Diamond Dust punchboards - to punch or not to punch?

[jerseygary]

Has anyone seen or owned a Babe Ruth? All the "cards" I have seen so far are of players from the late 1930's.

[Butch7999]

As stated, we're far from expert on these things, and honestly we'd be happy to learn that there were indeed cards
somewhere inside the punchboards or distributed in conjunction with them. But our guess -- only that, just a guess --
would have been that a card such as the one Ben shows is simply a cut-out (like notebook cut-outs, perhaps)
from the front of one of the many varieties of punchboards (granted, we've never seen that particular image
on any of the punchboards we've catalogued, but we're pretty sure we haven't catalogued all of them)...

[GehrigFan]

I've never heard of cards coming in the punch holes, either, but then again, I have no idea what else the DiMaggio "card" is that the OP pictured. That would be awesome if the cards really are rolled up inside.

Two things:

1) Not that is is easy to get access to one, but what if a person knew a doctor with an x-ray machine in his office. Would that reveal something inside of the holes underneath the metal punches?

2) If the OP DOES decide to punch the holes and find out, PLEASE do so on video and post the results for everyone to see. Even if there is nothing inside, if you punch out all the holes on camera, it owuld provide some strong evidence that there is nothing inside. And if you DID find something inside, there may be a little run on unused punch board games shortly thereafter :-)

Mark

[Exhibitman]

I'd love to get to the bottom of the origin of the set. The cards share images with the Salutations Exhibits from 1939-47. They are on paper that shows evidence of having been tightly folded and have numbers on the back [more on these below]. Here is a better view of one front:



They are not on the same paper as is on the front of the punchboard shown, though the design is the same.

Here is a small [6 x 8 x 1/2] DD board with a slip of paper I punched out of it. The paper was tightly folded into a small tubular shape as you can see from the ridges across its face. The big black number was meant to match with the three digit codes on the players depicted [this one #563 happened not to match a player; it was a losing punch]; the red numbers are the serial number of the board, so you could not stockpile old slips and switch them. I suspect that the reason there is a number on the back of my card is precisely that; it was a serial # of the board meant to tie the winning punch to the board so it could not be reused.



How thick is the punchboard with the cards depicted?

[GasHouseGang]

Couldn't that "card" just be hand-cut off the punch board? It sure looks a lot like those cards that are around the front of the second board shown.

[cincicards]

Here are a few boards that I had once upon a time, plus a couple of pages from a punchboard catalog and a card.

punch1.jpg punch2.jpg

punch3.jpg

cat1.jpg cat2.jpg

photo.JPG photo2.JPG

[JoeDfan]

My Joe DiMaggio SGC Authentic(?) card looks to be made of cigarette paper or something, and I can easily see where it might have been rolled up.
However, my card is 1" exactly in diameter, but the board is only 3/4" in diameter. I think for the moment, I will NOT punch it out; but if I change my mind, I promise that I will film the whole thing!
Thanks everyone for the information; although now I must admit, I am more curious about these cards then when I started!

[darkhorse9]

I don't know if it means anything, but those poses of the players on the bottom board are the same poses as the Salutation Exhibits series. I wonder if there's a connection.

[Exhibitman]

Butch, assuming it was accordion folded the card would still be 1" or so wide, so the depth of the tube would have to be an inch, making the board with the plies of tissue paper and drilled boards front and back about 1 1/4" thick overall. I have seen punch boards that thick, just not a DD one. If I had seen a DD of the right thickness I'd have purchased it and punched the stuffing out of it.

The connection with the Salutations is likely the firm that did the artwork for the cards reusing the art for these gambling tools.

[Butch7999]

Hi Adam -- just to clarify what we're vaguely theorizing, we can picture how the 1"x2" rolling-paper-thin card
would be accordion folded into a strip 1" wide by 1/16" high, then coiled up into a tight little circle, or spiral,
still just that 1/16" thick and about the diameter of one of the punch-holes. Since it was coiled, or rolled,
there would be no residual fold marks running vertically, and the punchboard would have to be only thick enough
to accommodate the 1/16" thickness of the coiled card. Again, just a guess, while noting again that
we were likely wrong about everything else on this topic from the get-go...

[Exhibitman]

I've been kicking around the DD card issue again with another member here. Since this thread was initially posted has anyone seen a punchboard with cards verified in it? As noted above it would have to be at least 1.25" deep to accommodate the cards. I've been searching eBay and every show I can find but haven't seen a candidate. As for the cards, here's an Averill that shows the borders and the numbers on the back:



The cards were definitely folded into little 'sticks' of paper and the numbers are consistent with the serial #/prize # scenario I suggested.

Here is a generic one that is 1.5" thick:

[Zan]

Thanks for reviving this. I am chasing the 1940 Hank Greenberg Diamond Dust punchboard card. In the Standard Catalog Lemke describes the cards being pushed out of the back of the board when a player pays the fee to play the game. What is interesting is that he detailed a checklist of dollar winner players and “consolation winners". He designated dollar winners in the checklist with an asterisk, all of which happen to match the player subjects of this board exactly.

I'm going to be punching the board later, because this is the closest I will be getting to the card, however it is the same one that Exhibitman punched above and did not get cards, so I am cautious.