[Harford20]

Fred,
I have seen one card scan (not even the real card), so NO, I cannot confirm that the Red back exists. I certainly have not seen a strip of Red. I have several individual cards that I called Navy Blue back when holding directly next to a Purple back, but I was never really convinced until I recently picked up the Navy Blue back strip (posted above). Side-by-side, these are clearly different colors, and I now believe these to be a true variant back.

This research has been ongoing for several years. I know other collectors out there have further info, I am just trying to gather it.

Here is a discussion/quote from dblyn.hubpages on the 1950 R423 Vintage Set:
"The cards in this series from the early 1950s are printed on thin stock and measure 5/8" by 3/4" (smaller than the size of a US quarter). They were initially offered as a long horizontal strip of 13 cards connected by a perforation. The cards were available with a variety of back colors with orange being the most common, green backs are uncommon and purple backs are rare. There have been isolated findings of Red and Blue backs which would be the rarest of the varieties. Complete strips intact are worth 50 percent more than the sum of the individual players on the strip. The numbering of the cards in the set is close to alphabetical. The strips are found with the cards in no particular order (though the players on the strip are consistent). These strips were found in one-cent bubblegum machines, folded accordion style and held together by a small metal clip."

As I have strips that have clearly never been folded, I also am interested in verifying the method of dispensing these cards and how so many complete/intact/non-folded strips surfaced.

Dave