Posted By:
Richard MassonI have not seen the printed article, but hopefully it has a scan of a card reverse (my scanner just blew up-Merry Christmas!). The issuer is identified as "The Peggy Popcorn and Food Products, Ltd." and a street address in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The street address existed from 1903, when the building was constructed, to 1929, when the building was renumbered. It was a multiple tenant building.
The Peggy Popcorn Company, F.A. Sigesmund, proprietor (or a variation thereof) appears in the Henderson Directory (a Winnepeg business directory at the time) from 1922 to 1927, each year at a different address. Sigesmund is sometimes described as a candy manufacturer. Each year, the company has a different address, always in the same part of town, but nothing definitively ties Peggy Popcorn to the Market Street address. These facts are consistent with the assumption that the company began at that address before 1922.
The Gleason card also implies a 1920 issue date, as he is the manager of the pennant winner the previous year and there would be little reason to include him after 1921. The Vance is the one card that is somewhat inconsistent with a 1920 (or early 1921) issue date. It is a different size than the other cards and could easily have been produced later.
These cards are a fascinating mystery. They may pre-date all the candy issues in Canada (Dominion, Paterson, Maple Crispette, etc.). But until a second cache is found, or some other documentation is located, we may never definitively know the story behind these cards. Mr. Sigesmund passed away in 1975.