Butterfinger envelope?

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by cubman1941

Great information and reminded me of a question I having been meaning to ask for years and always forget. Does anyone know why there were no Cubs in this set? If there were, I could never find one. Thanks.

There are none known. One possible explanation would be that the R310s were also issued with gum products through Gum, Inc-- Chicago "Baseball Gum", and that the Wrigley family/Cubs owners as competitors somehow blocked or threatened action over use of the team logos etc. The team was simply too full of stars for the omission to be caused by oversight, particularly as the R310s emanated in Chicago.
EDITED TO ADD: I should say General Gum, Inc. of Chicago, not to be confused with the the PA company called Gum Inc. that also produced cards.

[999Tony]

Thanks for response. Yeah I have 3 of the display ads.

A couple years ago I bought a group of butterfingers about 8 or 10. The seller told me she found them behind an ugly flower painting she had bought just for the frame. Found them when she extracted the ugly painting - included foxx and 2 deans. Told me after I bought them so no reason to lie.

[cubman1941]

Thanks - that makes a lot of sense. I didn't realize they were put out by Gum. Inc. Appreciate your quick response.

Originally Posted by nolemmings

There are none known. One possible explanation would be that the R310s were also issued with gum products through Gum, Inc-- Chicago "Baseball Gum", and that the Wrigley family/Cubs owners as competitors somehow blocked or threatened action over use of the team logos etc. The team was simply too full of stars for the omission to be caused by oversight, particularly as the R310s emanated in Chicago.

[bigfanNY]

The reason most folks don't "know" that R310's were issued by any other vendor than Butterfingers is because it is just a theory.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by bigfanNY

The reason most folks don't "know" that R310's were issued by any other vendor than Butterfingers is because it is just a theory.

There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.

[cubman1941]

I did a little research and back in 2021 there was a thread on this discussion - as far as I could see still a lot of theories.

[oaks1912]

Adding to the mystery of the background of R-310's, this communication (from 1972) between pioneer collectors Buck Barker and Bill Weiss adds some info. Buck remembers them being associated with Baby Ruth Gum and were distributed at the individual stores where he grew up in St Louis, while Bill obtained his from an employee of the printing company in Chicago.

Baby Ruth Gum was produced by Curtiss Candy, which also made Butterfinger and Baby Ruth Candy bars, so maybe a more appropriate issuer would be R-310 Curtiss Candy ?

[nolemmings]

Fantastic info Mark--thank you muchas!!!!! R310 Curtiss Co. seems right.
The General Gum Inc. connection to Curtiss was pretty much laid out in the old threads from a couple of years ago, and the R310 mystery was cemented for me when REA auctioned a display box and 90+ of the premiums around that time, describing the sale of gum "With Large Pictures of Baseball Stars":

"Substantial collection of ninety-three R310 Butterfinger Premiums (35 different), including an impressive thirty-seven Hall of Famers, highlighted by multiple examples of New York Yankees superstars Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. This group is accompanied by pieces of the original display box. These items were just recently discovered in a Midwest warehouse. Incredibly, our consignor, who was involved in the purchase of the building, rescued all of the material from a large trash bin. Issued with Butterfinger products and other candies, the R310 series is one of great premium sets produced during the 1930s"

Here is the display box advertising the pics, or remnants of it anyway:


EDITED TO ADD: I find it amusing that Buck didn't care for gum. Do you suppose he bought all those Goudeys, Diamond Stars, Tattoo Orbits, Uncle Jacks etc and just tossed the gum?