W-Series Strip Card Dispensers

[Archive]

Posted By: Gary B.

I've had a fascination with W-series strip cards from the 20's and 30's. As far as I've been able to glean thus far in the scant informatio available on strip cards, they were available in strips for a penny each.

Do any of the machines/devices/dispensers from which the strip cards came out of still exist? Does anyone have any photos of a dispenser either that has survived in the present, or archival photos of them from back when they were being used? I'd be very curious to see what they looked like. I would imagine they are a more primitive version of the dispensers you see in supermarket entrances where you can get stickers and photos of pop stars, music groups, game cards, etc. I even remember being at some really cool old-fashioned arcade somewhere in San Francisco that had a lot of old arcade games and dispenser units.

If anyone has any information about how these worked and/or photos, I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one who would be fascinated by the information.

Thanks,
Gary

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

I know several of the strip card sets sat loose in boxes and you could just pick the strip you wanted. There is another set that came in sheets that was also distributed this way. Can't say I've seen or heard of machine that dispensed the strips, but then I didn't pay too much attention to strip cards in the 80s.

Jay

[Archive]

Posted By: Gary B.

Is there no one on this board who knows more about how W-series strip cards were distributed other than the just being available in boxes at stores. They never came out of a machine of any kind or were packaged in any way other than sent to stores from the manufacturers in loose strips? Has no one researched this or read more about this?

Here's hoping someone knows...