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Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
eNews Issue #62 (June 2009) www.oldcardboard.com

Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia. More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page.
Contents:
1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar
2. Vintage Set Summary: 1926 M101-7 Sporting News Supplements
3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website
4. PCL Zeenuts: from Z to Z in 25 Sets
5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)




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1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar

The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Show and Auction Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.
  OC eNewsletter Sponsor
June 2009
 
24-25 Phone/Internet Legendary Auctions (see website for details).
July 2009
 
1 Phone/Internet Clean Sweep Auctions (see website for details).
2 Phone/Internet Collectible Classics Auction (CCANet2; see website for details).
9 Phone/Internet Goodwin & Co. Auction Masterpieces XXII Auction (see website for details).
14 St. Louis (Live) Hunt Auctions (see website for details).
16 Internet 19th Century Only Auction (see website for details).
23 Phone/Internet Collectible Classics Auction (CCANet3; see website for details).
7/29-8/2 Cleveland, OH National Sports Collectors Convention (see website for details).
30-31 Internet Heritage Sports Collectibles Auction (see website for details).
-- 31 Live/Phone Legendary Live Sports Auction--Cleveland House of Blues (see website for details).




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2. Vintage Set Summary: 1926 M101-7 Sporting News Supplements


 
1926 M101-7 Ruth with Blank Back

When it comes to newspaper supplements, vintage collectors are probably most familiar with the classic M101-2 Sporting News series. The 100-supplement set was produced by The Sporting News over a five year span beginning 100 years ago this year (see "1909-13 M101-2 Sporting News: A Popular Set of 100 Supplements" by John Spano, Old Cardboard, Issue #15, Spring 2008, p. 19-26).

A somewhat less known but still interesting series was produced more than a decade later by The Sporting News It is now designated as set M101-7 in the American Card Catalog.

The M101-7 set numbers just thirteen supplements. Of these, eleven depict individual players and measure about 7 inches wide by 10 inches tall. Two double-wide supplements display team photographs of the 1926 National League (Cardinals) and the American League (Yankees) pennant winners. The Cardinals subsequently won the World Series.

All supplements are sepia-toned and printed on thin stock. The Sporting News logo along with each supplement's issue date is printed in the upper left corner.

For supplements of individual players, the player's name and team are centered in the white border below the image (see Ruth example above). Both team supplements identify the first and last names of all players in the team photographs.


1926 M101-7 Ruth Promo
1926 M101-7 Ruth Promo Back

The large majority of M101-7 backs are blank. However, one particularly interesting aspect of the set is that it includes printed back variations used to promote subscriptions to the newspaper (see Ruth example at left).

Apparently, the St. Louis-based publisher, C. C. Spink & Son, had a few supplements left over after their late 1926-early 1927 newspaper distribution and decided that using them to promote new subscriptions may be the best way to reduce their stock.

As seen from the example back, the promotion offered a free two-bladed pocket knife and "Six Assorted Baseball Pictures" as free bonuses along with a six-month subscription to the newspaper--all for the sum of $2.50. Don't we wish we could take advantage of that offer today!

Several promotions were apparently held with different end dates, since space for hand stamped expiration dates was reserved on at least one variation of the printed back. The example shown here is hand stamped with an expiration date within ten days from "SEP 13 1927."

It is not currently known if promotions were printed on the backs of supplements for all of the players in the set. However, supplements for some other players are known, along with slightly different ads printed in dark blue.

It should also be noted that examples with advertising backs are the same width but about five-eights of an inch shorter than the much more common blank-backed supplements--no doubt the result of trimming the newspaper logo and the issue date from the top of the original printings.

A Set Profile page for the M101-7 Sporting News supplements is provided on the Old Cardboard website. A corresponding set Checklist including the supplement issue dates and player teams, along with a full set Gallery, is also provided.



OC eNewsletter Sponsor

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3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website

We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include:

Set Profiles have been added for:
1913 "E95/E96" "Base Ball Series" Notebook Covers
1920 Peggy Popcorn


Set Checklists have been added for:
1913 "E95/E96" "Base Ball Series" Notebook Covers
1920 Peggy Popcorn


Set Galleries have been added for:
1929 Philadelphia Inquirer Supplements


Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the Old Cardboard website and the list continues to grow. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com.



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4. PCL Zeenuts: from Z to Z in 25 Sets


 
Zeenut 25-set Run
 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915
1916 1917 1918 1919 1920
1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
1926 1927 1928 1929 1930
1931 1932 1933 1933-36 1937-38
Beginning in 1911 and continuing uninterrupted for 28 years, the Collins-McCarthy Candy Company of San Francisco issued mostly annual sets of cards featuring Pacific Coast League (PCL) players.

In total, nearly 4000 different cards were issued before production ended in 1938. The cards were inserted into boxes of the company's Zeenuts, Ruf-Neks and Home Run Kisses brands. It is the "Zeenut" brand, however, that provides the most popular name used for the cards by today's collectors.

In 1913, the company's third year of producing baseball card sets, they began distributing the cards with a redeemable coupon printed across the bottom 1/2 inch of the card. Because most of the coupons were removed and used in the various promotions, it is estimated that now only a few percent of all surviving Zeenut cards still have the coupon attached.

Rather that attempt here to checklist and display a gallery of images for each Zeenut card in each of the 25 Zeenut sets, a Set Features Summary and a Gallery of Sets showing an example from each annual set is provided.

The Zeenut sets are listed in the American Card Catalog under two different numbers: E136 and E137. Although the distinction is not made in the ACC, the first four sets (1911-1914) are generally designated as E136, while all subsequent sets carry the E137 designation.

Adding a little more to the classification confusion, the Zeenuts share the E136 designation with the Home Run Kisses set, a series of very similar design and also produced by Collins-McCarthy.

A Set Profile page for all 25 Zeenut Sets is provided on the Old Cardboard website, along with a Summary of Set Features that includes the number of cards in each set, card size, a relative value premium, and other notes. In addition, a Gallery of Sets that displays all of the cards shown here is also provided.



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5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)

Philadelphia Caramel Details Documented.. Collector Erik Varon has completed several years of researching the history of the Philadelphia Caramel Company and will be publishing his findings soon in book length detail. As most vintage collectors are aware, the company produced two closely related baseball card sets, now designated as E95 and E96 in the American Card Catalog. We will be providing a full review of Veron's book in a future edition of this eNewsletter.

Gum & Candy Wrapper Scans Needed. Longtime wrapper collector Jeff Schwarz has written a comprehensive review describing details of gum and candy wrappers that contained baseball cards in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. The articles are scheduled to be published in two parts in the next two issues of Old Cardboard magazine. Jeff's narrative describes well over 100 wrappers--all originally distributed over 50 years ago. To supplement the article, we will also be adding a Wrappers Section to the OldCardboard.com website that is planned to include both a Gallery and Checklist of all known wrappers of the period. However, we are missing a few obscure variations. If any of our readers have scans of the needed wrappers, please send to editor@oldcardboard.com so they can be added to both the article and the website. The needed scans are: (1) 1933 Goudey Sport Kings ("white sihlouette" variation), (2) 1933 Orbit Gum R308 (blue background), (3) 1948 Topps Magic Photo (5-cent) and (4) 1956 Topps Hocus Focus (1-cent). These may not all exist but have been reported and need to be verified. We (and the hobby) appreciate any scans that you can provide.




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Lyman and Brett Hardeman
Old Cardboard, LLC.

Sports Collectors Digest is celebrating the simpler time of vintage cards sets that send out a whiff of nostalgia while also looking back at some of the greatest players and cards of all time in a Classic Card Set Series that will run throughout 2009 and beyond. We'll cover classic baseball, football and basketball sets and discuss the players of the era, the styles of the time and how the card reflected those styles.

 The fourth part of this series looks at 1955 Topps Baseball, considered one of the best sets of the decade with its great colors and brutal high numbers. Also examined is 1961 Topps Football, a set that included players from the AFL that made the set the company's largest football set ever.

>> Click here to read about the 1955 Topps Baseball and 1961 Topps Football sets.

Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
eNews Issue #60 (April 2009) www.oldcardboard.com

Please Note: If images are not loading in this email, click here.

Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia. More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page.
Contents:
1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar
2. Featured Vintage Card Set: 1895 N566 Newsboy Cabinets
3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website
4. Old Cardboard Magazine Issue #19 Set for Distribution This Week
5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)




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1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar

The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Show and Auction Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.
  OC eNewsletter Sponsor
April 2009
 
21 Phone/Internet Prestige Collectibles Auction (see website for details).
22 Phone/Internet Andy Madec Auctions (see website for details).
23-24 Phone/Internet Heritage Signature Sports Auction (see website for details).
23-25 Rosemont, IL Premier Collectible Conference & Exhibition (see website for details).
29-30 Phone/Internet Legendary Auctions (see website for details).
May 2009
 
2 Phone/Internet Robert Edward Auctions (see website for details).
7 Phone/Internet Goodwin & Co. Auction (see website for details).
7 Phone/Internet Collectible Classics Auction (see website for details).
15 Phone/Internet Leland's May Catalog Auction (see website for details).
27-28 Phone/Internet Huggins & Scott Auctions (see website for details).




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2. Featured Vintage Card Set: 1895 N566 Newsboy Cabinets



N566 Ward (Standing with Bat)
Although it is part of a massive issue that contains well over 500 cards, this set has only 14 cards that feature baseball players. The other cards include popular actors, actresses and other entertainers and public figures of the period. Some even depict landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge, the White House or Statue of Liberty.

The cards were distributed by the National Tobacco Works of New York City to promote their Newsboy brand plug tobacco. The series of numbered cards is designated as set N566 in the American Card Catalog. All cards are cabinet size, measuring approximately 4-1/4 by 6-1/2 inches.

The sepia-toned real photographs are mounted on a cream-colored cardboard backing. The subject's name and the card number are printed on the lower part of the photograph on most cards. The Newsboy logo and the words "NEW YORK," are printed in the lower left and the lower right of the mount, respectively, in red ink.

The vast majority of all N566 cards were distributed with blank backs although a few, including those with baseball player subjects, have been found with a sponsor's message printed or stamped on the reverse.

Ten of the fourteen baseball cabinets in the N566 set fall within the number sequence from 174 through 183. The other baseball cards are numbered 201-202, and 586-587.

 
Tin tag used to identify bags of Newsboy brand tobacco is shown here at approximately 2 times actual size. Such tags were used in the tobacco trade between about 1875 and 1925.
 

While all cards follow a similar design, there are a few distinct differences, especially in the two cards of Hall of Famer John Ward.

All except the Ward's two cards are chest-up portraits or a head-only vignette inside a circular frameline. Some are shown in uniform and some in street clothes.

Twelve of the fourteen cards picture players from the 1894 New York Giants team. The two others (Michael Griffin and player-manager Dave Foutz) played for the Brooklyn Grooms.

Ward's two cards picture him in an earlier striped jersey. His are also the only cards with a caption printed in the bottom border below the photo.

The design of the two Ward cards (see example "leaning on bat" pose above) is also different in that the player name is not printed on the photo itself and there are two thin red framelines (rather than one) around the perimeter of the photo. There are also very slight differences in the "Newsboy" logo and the type used in the "New York" labeling at the bottom of the cards.

A profile for the N566 Newsboy Set is also provided on the Old Cardboard website along with a complete Checklist and Gallery of cards.



OC eNewsletter Sponsor

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3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website

We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include:

Set Profiles have been added for:
1889 The Stage Supplements
1949 R406-3 Bowman Gum (PCL)
1951 R406-5 Bowman Gum
1952 R406-6 Bowman Gum
1953 R406-7 Bowman Gum (Color)
1953 R406-8 Bowman Gum (B&W)
1954 R406-9 Bowman Gum
1955 R406-10 Bowman Gum (Color TV)
1955-56 R714-26 Topps "Hocus-Focus"
--

Set Checklists have been added for:
1889 The Stage Supplements
1909-13 E254 & E270 Colgan's (combined checklist for all Colgan's sets)
1932 R328 U. S. Caramel
1933 E285 Rittenhouse Candy
1934 R310 Butterfinger
1932 Giants Schedule Postcards


Set Galleries have been added for:
1889 The Stage Supplements
1909-11 E254 Colgan's Chips
1932 R328 U. S. Caramel
1933 E285 Rittenhouse Candy (organized by player last name)
1933 E285 Rittenhouse Candy (organized by card rank and suit)
1934 R310 Butterfinger
1932 Giants Schedule Postcards


Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the Old Cardboard website and the list continues to grow. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com.



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4. Old Cardboard Magazine Issue #19 Set for Distribution This Week

  
Issue #19 (Spring 2009) of Old Cardboard magazine is currently being distributed. If you haven't received yours yet it should be delivered in the next few days.

The cover (shown at right) highlights the featured article in the issue: "1909-1913 Colgan's Baseball Sets: Packed with 'The Gum That's Round'" by John Spano. With input from leading collectors of the Colgan's sets, second-time Old Cardboard author John Spano compares the three Colgan's baseball card sets: the E254 "Stars of the Diamond," the E270-1 "Red Borders" and the E270-2 "Tin Tops." Side panels on the life of John Colgan and the eight variations of the Colgan's round tin containers are also provided, along with examples of period advertising and promotional premiums.

The kick-off article in the issue, "1889 The Stage 'Stars of the Diamond:' A Rare Large-Format Set of 14 Players" by Lew Lipset expands on an article Lew published twelve years ago in VCBC. Here, Lipset describes in detail the baseball portraits provided as a weekly "bonus" between May 25 and August 31, 1889. All fourteen of the weekly supplements are listed in a set checklist and pictured in a gallery, along with summary information about the newspaper, the photographers and the player bios that originally accompanied each image.

Another article, "'Chicago Cubs' Story,' A 1929 Perspective" by S. O. Grauley, originally appeared as a supplement distributed in 1929 by the Philadelphia Inquirer. The oversize supplement--a colorized team photo of the Chicago Cubs--is reproduced on the centerfold of the magazine. The Grauley narrative found on the back of the supplement is reproduced in article format and provides a 1929 perspective of the Cubs road to achieving the National League pennant that year. Grauley was a longtime Inquirer sportswriter, and charter member of the Baseball/Writers' Association of America.

The final article in the issue, "1887 H804-21 Tobin Lithographs: The 'Cadillac' of BB Trade Cards" by Old Cardboard Staff describes a series of nineteenth cards considered by long-time collector Frank Keetz to be the "Cadillac" of baseball trade cards. The set is unique in that it labels the caricature subjects with names of actual players of the period. A gallery of all 10 cards in the set is provided along with examples from two sister "Tobin" sets printed in black and white.

The above articles are in addition to the magazine's regular Editor's Notebook, Collector's Dugout, and Old Cardboard Crosswords sections.

Issue #19 can be ordered on-line (either as a single issue or as the first of a one-year subscription) from the Subscriptions Page of the Old Cardboard website.



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5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)

Whiz Bang Gum Set Uses Exhibit Images. After reading the March issue of the Old Cardboard eNewsletter, reader Adam Warshaw has pointed out that two of the three baseball cards found in the recently discovered Whiz Bang Gum set use the same images as those used in the "Postcard Back" Exhibit set. The poses can be compared from Galleries of the two sets found on the Old Cardboard website: 1932 Whiz Bang Gum and 1925-31 "Postcard-Back" Exhibits Thanks to Adam for "connecting the dots" and sharing his observations.

Baseball Card Mystery Geared for Young Readers. If you've been looking for a way to introduce your children (or grand-children) to vintage card collecting, you may want to get a copy of "Safe at Home," written by Robert Skead. The part-fact-part-fiction mystery is based on the 1915 M101-5/4 major league rookie card of Babe Ruth. First printed in 1997, a 10th anniversary edition was recently announced by Cross Training Publishing, P. O. Box 1874, Kearney, NE 68848. The book is available for $6.99 at bookstores or by contacting the publisher at 1-800-430-8588.

Old Cardboard eNews Reaches Five Year Mark. This issue of the Old Cardboard eNewsletter marks the completion of five years of uninterrupted monthly publication. From its modest beginning in May 2004, OC eNews has now grown to a significant hobby resource distributed to more than 7,000 subscribers each month. In addition to hobby calendar updates and links to newly added Set Profiles, Checklists and Galleries on the Old Cardboard website and News Briefs of Recent Hobby Happenings, each issue also routinely includes articles covering selected vintage card sets, book reviews, reader comments and feedback, abstracts of articles in Old Cardboard magazine and much more. If not already a subscriber, you can sign up to receive the FREE monthly eNewsletter as well as review past issues by selecting the free eNews sign-up icon on the home page of the Old Cardboard website. More than one hundred selected articles from Old Cardboard eNewsletters have also been indexed in the Old Cardboard Article Index--a searchable database of articles on vintage card sets from several leading hobby publications both current from the past. We appreciate the continued support of all readers, contributors and newsletter sponsors. With your continued support, we hope to continue uninterrupted publication for another five years and beyond. Thanks again to all!




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Lyman and Brett Hardeman
Old Cardboard, LLC.

Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia. More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page..
Contents:
1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar
2. 1930s Dream Discovery Yields SPC Walter Johnson; Much More
3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website
4. 1933 R328 U. S. Caramel Wrapper Believed Found
5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)




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1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar

The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Show and Auction Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.
  OC eNewsletter Sponsor
March 2009
 
13-15 King of Prussia, PA Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show (see website for details).
20-22 Rosemont, IL Sun Times Sports Collectibles Convention (see website for details).
25 Phone/Internet Mile High Auction (see website for details).
28 Phone/Internet Legacy Sports Rarities (see website for details).
April 2009
 
1-2 Phone/Internet Clean Sweep Auctions (see website for details).
4 Phone/Internet Memory Lane Auction (see website for details).
16 Phone/Internet Lew Lipset Auction (see website for details).
17-19 Strongsville, OH Strongsville 2009--Ohio Sports Collectors Conv. (see website for details).
23-24 Phone/Internet Heritage Signature Sports Auction (see website for details).
23-25 Rosemont, IL Premier Collectible Conference & Exhibition (see website for details).
29-30 Phone/Internet Legendary Auctions (see website for details).




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2. 1930s Dream Discovery Yields SPC Walter Johnson; Much More



Display Box for "Headliners and Gum"
Who could have imagined? In the first decade of the twenty-first century, vintage card collectors have seen several important discoveries that provide new perspectives about card sets from the 1930s and before. None of these finds, however, compare to an amazing discovery announced early this month by Robert Edward Auctions.

The collection is comprised of dozens of unopened gum boxes and packs from various issues that date mostly from the 1930s. "We have never before seen a single unopened box of gum cards from the 1930s," according to an REA statement, In fact, the discovery was so amazing that REA felt the need to show pictures of the wide range of card sets on their website because "if we weren't able to provide photographs, we wouldn't expect anyone to believe us. It would just sound too ridiculous to be true."

Lots from the discovery will be offered in the company's Spring 2009 auction which closes May 2.

Perhaps the single most important part of the discovery, at least as far as vintage sportscard collectors are concerned, is a display box filled with unopened packs of what collectors have long referred to as 1929 Star Player Candy cards.

The display box, shown above and previously unknown to collectors, contains examples of three baseball players along with examples of golfers and aviation-related themes. Perhaps most interesting about the box is that it is clearly marked as being a product of Dockman's (John H. Dockman & Sons), one of the sponsors of the E92 candy set produced twenty years earlier.

Equally unknown before the discovery is one of the unopened packs found in the display box--that of Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson. This is an extremely significant discovery as Walter Johnson was previously unknown in the set and is a new checklist addition. Previously, only two baseball players (Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig) were known and the non-baseball cards were unreported, at least among vintage baseball card collectors. The 1929 Star Player Candy Set Description, Checklist and Gallery of cards have been updated on the Old Cardboard website to reflect this new discovery.

    
1929 Star Player Candy Johnson (unopened pack)
As seen in the front and back images at right, the Johnson card remains in its original unopened glassine package with the card front clearly visible. The package is stapled shut at the top. The image of the package back also reveals that the cards were distributed along with over thirty small round pieces of gum. While the gum obscures the card number and detailed text printed on the card back, it is readily seen by inspection of the original pack that the print text does exist, according to Robert Edward Auctions.

The 1929 SPC set and its closely related 1928 series are detailed in an article written by John Esch in Issue #11 (Spring 2007) of Old Cardboard magazine. At that time, according to the article, "we don't know what type of candy, the producer of the candy, or how it was distributed. No packaging has surfaced."

While all of those questions are now answered by this new discovery, other questions are raised, especially about how the set acquired its hobby name of Star Player Candy. According to Rob Lifson, president of REA, it is likely that the 1928 display box or header card advertised "Star Players" or "Star Players and Gum" much like the 1929 display box reads "Headliners and Gum" and the name carried over.

Sounds very plausible, but the only way to know for sure is to discover the 1928 display box. Let's not hold our collective breaths, however. If we consider this to be the vintage baseball card "discovery of the century" then we may not have another for quite some time.

Other baseball-related items in the discovery include:

An unopened 1933 Gum, Inc. pack containing two 1933 PX3 Double Header Buttons
A 1937 R342 Goudey Thum Movie in its original wrapper
Display box of unopened Tattoo Chewing Gum "real photographs" (note: R308 Tattoo Orbit movie and baseball cards were not distributed inside these packs, but handed out as a separate in-store bonus


    
Never-before-seen premiums of Whiz Bang Gum
Last but certainly not least, the discovery also includes a display box filled with packs of never-before-seen "Whiz Bang" gum. The brand, previously unknown to vintage collectors, was manufactured by Frank H. Fleer Corp.

Also included in the display box are small disk-shaped "boomerang flyers" intended to be distributed as in-store premiums with the gum. Among many other (mostly western) movie stars of the period are three "boomerang flyers" featuring baseball players Charlie Hartnett, Lefty Grove and Goose Goslin (examples shown here). Each disk measures three inches in diameter. A set profile page for the Whiz Bang Premiums has been added to the Old Cardboard website.

In case your were wondering, REA has provided some insight about how these packs survived all these years:

"These boxes and packs were saved by a candy and gum distributor as ordering samples. The distributor kept these samples on a large shelving unit just for reference, to identify product for ordering purposes. As new products came in, sometimes boxes of old products would be shoved to the back of the sample product shelf, eventually hidden from view by more current product samples. The boxes and packs presented here were pushed so far back on the shelf that they were completely hidden from view, providing all the elements of a perfect time capsule, and allowing them to be preserved all these years. These boxes and packs, having been received directly from the manufacturers, have not been seen or touched or even exposed to light since being put on a shelf at the candy and gum distributor 70 to 80 years ago!"
We find that simply amazing and welcome reader feedback about the discovery!


OC eNewsletter Sponsor

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3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website

We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include:

Set Profiles have been added for:
1930s Whiz Bang Gum Premiums
1951 Berk-Ross
1952 Berk-Ross
1949 R406-3 Bowman Gum (PCL)
1951 R406-5 Bowman Gum
1952 R406-6 Bowman Gum
1953 R406-7 Bowman Gum (Color)
1953 R406-8 Bowman Gum (B&W)
1954 R406-9 Bowman Gum
1955 R406-10 Bowman Gum (Color TV)
1955-56 R714-26 Topps "Hocus-Focus"
--

Set Checklists have been added for:
1930s Whiz Bang Gum Premiums
1936 R314 Goudey "Wide Pens" Premiums
1950 R406-4 Bowman Gum
--

Set Galleries have been added for:
1930s Whiz Bang Gum Premiums
1936 R314 Goudey "Wide Pens" Premiums


Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the Old Cardboard website and the list continues to grow. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com.



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4. 1933 R328 U. S. Caramel Wrapper Believed Found

No one in the hobby has ever reported the existence of a 1932 R328 U. S. Caramel sports wrapper and Old Cardboard subscriber Dan Mckee thinks he knows why.

  
Actually, according to Dan, "some may have seen it over the years but it is very well camouflaged!" In Mckee's opinion, a wrapper that surfaced with a Joe Cronin card from the set (see example at right) did actually come with that card in it. He believes that this is the wrapper used in the distribution of the R328 cards. His rationale is as follows:

  
The R328 set is very closely related to the "Presidents" set of similar design also produced by U. S. Caramel in the early 1930s (see example below of Thomas Jefferson). The company was based in East Boston, MA. The Presidents set has a separate designation (R114) in the American Card Catalog. A Gallery of the R114 Master Set (with three background color variations for each card) can be viewed on the Internet.

Mckee believes that the R114 Presidents cards were initially issued in Orange and Blue and lastly in Red and distributed in the wrapper labeled "American Heroes Caramels" (see example below). According to Mckee, "the sports set was then created and instead of making huge changes, the company designed the cards very similar to the red presidents issue."

  
Following this same minimal-change production strategy, Mckee figures, the company decided not to redo the graphics for the wrapper but instead simply changed the title on the wrapper to read "United States Heroes Caramels."

  
While most of the subjects of the latter set were baseball players, the set does include five other 'heroes' including two golfers and three boxers.

Since the wrapper was representing the United States Caramel Company, they could get away with leaving the historical graphics in the wrapper design, says Mckee.

Mckee admits that "this is just my opinion but it does give a valid explanation of why no one has ever seen the Sports set wrapper."

Because no R328 U. S. Caramel wrapper has surfaced in over three-quarters of a century since the cards were first distributed, and because the Cronin card from the set recently showed up with the "United States Heroes Caramels" wrapper, Dan's rational seems pretty compelling to us. We encourage any additional thoughts (pro or con) from our readers.



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5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)

Legendary Auctions Assumes Assets of Mastro. According to a March 2 news release, Legendary Auctions, a newly formed Sports and Americana auction house, has taken possession of Mastro Auctions assets. All current registered bidders in Mastro Auctions will be automatically transferred to Legendary Auctions and all outstanding Mastro Auctions business will be processed through Legendary Auctions, according to the release. Doug Allen, Mark Theotikos and Ron Oser (all previously with Mastro Auctions) will head the new auction house at its corporate headquarters in Lansing, IL. Bill Mastro, who has led Mastro Auctions for more than a decade, will not be part of the new company. The new company can be contacted at 708-889-9380. Their new website at www.legendaryauctions.com remains under construction at this time.

2009 Baseball Guide Now Available--Free to all Baseball Fans. All baseball fans take note. A free copy of SABR's "Emerald Guide to Baseball 2009" is now available on-line. It can be downloaded from the SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) website at www.sabr.org. The Guide, which fills a hole in the baseball record left by the 2006 demise of The Sporting News Baseball Guide, contains nearly 600 pages of detailed statistics for every current player at every level of the professional game, team histories, and up-to-date team contact information and schedules.

"National" Tickets Now on Sale. Admission tickets for the 30th National Sports Collectors Convention are now available online through the National's web site at www.NSCCShow.com. The show, considered by vintage collectors as the single most important event of the year, will be held July 29-August 2, 2009 at the International Exposition (I-X) Center, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Hold'em Reminder. Two of the twelve monthly tournaments of Old Cardboard's 2009 Texas Hold'em Series for vintage card collectors are now complete. The updated 2009 Leaderboard shows that Rawn Hill of South Paris, Maine has a four point lead over Old Cardboard's very own Lyman Hardeman, who has managed to move into second place. With ten tournaments left for the 2009 Series, however, there are still plenty of opportunities for anyone to claim the first place trophy. Tournament #3 is set for March 24. It is PokerStars #143551234 starting at 20:30 ET (7:30 Texas Time); password for registration is n172n172. All vintage card collectors are welcome to participate. See the Hold'em Page on the Old Cardboard website for complete details. We hope to see you at the March tournament and wish all the best of luck.




---------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Lyman and Brett Hardeman
Old Cardboard, LLC.

 
Quality Autographs Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 5
 
Meet Kevin and see our inventory in person
The Philly Show -
Valley Forge Convention Center
1200 First Ave., King of Prussia, PA
March 13-15, 2009 ~ Booths 309 & 310
 
Can't make it to the show?
 
View our inventory on our website
 
http://www.qualityautographs.com
 
 Contact us at 800-241-4809 or qualityautographs@msn.com
 with questions or to place an order.
 
   
 
Kevin's Weekly Collecting Tips & FAQ

Thank you to all who wrote in with comments and information regarding our previous e-letters about the 1927 Yankees. Thanks especially to Adam Moraine and Rhys Yeakley who have provided the following additional information on these 3 "phantom" 1927 Yankees' members who never appeared in a regular season game that year but who wore the uniform at least some of the time:
 
Johnny Nee--thought to be only a team scout
Born 1890/Died 1957
Career 1907-1926, never made the major leagues
 
Roy Chesterfield--an active pitcher who never appeared in a game
Born 1903/Died unknown
Career minor leaguer who never made the majors.
 
James Picken-team bullpen catcher for some of the season.
1927 was his only year in baseball and he is the only Picken who played in any professional league that year and some references list him as "Pickens" with an 's'. He played for the Easton Farmers also in 1927.

This week we will look at collecting the individual member signatures on flat items of the 1934 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals "Gashouse Gang."
 
Manager: HOF-Frank Frisch (d.73)

 
Starting eight: Substitutes:
James "Rip" Collins 1B (d.70) Burgess Whitehead (d.93)
HOF-Frank Frisch 2B (d.73) a player-manager Bill DeLancey (d.46)
Pepper Martin 3B (d.65) Chick Fullis (d.46)
HOF-Leo Durocher SS (d.91) Buster Mills (d.91)
Jack Rothrock OF (d.80) Pat Crawford (d.94)
HOF-Joe Medwick OF (d.75) Kiddo Davis (d.83) *see note 1
Ernie Orsatti OF (d.68) Gene Moore (d.78)
Spud Davis C (d.84) Francis Healy (d.97) *see note 2
                                                  Lew Riggs (d.75)
                                                  Red Worthington (d.63)
 
Pitchers: Coaches:
HOF-Dizzy Dean (d.74) *See note 3
Paul Dean (d.81)
Tex Carleton (d.77) Other:
Bill Hallahan (d.81) HOF-General Manager Branch Rickey
Bill Walker (d.66)
HOF-Jesse Haines (d.78)
Jim Mooney (d.79)
HOF-Dazzy Vance (d.61)
Jim Lindsey (d.63)
Flint Rhem (d.69)
Jim Winford (d.70)
HOF-Burleigh Grimes (d.85)
Clarence Heise (d.99)

Since most team collectors attempt to assemble their items on flat items in order to display the completed team together, we will apply the scarcity index key (SIK) below only to our estimate of the total number of signed flat items we have seen for each person listed above:
 
SIK-I: Extinct (we have never seen one)-none in this category
 
SIK-II: Extremely Rare (we have seen 1-10)-none in this category
 
SIK-III: Very Rare (we have seen 11-25)-Delancey, Fullis and Lindsey
 
SIK-IV: Rare (we have seen 26-100)-Martin, Orsatti, Worthington, Walker, Rhem, Winford, and Heise
 
SIK-V: Uncommon (we have seen 101-500)-Collins, Rothrock, Moore, Riggs, Carleton, Hallahan, Mooney, Vance, and Rickey
 
SIK-VI: Readily available (deceased with little or no autograph-show or private signing participation but examples are routinely offered in the market largely or primarily due to volume mail responses; check or other document releases; and/or overall widespread collecting of that person during their lifetime)-Frisch, Durocher, Medwick, Spud and Kiddo Davis, Whitehead, Mills, Crawford, Healy, Paul and Dizzy Dean, Haines, and Grimes
 
SIK-VII: Plentiful (deceased but seemingly endless quantities exist from participation in modern shows, private signings, and/or fan-mail responses or a combination
thereof)-N/A
 
SIK-VIII: living-N/A
 
Notes:
1: Not to be confused for George Stacey Davis
2: Not to be confused for Fran Healy, his nephew who played from 1969-1978 for the Royals, Giants, and Yankees
3: If any of our readers know who this team's coaches were, please let us know
 
Summary: One reason this team is so widely collected is that it is possible to readily obtain nearly all of its key members. Moreover, most of the entire roster can be found for a reasonable cost if one has the patience and means to acquire them. For the completionist, Delancey, Fullis, and Lindsey pose the greatest challenge.

  We welcome your comments or questions as well to post in future newsletters.

 
 

 
 

 
Frank Kellert 1956 GPC nicely signed and inscribed!--$350
 
  
Darrell Green 16x20 action photo!--175
 
Quick Links...
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Lloyd Waner gorgeous crisp black sharpie signature on the SS of a snow-white Unofficial ball-NrMT-MINT! I dare anyone to find a finer example-this is the nicest Waner we have ever had and the first we have offered in years!--$1495

Art Monk Official NFL football boldly signed w/"81" in silver sharpie--$350
 
Thank you for choosing Quality Autographs as one of your premier sources for building your sports autograph collection and we look forward to hearing from you soon!
Sincerely,
 
Kevin Keating
Quality Autographs