"Toy Town Post Office" stamp

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Posted By: Bill Cornell

I believe I made a minor hobby discovery today after I bought a 1911 Baseball Bats card (actually a cutout from a penny candy box) of Harry Davis that has a "Toy Town Post Office" stamp on the back:



The last few SCD guides have mentioned this stamp. On p. 487 of the 2003 guide, there is this description:

"Rather than a card issuer, this enigmatic rubber-stamp has been found on the backs of dozens of 1910-era baseball cards. Measuring 1/2" in diameter, the seal is in purple ink. At center is a barred circle with 'TOY TOWN' above and 'POST OFFICE' below. Whether the cards were sold pre-stamped as part of a toy set or were defaced by a youngster and eventually made their way into the hobby is unknown. Because the cards are low-grade the addition of the stamp neither adds nor detracts from the value of the card on which it is placed."

Since Baseball Bats can only be cut-outs from an existing box, it seems implausible that this logo was "pre-stamped" - it must have been added to the back of the card at some point after it fell into a buyer's (or collector's) hand.

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Posted By: scott brockelman

bill,

i agree that the toy town post office stamp was added by some enterprising young collector, i have a couple in my possession, one of which also has a another generic stamp with the toy town post office stamp. i would presume that the toy town post office stamp came with some type of game in the teens or twenties.

scott

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Posted By: petecld

I did a little checking into "Toy Town" couple years ago after I bought a card with a Toy Town stamp. I have an E92 Dockman and an E97 Briggs with the stamp.

So far only "E" cards are known to have them and since the candy/caramel companies were all from the upper east coast I always wondered if there is some sort of connection, and I can't say for sure, but I found out that during WW1 a town in Massachusetts called "Winchendon" was called "Toy Town" because so much of the industry there was involved in the making of toys for children over seas.

The stamped cards could be part of a game or I wondered if cards were used as some kind of promotion for the town or were included with toys that were sent to Europe.

Again, all pure speculation on my part.

Has anyone seen the stamp on a tobacco card?

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Posted By: Paul

I hate to sound like the kid in the Emperor's New Clothes, but where's the stamp? I don't see it in the scan. All I see is some scribbling at the top and the letters "ch" scrawled lower down.

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Posted By: Bill Cornell

Pete-

Maybe that explains it. Lowell, MA (where the Baseball Bats candies were manufactured) and Winchendon, MA ("Toy Town") are only about 50 miles apart. Also, both Briggs and Close candies came from Cambridge, which is roughly the same distance from both towns. Maybe someone in Winchendon with a "Toy Town" rubber stamp bought these candies with the cards around 1910-1911 and left his impression on the back.

How some these cards wound up in TX in Scott's hands can only be guessed .

BTW, Winchendon is next to Gardner, once The Furniture City (now home of the world's 8th or 9th "World's Largest Chair") and Athol (say it without the lisp). History is decline.

Bill

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Posted By: petecld

Scott B. must have bought his at a National.

He does have a habit of buying cards with stamps on the back when the National comes to town.

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Posted By: Art M.

I own an E91-C Clyde Milan with the Toy Town stamp on the reverse. I also own a T206 Jennings, 1 hand showing, with Cycle 460 back that has the Toy Town stamp on the back. I have seen a T206 Bender, portrait, with Piedmont back that had the Toy Town stamp. (This card used to be in Frank Wrights collection.)
Toy town post office was a board game in the 1910 to 1920 era. I have tried to figure out this stamp for years, can only guess that someone with this stamp also collected "T" and "E" cards and stamped them.
Anybody else have any?

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Posted By: fkw

My guess was that I always had an idea the cards may have been "reused" or redistributed at a later date (teens) by someone who put the stamp on back and included them within a package deal of small toys/cards/candy etc.. I have seen about a dozen "Toy Town Post Office" cards over last 5 years on eBay, and all have been in VG/EX or lower grade (usually low grade). Its all very interesting.

Frank

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Posted By: RC_McKenzie

On ebay about 3 years ago I bought an Eddie Collins Baseball Bats that had the toy town stamp. Neither the seller nor I knew what it was. I relisted it as an Orange Border because the background was orange behind the b/w photo of Collins. R337 sent an email to me that it was actually a baseball bats. He might have bought it, I don't remember.

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Posted By: Art M.

Here is a picture of the T206 Jennings and E91-C Milan with Toy Town post office stamp on the reverse.

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Posted By: Paul

Just so people don't think I'm a complete idiot, the scan of the back of this card was very different when it was first posted.

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Posted By: hankron

My mom grew up near a tiny town named Christmas. At that festive time of year, the population at its Post Office swelled with people getting the 'Christmas' stamp on their packages.

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Posted By: scott brockelman

pete,

i think you'll find, as lower posts confirm, the stamp on a variety of cards, i have a t204 ramly eddie plank(OUCH!) with the stamp, again that does tie pretty closely to the massachusetts area though. i don't recall what the other card is, i'll have to dig it out.

scott

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Posted By: brian parker

At one time I owned a lower grade T206 with a Toy Town Post Office stamp. I have always envisioned that the someone who collected these cards was a retailer and came upon the idea that they could stamp and give the cards out to customers (probably kids) when they bought candy or merchandise as a way to promote sales.

It was something definitely done after the cards were distributed, as the Baseball Bats card will attest, and would tend to support a theory such as mine or Frank's. It shouldn't (but in these back stamp crazy days probably will) make a card any more valuable. I would consider it just like any other backstamped card done by a collector. For example, I have a few cards with 'Gilliam T. Squires" on the back (by the way, this fellow had quite a collection), and although it doesn't bother me, their overall condition should be downgraded because of it.

Brian

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Posted By: runscott

I always thought that stamp was for a West Coast tobacco product, since it is found on so many obaks.

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Posted By: Bob Lemke

Timely thread, this. Our sister publication Stamp Collector recently had an article on European versions of the post office play sets and it became evident to me that these cards were probably the result of a kid enamored with his rubber-stamp and ink pad out of an American kit. I'm going to make a notation to that effect in the 2004 Standard Catalog. I'd say these are "damaged goods".

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Posted By: TBob

As why does his name appear on so many of my otherwise great looking Obaks?????

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Posted By: jay behrens

possibly a tobacco shop?

Jay

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Posted By: leon

I have several E99 and E100 PCL cards with the "Gilliam Squire" purple stamp on them.....personally I think this kind of stuff is cool....and lowers the potential cost of some cards....it's a win win......gosh, I hate that term regards all

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Posted By: scott brockelman

gilliam squires is just another collector from 90 years ago, that did what many collectors of the day did, he rubber stamped his cards. another large group of cards, especially obaks, come with a blue "russell sewall" stamp. granted some of these people had large collections, they are neat but in no way add totheir value, on the other hand the devaluation is probably to different degrees with different collectors, some prefer crease free, some centering, some photo clarity, each person has their own parameters and asthetic desires.

scott

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Posted By: brian parker

All the Gilliam T. Squires cards I have are for 1910 era PCL issues. I, like Leon, think it is kind of cool that the card has this link to its previous (perhaps original) owner. Then again, I even like writing on the back. My all-time favorite card with writing on the back is a Zeenut of Bob Meusel that states "Meusel is nothing but a old flat lunch." Not exactly a member of the Bob Meusel fan club.

Brian