1928 George Ruth Candy Cards (Set of 6)

[Clutch-Hitter]

In any case, they are very similar in more than one way
1. size
2. two different paper types
3. topic
4. number of cards
5. similar marketing
6. captions
7. cards are numbered
8. year
9. Both could be redeemed for other Babe Ruth items

• Candy issue for an autographed ball (Cleveland, San Francisco) (Nation wide distribution?)
• Fro Joy for an uncut sheet of cards similar to regular issue but not the same, or for a premium (National product or regional?)

The candy issue was counterfeited this century and would light up like a Christmas tree with a black light. They appear to be poorly modeled after the lesser quality paper type instead of the kind Leon has.

Fro Joy sheets were counterfeited, not the singles, but cards were cut and sold from the fake sheets. Fake sheet singles are easily recognizable if the buyer has the information at hand, such as here. Reprints from the Fro Joy singles came along in the 90's and are easily distinguishable from the originals. People take those 90's cards and artificially age them. The originals are striking.

[Clutch-Hitter]

Had some interest in the past on how to photograph with a black light:

1. Find a room that is very dark(when the light is off). I use my garage during the daytime.
2. Use a tripod
3. Set the camera to manual mode
4. Set to auto focus and allow it to focus on the cards
5. Once focused, switch to manual focus so it will not be confused by the black light, which will be closer to the camera
6. Lower the F-Stop as low as possible (I think most go down to 3.5 to 4.0 or so)
7. Set the camera to 2 sec delay (pushing the shutter release can move the camera at this low shutter speed).
8. Turn the overhead light off; turn the black light on (I hold the black light with my hand and intentionally include it in the photos). The focus is still on the cards because auto focus was turned off.
9. Lower the shutter speed until the camera's meter is centered (ensures appropriate brightness).
10. Gently press the shutter release and let go. The two second count down will begin and you will have your photo.

If you're interested and any of this doesn't make sense, such as camera terminology, let me know and I'll explain further.

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Interesting comment regarding the candy issue:

Posted By: dan mckee

From my past experience, I was under the impression from my old man that the brown ones with blank backs were reprints. I have since acquired a wrapper that is of different paper than the usual wrapper so I thought it was a reprint as well. I then noticed that my wrapper says "chocolate coated" and has some different wording on it. I am thinking, guessing, dreaming, that the blank backed brown cards came with the chocolate candy and the normal ad back cards came with the usual white wrappers.

[Clutch-Hitter]

Here are the two different wrappers Dan mentioned. The one mentions sending the cards in for a Babe Ruth autographed baseball, but the other does not.

There are more of the lesser quality, non-advertising 1928 George Ruth Candy cards in circulation, which could be explained by the higher quality advertising cards (like Leon's) being redeemed for the autographed ball(?). Anybody ever seen a lesser quality example with the advertising, or just blank backs? Seems like babe would have had to sign a lot of balls...If that's the case, the blank backs came after...(?)

And as a side note, the lesser quality cards are also nicely engraved, just not as nice as the other. The fakes look bad, grainy.


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Didn't take long to find some fakes:


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This is authentic:

[FrankWakefield]

Greg, that post 11 with the black light images is great!!! We almost need a thread on using a black light. Your image would be a great lead for that, followed by your instructions. I am not sufficiently experienced to tinker with shutter speed on my clunker digital camera, I'll look into that. I think that far too few folks who chase old cards use a black light, and it is a shame. Thanks for posting that stuff.

[Clutch-Hitter]

I appreciate that Frank. I bought my black light based on your suggestion a while back. About 20.00 at Wal-Mart but worth a heck of a lot more in this hobby.