Are these Wheaties advertising pieces real?

[Chris Counts]

I've seen a few of these oversized Wheaties advertising pieces of Joe Dimaggio on eBay over the years. The image is clearly taken from one of the 1937 Wheaties series. They never seem to get much action on eBay. Are they vintage or a modern creation?

[Jaybird]

I don't know anything about these pieces but the lack of saturation in the blue and orange makes it look like these were printed on an inkjet. Look at the older printed items in the background behind this item. The solid color fields are much more uniform in color and not so "splotchy". Also, just the general printing quality looks poor like a modern repro.

Just my opinion as I know nothing of wheaties but I would steer way clear.

[ullmandds]

I agree w/jaybird...the detail of joes face isn't convincing to me...although I also...know nothing about this issue.

[ruth-gehrig]

I'm curious what others have to say!

[Chris Counts]

The piece pictured above closed last week on eBay without a bid at $60. A similar conditioned panel of the same image that was clearly clipped from a Wheaties box, and therefore is much smaller, sold a couple days earlier for about three times that amount. So it looks like others have doubts as well. If it was real, you would think the advertising piece would outsell the regular issue ...