who took the photos? Where and how were they distributed? Jones, Keyser & Arras was a printer and photograph distributor in Manhattan that never issued any other baseball cards. Their imprint has been found on the back of on holiday greeting cards and, more interestingly, on several postcards by the famed New York City photographer Thaddeus Wilkerson. Could he have been the photographer of some these subjects? The set was never catalogued by Burdick; it received wider attention in the hobby only after a big group was sold by Mastro in the mid-90’s. They remain very scarce: it’s likely there are no more than five existing cards per player.
Theodore Wilkerson copyright on back on postcard citing JKA
There are no players from the Boston AL, Cleveland, Philadelphia NL or St. Louis AL teams. The three New York teams have 21 players; the two Chicago teams have 11. That leaves only 9 players from other teams. Old Cardboard has a full checklist. It’s often assumed that the set contains 50 players (as Old Cardboard does) due to the number etched on the bottom of each photographic plate, which runs between 301 and 350. However, only 41 cards have been found and I suspect that’s the final total.
Three JKA’s are known with info written or stamped on the back; two of those cards belonged to the same Chicago resident and the other has the name of the United Cigar Store on Monroe & Clark. My feeling is that United Cigar was the issuer of these cards and that the set should carry its name.
