Dale Alexander - As a Buff

A few months ago I wrote about some players that attended Milligan College. One of them was Dale Alexander. I purchased a 1933 Goudey Dale Alexander card on ebay, then had some doubts about the authenticity of the card.

Thanks to the help that I got I have decided that the card that I purchased is authentic.

I finally got around to making a card for Dale from his playing days at Milligan. Milligan College's mascot is the Buffalo. They are affectionately called "The Buffs."

Credits:

Dale Alexander Photo: Milligan College Buffalo, 1924. Archives and Special Collections, P. H. Welshimer Memorial Library, Milligan College. (Thanks to Meredith Sommers - Information Resources Librarian/College Archivist for the scanned images.)

Border: FromOldBooks.org

Buffalo Clipart: fotosearch.com

1933 Goudey - Dale Alexander

I wrote about Dale (and his schoolmates, Joe and Horace) a few months back. I figured that I'd like to get a Dale Alexander card. Some of them are very expensive.

A few weeks ago I bid on, and won an ebay auction. I paid $10.28 for this card and $3.50 for Shipping and Handling. Less than $14 delivered. And it came from an ebay gift card. No money out of my pocket.

1933 Goudey, Dale Alexander (card #221)

I have very few old cards. A 1909 T206 Cy Barger. A 1911 T205 Gabby Street. A 1936 Goudey Wide Pen Mickey Cochrane. A 1948 Baseball Greats Hall of Fame Exhibits Mickey Cochrane. Some cards from the 1950's. That's it.

I don't know what a 1933 Goudey should look like. You can see from the images above (scanned at 600pi and then reduced down to 96dpi) that it looks good. Almost too good. It is off center. Some good corner wear. But the face of the card has a nice sheen to it. The card was the correct size (2-3/8" x 2-7/8"). The ebay seller had interesting spelling and grammar in his auction listing. ALL SALES FINAL!

The seller has a good rating, but something about the card doesn't quite feel right to me.

I contacted a few other bloggers to see if I could get a high resolution scan of another 1933 Goudey to compare it with. My good blogging friend, dayf, was more than quick to help out.

He posted a very nice entry about the authenticity of some 1933 Goudeys and granted me permission to link to his images. So, we'll give this a go.

Mind you, when I scanned these Sunday evening, it was almost Monday morning. Even as I type this, it has just turned into Tuesday. I find it hard to focus my eyes and be discerning after a long day of work, meetings, a bit of the telly and then some blog reading. Yes, I know how to correct that. Quit work, ditch the meetings, unplug the tube and don't surf the web. Phooey on that.

So, let's get on to the comparison....

The following images have been scanned at 600dpi.

DALE FRONT:

REAL FRANK FRONT:

DALE BACK:

REAL FRANK BACK:

The details are all scanned at 1200dpi:

DALE:

REAL FRANK:

FAKE MELVIN:

DALE BACK:

REAL FRANK BACK:

FAKE MELVIN BACK:

Matthew, of the wonderful Number 5 Type Collection blog, recently wrote about his experience with a counterfeit card.

David Rudd Cycleback wrote a book about Judging the Authenticity of Early Baseball Cards.

I read both of these and started thinking, "What do I have?" Then I remembered that my eyes hurt and I couldn't quite decide.

I've felt the card, but I don't know the stock that the originals were printed on. I've smelled the card. It smells like cardboard. I'm stumped.

So, I'm looking to my readers to assist me. What do I have?