Great read, Patrick. Thanks for posting that.
Somewhere I think I read that Colgan's got its start when a pharmacist in Louisville was sitting at a table or counter in a restaurant (maybe at morning) with someone when he overheard some L&N Railroad person telling someone about 2 carloads of chicle that had been shipped from South America up to the southern coast of the US, and then on to a buyer who refused to accept or pay for the order when delivery was attempted. The railroad had no idea of what they could do to get paid for their shipping efforts, nor what to do with chicle. Colgan offered to buy it for a greatly discounted price, he thought he could add flavoring and get into the gum business.
This brings to mind Bill Haber. I did not ever meet him, but he and I had a few telephone conversations about old players and old cards. He would usually steer the conversation to the Colgan's Chips cards. He was always trying to ask about who I had, and what team they were with. Sometimes he'd ask about a particular player. I think he had several cards that weren't listed in the early guides. At the time I was more interested in talking about the players depicted in the white border tobacco set. On one call he told me about Bull Durham, who has a portrait card in the set. I thought Bull had an east coast family and a midwestern family, and he'd go back and forth between the two while a ballplayer, neither family knew about the other. Anyway, Mr. Haber knew a right smart about those round cards. I don't know the disposition of his collection, but I'd think his Colgans cards would have been impressive.
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