Anyone want to chat about 1920s strip cards?
 

Its such an interesting time of collecting history to me - the period between tobacco cards and big manufacturing names like Goudey.

The idea seems to be that these strip cards are viewed a certain way, but I think they actually represent a really important and interesting period in the historical movement of baseball cards.

Let's chat! I would love to hear your opinions, thoughts, ideas, and experience.

Also, I know I might be in the wrong section, but I couldn't find a pre-war discussion section in the 'watercooler talk' area!

strip cards
 

I love em, even the crummy cuts from the kids back 100 years ago..... I started with just baseball, have since branched out into boxing, non sports, try to buy in larger groups if I can to save $$. Many of mine have writing on the back which doesnt bother me for blank backed cards. All are "raw".... sorry about that PSA/SGC LOL but thats how I like to collect them. Paper quality is pretty rough on many as they were made to be mass produced and not to last 100 plus years..... most dont have bright white backgrounds but rather brown toned paper due to age. Ive got a few Ruth and Cobb ones as well as other HOFers, no Joe Jackson sorry to say. Strip cards are great to me, I know some people hate them but thats what makes it a fun hobby, to each his own. Just bought (but havent gotten them in hand yet) 3 more this week..... like I always joke to my collecting friends..... dont miss my estate sale, there will be some bargains!!!

Rocky, have you ever seen a complete 10 card strip of W572 cards from 1923?
I have one! Single cards are easy to find but complete strips are highly unusual.

the crummy cuts are some of my favorites and its definitely the rawness that makes them meaningful and powerful to me. they represent in many ways, to me, a distillation of everything that baseball cards are in their unassuming power. i bet you guys both have sweet collections! would love to see some of your favorites if you'd like to share!

I love the big heads
Only need ping to complete it
Tough lil boogers

i used to hate hate hate strip cards...now I love them...atleast many of them. But I mainly collect ruths...so all of my strips are his.

The transitional nature of them following the big war intrigues me...the way they were issued. I can just imagine the vendor tearing off the cards for the pestering kids...or maybe some of them used scissors and took more care?

that 572 babe ruth is phenomenal. that might actually be my favorite ruth card that i've seen thus far. i love the cut on it too. what a perfect piece. you've got a great collection through and through though here too. i totally agree with you on the transitional nature of the cards, thats a great way to put it. the imaginative aspect about how people participated in the act of creating them is huge

set completion of those is sweet! it must look awesome having them all together. good luck on the last one!!

Moving this topic to the main board so it can be seen by all.....enjoy!

I also used to hate them. Then I got 5 of the w514 cards. Now I realize the artwork on these is really good. And as with all cards, there's history beyond the players on the cards. Who bought them? Where did they buy them? Who cut them out? How were they managed to be kept?

Thanks Brian! sorry about that, didn't mean to post it in the wrong place. cheers!

Exactly. that's a great point. and i think there's that added layer of who cut them out and the way it was cut by hand which is a really fantastic level of added depth. i also love that they aren't 'branded' so to speak. they're sort of this public domain, mass produced insert. i find that aspect of it fascinating

The W512 Ruth was one of my first vintage cards -- 1971, I was 10, from Gar Miller for 5 bucks. I couldn't believe I could afford to buy a playing days Ruth!

I loved them from that point on. Just this year finished the baseball players in that set and now will slowly tackle W515s.

As an aside, I didn't want to open Pandora's box by starting to collect non-baseball strips... but I couldn't resist a W512 Charlie Chaplin at The National.

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Here's Walter five ways. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e770a9ffbc.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...98aacbda2d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ac015e1ada.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4145685cf1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1288678bd6.jpg

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Strip of 10

George, congrats on your very nice run of WaJo's W516 variations!

My favorite strip cards are those that have advertising on the backs, such as these below. Sadly, after recently submitting my Wool's Bread card of WaJo, SGC informed me that they no longer will note "Wool's Bread" on the label.

Outstanding cards, Val. Here's a few more Walters with blank backs. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...85b2e1b8ab.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...15b7cae58b.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...35db974e3f.jpg

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Some great examples shown so far.

I'm particularly interested in the W516 Becker/Prize backs myself. We've discussed them on the board before and I'm not the only one who seeks them out. Here are mine.

For strips in general, you're right, a lot of folks hate them. But I like them. I like other sets too besides the Becker backs. I've also branched out from baseball and collect boxing as well. I have a partial set of the Big Heads boxers too. Here's an old scan of three of them together. I'm up to 5/10 so far.

And my partial strip of W515s.

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I have learned to really enjoy strip cards over the years, to the point where I even enjoy the W9316 set. Which of course is the set consisting of stripped down strip cards only suitable for strip card connoisseurs.

Brian

My dad is similar - he bought a W515-1 Ruth for a similar price in the early 70s.

I can't believe y'all could afford playing day Ruths either. :(

Strip Cards As Art
 

I turned my W551 strip into art…

Never have seen this one before! Sounds pretty cool!

I have 1 Becker card, #17 Art Nehr.

#17 Nehf with Becker back.

w516's

Here is a thread--i posted the Big Heads and some others has some.
https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...6+unc+big+head

Good to see more of the 1920s strip sets on here! I've looked at a lot of sports and non-sport strip sets of that era. One company (Universal Toy & Novelty Co.) appears to be who created several, and they first focused on actors, boxers, and baseball. Later, they added US presidents and more. If you're a reader, I went after how the ACC could classify these strips, based on what Burdick wrote about W500 cards in his time and what's better-known about these cards today.

https://www.number5typecollection.co...hollywood.html

Here's one scarce strip issue I'd love to see more of, as they share the handwritten lettering style of Universal Toy, and could date to 1922-24, given their art style and ink colors. Anyone else have some in this reddish cultural style?

I'd be interested in a discussion of the legitimacy of the '20s strip cards in relation to others such as T206 and 1930s gum issues.

Pre-1967 releases tend not to be discussed in those terms very often, because the major league licensing program literally did not exist. But of course we know that certain cards were issued with specific permission from the depicted players, while others were not. For example, my understanding is that the T206 cards largely were legitimate in that manner, except that the Wagner wasn't (leading to its scarcity after its withdrawal).

What is the case with the strip cards? Were any of them issued in accordance with agreements with the players?

Love them. I spent 20 years putting together a complete W514 set. They were a cheap way to get some high-end players for much less than their mainstream cards.

I'm an avid collector of Sam Rice cards, and as I mentioned earlier, I'm partial to strip cards with ads on the backs. Here are my W514 cards of Rice, 3 of which have ads on the backs:

Leaving Rice and ad backs to Val (great cards Val), here are some Washington W514's:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4ca766f59a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f524422a73.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2dab6938fe.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4fcb3cd732.jpg

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this is a fantastic question. anyone have insight??

this sam rice card is beautiful. jeez. just phenomenal design. thanks a ton for sharing. wow!

that walter johnson is something else. would love to pick one of those up eventually. one of my all time favorites. thanks for sharing all of these! i need to take a closer look at w514. really interesting drawings here.

you guys on here and 514! it sounds like i've gotta get in on it too. and i totally agree. i was able to get a beautiful grover cleveland alexander for a really great price. i can't complain!

really interesting spike. i really like the one on the left. it looks like it could be a design from a book!

"that walter johnson is something else"

Here's a similar image in the W551:

which one is your favorite? i give the slight edge to the first one you shared. more 3 dimensional design. can't go wrong with either one of those though. having a big train in your collection is a huge W (as in Washington!) :D

I sort of stumbled across 1920 W522's in a lot I purchased. Now I started collecting this set. I sometimes lose interest on the way and may sell the group I have. These action poses are cool with the solid background silhouette style. As someone else mentioned the art work on many of these sets is interesting

Hi Rick. I ended up with a lot of W520s in an auction many years ago and was working on that set for a while. But with the 520's seeming to show up for sale much less often than the 522's I also lost interest after a while and sold the group I had. Here's a pic of them along with a single W522 Zach Wheat that was a placeholder until I could find a W520.

I love the colors and poses in these sets.

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I’ll sneak in a 514

Here is a trio of Western Stars strips that I have not been able to identify yet. I really like these. If anyone knows anything about them, please let me know. They appear to be from the same set as this Jim Thorpe strip pictured here as well (Thorpe is not mine).



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This thread has stayed focused on 1920's strips in color, but there were others in black and white. Here's (I think they qualify) a bridge from color to black and white:

Your cards are from this set:

http://www.moviecard.com/zamerican/s.../w-cutout.html

[

Nice Mike! Thank you. I know of the site but never found these on there. Thank you!



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Here is my uncut strip of W563 US Presidents and Charlie Chaplin.




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W551 Uncut Strip
 

Here is my W551 Champions uncut strip including Sarazen and Weissmuller.

My contribution to the thread

Anyone seen "booklets" of strip card sheets before?