Produced by Felix Mendelsohn and featuring back advertising from a number of different businesses, the M101-4 and M101-5 cards of 1916 continue to experience explosive growth in popularity as collectors discover the photographic cards of the late 1910s and 1920s.  Of the variety of back advertisements utilizing this design, the Famous & Barr examples are among the most complex, as it contains cards that parallel both the M101-4 and M101-5 issues, with a number of variations that add even further intricacy.  Distributed by a St. Louis clothing store of the same name, the Famous & Barr cards are scarce in comparison with their Sporting News cousins, with nearly twice as many M101-5 Jim Thorpe cards graded by PSA as Famous & Barr.  Of the 8 examples graded by PSA, just one example - a lone PSA 8 - has been graded higher, with just two examples at the EX-MT 6 level.

This example, featuring the immensely popular athlete Jim Thorpe, is one of the issue's key cards and one that does not make itself available very often, in any of the different back varieties with which it was produced.  Nicknamed the "World's Greatest Athlete," Thorpe won gold medals in the 1912 Olympics and played baseball, football and basketball professionally.  He played parts of six seasons with the Giants, Reds and Braves, but his greatest baseball achievement was an anecdotal one: in a semipro game on the Texas/Oklahoma/Arkansas border, Thorpe hit three home runs into three different states!

As a football player, Thorpe played 52 professional games, passing for four touchdowns and running for six more.  He was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 1963.  The Associated Press named Thorpe the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th Century. His American heritage, coupled with his athletic dominance, make him one of the most popular and widely-collected of all sports figures.

A crisp and well-defined image is the key to this strong example, which boasts clean borders and corners consistent with the grade.  A slight centering issue is apparent, likely keeping the card from a higher holder but certainly not detracting from the visual appeal of the photo itself. We have handled multiple examples of this card, none more bold or visually striking than this. One of the highest-graded Famous & Barr Thorpe cards, a key to a challenging and popular set.