Pretty Cool Uncatalgued 1939 Card Set (Info appreciated)

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

I recently purchased a scrap book that came from outside the hobby where all material inside dated to the 1939 baseball season. Included in the scrapbook were tons of newspaper articles about the players, their wives, and even a whole page article pertaining to the Willard Hershberger suicide. The book included the entire 1939 Chicago Cubs Team Issued set of 25 6"x9" photos. However, the reason I am writing this doesn't have anything to do with these items.

In the book were 7 cards from a set I don't know if I have ever seen before, although the Larry French card looks very familiar to me and I may have seen it somewhere before but can't remember where. I soaked 6 of the 7 cards from the scrap book leaving the Bonura still attached to a portion of the scrap book page. Anyways, the cards are definitively dated to 1939 (the year the scap book dates to) by the inclusion of Bonura with the New York Giants, this was the only year he played with that team.

Anyways, the cards all measure 2-3/8"x3-5/16" and are in an array of beautiful colors with the backs being blank. If anybody has anymore information on these items or has additional items from this set I would love to hear about them. Again, for some reason I seem to remember possibly having seen the French before but can't be 100% sure.

-Rhett
rhettyeakley@netzero.com

The Zeke Bonura (still attached to portion of scrap book page)...


The French Card...


The rest of the bunch...

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Posted By: Kyle

One of my favorite aspects of this hobby, and seeing auctions on eBay, is trying to figure out what something is (ie Big Show Candy). I tried, I looked, couldn't figure it out. Maybe they're all 1 of 1's, worth thousands of dollars and you could trade them for all the Albert Pujols rookies you'd ever want! Just kidding, Rhett.

But I do have one lead, that I came up with as I was writing this post. Its a stretch, but a decent one.

The font looks remarkably similar to the font used in the 1939 Father and Son Shoes set of cards listed here. Notice the similarities in the "M" in Mize and M in Moses.

http://www.oldcardboard.com/o/clothing/father-son-shoes/father-son-shoes.asp?cardsetID=1099

-Kyle

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Wow, I guess this thread isn't controversial enough to warrant more than one reply. I really thought there would be at least a few comments regarding the items.
-Rhett

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Posted By: Jodi Birkholm

Rhett,

Don't take it too much to heart. I posted a scan of a remarkable pickup on the memorabilia side (a very valuable piece) and heard nary an "ooh" or "aah". Once in a while, the board surprises me in this regard.

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

Your post/news is certainly appreciated--please don't think otherwise. Seems you may have stumped the band, however. That should be good news for you, unless you believe me when I say those are Renata Gallasso fantasy types from the mid 70's that somebody cleverly placed in an album with all 1939 stuff and that are worth only a few dollars for all-- do you wanna sell?

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Posted By: Andy Broome

Well, I'll throw out a response...
You got a great find there. I really like the two former Chattanooga players, Travis and Lewis. I'd be more than pleased to add those to my collection!
The reason this hobby is so great is that you can still discover new "stuff". Heck, even Wagners still pop up!
I just read today that there are two guys claiming they bagged a bigfoot body. While it seems crazy, a scientist interviewed about the "bigfoot" said it is possible to discover new species, even in 2008.
Cards or mammals, it is exciting to discover new ones! Its still fun even when a "find" turns out to be a hoax.
(Not implying your find is a hoax by the way just to be clear.)

Andy

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Posted By: Rich

The French card or one just like it sold on ebay about a year+ ago. Eric(Goudeyhunter) had it on his page for a while. Neat looking cards, could they have been cut from a larger piece?

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Rich, that must have been it as I knew I had seen something with French resembling this piece. I doubt very much that they were cut from something as the cuts are absolutely factory cuts and the cards are very uniform is size.
-Rhett

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Posted By: Brian

Rhett,

Thanks for sharing, I know nothing about cards in the 30s. These look sharp, and I am eager to learn what they are.

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Posted By: leonl

The board plays no favorites. Sometimes I will post, what I think is a good thought, and all there are is crickets chirping. I think we always go back to the question "what is a card?".....with that being said what kind of stock are these on? To me they sort of look like cut outs from some kind of display piece.....

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Posted By: barrysloate

Edited to say now I get it.

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

I don't want the board to get the wrong idea, I wasn't angry, just kinda annoyed. People are constantly talking about "getting back to cards" and when a post is made that attempts to do so, you get nary a response (not just this thread either). I guess I just don't understand it, and needed to vent off a little steam.

Leon, the cards are on thick stock, and I disagree that they were cut from a display. I don't see the evidence that this is the case here, I have never seen anything resembling these pieces as a display. Also, unless the person cutting them had access to a commercial paper cutter it is unlikely an indivual cut these, the sides are machine cut and upon inspection it is pretty clear. Have you seen a display of this kind before to lead you to that conclusion?

-Rhett

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Posted By: barrysloate

Rhett- sometimes you don't get a reply because an item is so obscure nobody has anything to offer. I saw these as soon as you posted and I thought they were really great, but I didn't respond because I've never seen them before.

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Posted By: leon

"To me they sort of look like cut outs from some kind of display piece....."

I don't think my statement was definitive by any means. I have seen other cut outs similar to these but not just like these. If these are on thicker stock than paper, which can't be known without holding them, then they very well might be from a set we just don't know about (yet). There are many such pieces in the hobby. This is certainly one such thing that keeps it fun for me since I don't collect too many sets. Thanks for sharing......and as type collector I would always be interested in obtaining a sample ....

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Leon, I'm pretty sure we are on the same page here. I thought I had mentioned the stock earlier, so that was my bad.

Barry, I hear ya. I guess we (me included) are all wound a little too tight around here lately.

-Rhett

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Posted By: Bobby Binder

To me they look to perfectly cut and sized to be done by hand from a display piece.

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Well, a friendly member of the board here emailed me this past auction through Hunt's and it has some of the same cards, albeit in lesser condition.

http://www.huntauctions.com/online/imageviewer.cfm?auction_num=32&lot_num=544&lot_qual=&url_referer=view_lots_items_list.cfm
-Rhett

The scrapbook mine were found in originated from Chicago, so it may have been a mid-western regional issue of some kind.

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Posted By: fkw

For what its worth, Ive had scans of a couple of these cards for about 5 years now. I would post them but they are on another computer.

I had them as "Unknown" and this is the first time Ive seen other examples.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

The cards in Hunt's all have staple holes and Rhett's don't...How about the ones in your scans Frank?

I would have guessed that the staple holes meant they were probably attached to a food product package, but since Rhett's do not have the staple holes who knows?

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Dan, not sure what to make of the staple holes either. It may have been a means of distribution as you suggested or it may simply be the way the long-ago collector stored or mounted his group of cards. I knew I had seen the French card somewhere before, I'm just glad it's confirmed that I'm not crazy (yet!).

-Rhett

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Posted By: barrysloate

Of the 12 cards posted between Hunt and what Rhett bought, every one of them appears to be in pristine condition, no creases or even any corner wear. That is unusual and might tell us something about them. They are almost certainly hand cut, based on the scans.

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Posted By: G. Maines

Rhett: They could be a Wheaties issue, judging by that characteristic orange coloration.

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Posted By: James Feagin

The first thought that came to mind when I read the story and saw the cards was Exhibits. Being that Exhibits originated in Chicago, these cards have the lettering of Exhibits and different color variations common to the company, could these be an Exhibit test issue or part of a display?

James

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

I too believe these could be a Wheaties issue. They have the look and feel of a Wheaties design to me. Wheaties had issued "cards" the previous two years on their individual size boxes of cereal--roughly this size, and Series 14 even looks similar in design to these, other than a small tab-like feature on the bottom. Wheaties was pretty innovative throughout the '30s. Who knows?

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I think if they were Wheaties they would be much more plentiful and well known. These are almost certainly a regional or test issue.

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Posted By: Ryan Christoff

The real surprise in this thread is that someone has Victor Starffin as their avatar. How cool is that?

-Ryan

P.S. Also, cool find, Rhett.

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Posted By: Andy Broome

How cool is that someone else can pick Starffin out from a tiny little pic like that?
He is a focus of my collecting but alas, I have a mere 6 cards of him so far.
I actually have a nice checklist of Starffin cards but it is far from complete. There are so many uncatalogged Japanese cards.
Hey, I have learned how to read Victor's name in Japanese! See what card collecting has taught me!

I'm starvin' for Starffin!

Geez, thats a really bad line, isn't it?

Andy

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Posted By: Scot Reader

Rhett,
Nice find. The potential for discovery is one of the best things about this hobby--and it looks like you have struck gold.
Scot

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Posted By: Paul

There is a very difficult Wheaties set, so I wouldn't rule out Wheaties. The set I am thinking of looks like the R314 set and was described in detail in an article in Old Cardboard about the R314 set and related sets.

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Posted By: leon

At first glance I too thought these might have something to do with a Wheaties test issue, or something of the sort. The bright bold colors are very similar...

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

I've never seen these before, nor have I heard of Mr. Starffin. Great stuff.

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Posted By: Eric

Hello all -

As someone has already mentioned here, I own the Larry French card. I just put it on my website - http://www.freewebs.com/goudeyhunter/index.htm as my inept technical skills don't allow me to figure a way to post pictures here. : )
Anyways, I'm happy to see the group that Rhett has displayed, although it makes me curious why his French is a different color than mine? My card also seems to have staple holes near the topside, which I don't see on any of the cards here. I haven't seen any others alike this since buying mine off Ebay, and until now, had doubts about its vintage authenticity.

Eric

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Very interesting...that's 3 Larry French cards known...and yours have staple holes too.



The mystery continues.

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Posted By: Dave Hornish

Perhaps a prize from a Carnival midway?

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Posted By: leon

Whenever I see staple holes at the tops of cards, and they are on most cards that look like each other from the same "series", I always think of bags of potato chips or cookies.....as to what they might have been stapled to and given with.....There are precedents for these kinds of giveaways......though I am not saying that is definitely how these were distributed it does make sense.....And maybe the first ones shown hadn't been given away (stapled) yet.....This is just a thought as Eric's looks like what I am describing....

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

My thoughts exactly Leon, but wouldn't a food product want their name on the card?





edited to add: Weaver's Wafers were potato chips.

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Posted By: Eric

Proximity can be educating, my uncat French card is located next to the Uncle Jacks cards within the picture folder on my computer. The vibrant coloring and small script on both seem similar. The two issues would only be 6 years apart, if the uncat issue is 1939. 1933 Uncle Jacks cards came in three tones...as seen in this post, my uncat French has a different backtone than Rhett's. They both feature blank backs with no mention of the company who produced them. The comparisons may be a reach...but the similarities were interesting.

Dan - The Weaver's cards are great, what year are they?

Cheers..

E.

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Posted By: boxingcardman

These are very similar to a set of crudely colorized arcade cards of Westerns that were put out by Mutoscope.

Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc

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Posted By: Alan U

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but these kind of remind me of the 1941 Goudey's.

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Posted By: PC

I wonder if the staple holes line up on each of the cards. If they do, then perhaps these cards were stapled together (as opposed to food packaging) as a "flip book" of sorts -- although consecutive images of different players would make an odd flip book.

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Eric, thanks for posting your French, it is interesting that it does have a different background color than the one I have (the one in the Hunt's grouping had my same background color-orange). Also, the Stanley Hack I have is a far away shot that pictures him to his thighs, while the Hack in the Hunt's grouping was a closer shot that pictures him roughly to his waist (again, they used the same exact picture though). It may mean that there were 2 printings of these cards.

I have no explanation as to why mine do not have the staple holes at top that yours and the Hunt's grouping do. It could be as simple as one store-owner handing the cards out as opposed to stapling them to the product they may have come with, again, pure speculation here.

Anyways, pretty neat set of cards that are VERY enigmatic. I do love the colors in the set though!
-Rhett

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Posted By: Todd Schultz

French is not only a different color, it is cropped and tilted completely differently and the name is placed differently. Slight crop differences exist in the first two French's, with one showing more belt buckle, but these are quite different.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Eric, the Weaver's cards are from 1953.

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Todd, you are correct, although the names are not placed differently, they are in the same exact spot, just obviously tilted differently because his body is tilted different. Also, the Hack example is even a bigger change than the French's.
-Rhett