1938 Wheaties Series 15 - How rare are these?

[holybull]

Hello.....been looking for a Hank Greenberg from this series but have never seen one...actually never see any of these. How rare is this series? any experts out there? Any information appreciated.

[riggs336]

I've been collecting 1930s-40s Wheaties backs a long time. I have all the baseball series completed except Series 14 and Series 15, the "minis". Of these I have none.
Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places but I've seen two Series 14 and zero Series 15 on eBay in the last ten years.
So, to answer your question, damn rare IMO.

[holybull]

Thanks for the input....so that is amazing for someone at your level....wonder if being a "mini" no one collected them (seems odd that someone would not) or a local issue somewhere...or even a test issue of some sort with very limited distribution.....thanks again!

[ecRich]

The series 14 and 15 are very scarce due to very limited distribution at the time of issue. They were not sold in grocery stores like the larger boxes were. These were single serving boxes that only were available on trains,hospitals and perhaps some restaurants. Few were taken home by the people who consumed them.
I have probably three or four from these series. I got Van Mungo from his family years ago.
There is a third series of these small cards that were issued in 1936 and were not cataloged because they were unknown at the time. John Spalding is who came up with these series designations back in the early 1970s. He and I talked frequently about Wheaties. At one of the Anaheim nationals I found two of these unknown 1936 minis and showed it to John who was very excited to see a series he had not seen before and I gave him one.

[bigfanNY]

I had Mini Ghenringer that I consigned to REA did not even get a $200 minimum bid. Sold it on ebay I think for $700. I have seen 5 in 49 years of going to shows but a couple showed up on ebay in PSA slabs listed as series 4. Super Rare but just not much interest. Good luck with your hunt.

[leftygrove10]

Here are some scans of a few Grove Wheaties panels. Series W-Unc, Series 11, Series 14 and Series 15. The Series 11 Grove panel shows the waitress serving Lefty a Mel Ott (I think) cereal box. (I am still looking for the Series 15 Grove.... this one is not mine.) All of the mini's are very tough!

[holybull]

thank you for your input.....looks like its going to be a tough one to find....if they even made a Hank.....

[holybull]

Wow....thanks to you and everyone else who posted....lots of great knowledge out there and I appreciate all of you sharing! I figured it had to be limited distribution but that really is....wonder if the Hank even exists at this point.....thanks again!