E223 G and B Gum principals- scammers of yesteryear

[Leon]

In the recent net54 contest about guessing the names of the "G" and "B" in our E223 series, Jamie Hull uncovered some interesting information. Very little is ever spoken about G and B, and I think it's neat when ANY tidbit of information can come out. I would have thought that Jamie found the information hidden in the ACC, as I did, but that wasn't the case. He did a search, or searches, and came up with these 2 articles about the founders of G & B... It looks like they were trying to lure kids into a bit of a lottery situation (seemingly even illegal back then) and to make matters worse they were allegedly rigging the contests......and taken into custody!! As we know "G & B" stood for Green and Blackwell.

[Exhibitman]

They were running a policy game.

[rhettyeakley]

What were the dates of the articles?

I have shown this before, but the non-baseball were apparently issued around the 1888 Presidential Election. I have the Allen G. Thurman (losing vice-presidential candidate) and I have seen the Grover Cleveland (the sitting President, but loser of the 1888 election.) I have never seen or heard of a Benjamin Harrison or Levi Morton but I assume they were at least initially produced, although since both examples that have surfaced are Democrats, maybe G&B were too partisan to include the Republicans in the series! Also, the set could have included other non-baseball players, but the aforementioned subjects are the only ones I have ever seen.

Scan 4X actual size (they are the same size as the ballplayers)


-Rhett

[jimonym]

Rhett,

Both articles were from March 2, 1884.

[rhettyeakley]

Jamie, thanks for the info. The articles are very interesting.

The pair must have been scared into actually including premiums with their products by 1888.
-Rhett