1926-28 Schapira Brothers candy

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Posted By: JC 

I posting this message for a friend of mine who is looking at an old collection to buy. In the collection, there are 6 cards that he had no idea what they were. After going thru the SCD page by page he noticed the Johnson in the 1926-28 Schapira Candy photo was the same one he had. All the other players were not listed. He has the Babe Ruth which he described as a portrait photo with Babe's hands on his waist and he's not smiling Does anyone have a more complete checklist on this issue? What would the Ruth value be around? Are the prices in the set reflective on the real hobby realized prices for this issue?

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Posted By: fkw

I saw that group (mentioned in the "Goudey Ruth" post a couple days ago). That group is easily the largest group of Schapira cards Ive ever seen. From what Ive seen, The rare Schapira set is not well known. It was found in candy boxes in the New York area around 1926. The cards are crude (often miscut) B&W (or sepia) photo cards that were placed in boxes of "Schapira Bros. Big Show Candy" about 1926. The cards were sometimes creased a bit to fit them into the tight box. About 3-4 years ago, there were only about 4-5 different players known, I happen to pick up the Ty Cobb card on eBay about 4 years ago, auctioned as an "unknown Cobb card". The Schapira Cobb (pictured below) was not checklisted in catalogs at that time (unknown). I reported the Cobb card to Bob Lemke of SCD, and it was listed in the SCD Catalog the next year. Since then Ive picked up 2 other Schapira cards (Maranville, Schalk), both being sold on eBay as common strip cards (both under $20). The Ray Schalk wasnt known at that time as well, but It is now in the 2003 SCD Catalog. In the group you are refering to, the players I can tell from the scan are Ruth, Walter Johnson, and Rabbit Maranville, there are 3 others I couldnt make out. They are all fairly nice for Schapira cards. The only defect (yet small) is the Ruth and a couple others have been slightly trimmed on one side. Schapria cards are usually found were there is part of another card on one border. They sure didnt give room for cutting them when they were designed. (See Cobb card below). In that group of 6 cards, the corners dont match in wear on 2 of the 4 corners on a few of the cards. They are still very nice cards, I made an offer on the cards myself, but I guess I was short,

If or When your friend gets them please post some pictures. Frank

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Posted By: JC

Thanks Frank, I've never seen them before until now. They sorda remind me of the 1921 Oxford Conf. cards because of their size and photo quality (caugh caugh)
Take care JC