39 Goudey Prem. small and large question

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Posted By: Mike

Several questions. Why are the smaller ones more popular? The size I presume? Because of the Williams rookie card ? Were they sold one at a time? How much did they cost? can anyone show us a wrapper that they came in? If they were issued simultaneoulsy why wasn't Williams in the larger set? Thanks for any help here.

Edited to ask: Which set is rarer? And by what % ?

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

The smaller ones are more scarce than the larger ones. I am not sure why, nor am I sure why the larger sized cards (sepia and b/w) are only 24 cards to the set, while the smaller ones are 48. I wouldn't necessarily say that the smaller ones are more popular, but they're definitely more scarce, thus the higher prices.

I have been told that these cards were in-store premiums, meaning they were given away right at the store to customers who presented a certain number of wrappers. I don't believe it is known which wrappers, but one theory is that there was a brand of gum manufactured by Goudey called Diamond Stars Gum. In 1937, Goudey purchased the assets of National Chicle, and the ONLY place I'm aware of where they used any Chicle assets is on the back of the 1939 Goudey Premiums. The "How To" artwork on the backs of these premiums is taken directly from the artwork on the National Chicle Rabbit Maranville "How To" books that were distributed in the high number series of 1934-36 Batter Up cards.

Anyway, if you look at the back of a 1939 Goudey premium, you'll see that the copyright info is for "Diamond Stars Gum". There is a theory that Goudey briefly manufactured a brand of gum called Diamond Stars, and redemption of the wrappers in the store would give you a free picture. You'll note that there were no standard-issue Goudey baseball sets in 1939 or 1940, so I suspect that these premiums were issued solely to help drive the sales of gum.

There is no Diamond Stars Gum wrapper that I'm aware of that would support this theory (if anyone has one, I'd love to see it). It just makes sense to me that there must have been - the "Heads Up" set consisted only of 24 subjects, and the 1941 set didn't come out until 3 years later, so it would make sense that if Goudey was going to distribute three different sets of premiums using the Diamond Stars name, there would have had to be something for the premiums to support.

I don't believe these premiums were issued with wrappers - just the photos themselves.

-Al

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Posted By: Mike

Thanks Al. Ya' gotta love the Forum. Instant answers to all our questions.