Stunners from the 1930s

So far this year, I've focused on adding more vintage cards to my collection. But I'm not talking about baseball, or any other major sport. It's the other stuff I've been after. And even more specifically that that, it's got to be real eye candy.

 

First I found a few cards from a 1956 set released by Gum Inc. called "Adventure". A couple of months later, I picked up a few more beauties from that same set.

 

Now I want to share a few cards from an even older set. I didn't know anything about it until the following image came up in a random online browsing session. 

 

 

I was floored. 

 

It's just such a cool scene. Three archers in uniform with bows drawn and aimed toward the sky, displaying their technique. On a trading card.

 

I had to do more research.

 

It turns out that the card was issued by a German margarine company called Sanella. One card was included inside each margarine wrapper, and there were 112 cards in the set. They measure 2 3/4 inches by 4 1/8 inches.

 

Here's another example: 

 

 

 

Total stunner.

 

And that's the thing about great artwork. It captivates you by freezing a moment in time. Think about it. If this card were an 8-foot by 4-foot painting in a museum and you saw it from across the room, it would stop you in your tracks and almost force you to take some time to look at it and appreciate it.

 

Here's another fantastic example: 

 

 

 

Great vantage point, right?

 

Now here's what you'll find on a card back:

 

 

 

Here's the first three lines of text, translated by online software: 

 

German fencing champion Helene Mayer (front right) against Hungarian champion Miss Bogen

As for the text after that, you're in for a pretty cool surprise. Check this out:  

 

The space for pasting in this picture is left blank under the keyword "Fencing" in the Handbook of Sports section.

Yeah, that's right. Back in 1932, you could have obtained a handbook of sports from Sanella, and slotted each collector's card into its very own section!

 

I found some images of it online. Here's the front cover:

 

 

 

And here are a couple of interior pages:

 

 

 

 

Now more translation from the card back:

  

This handbook, which contains space for 112 different colorful collectible pictures, provides alphabetical information on the entire field of sports on 120 pages and is also equipped with more than one hundred monochrome illustrations. It will be delivered postage-free upon receipt of a 70 Pfennig stamp addressed to "Sanella," P.O. Box No. 125, Berlin C2. Please clearly indicate your address.

These sports pictures are available when purchasing Sanella margarine, one picture for every half pound. A special exchange center will allow the exchange of any missing pictures starting in February 1933.

 

If you collected baseball stickers in your younger days and had the accompanying album to stick them in, those paragraphs will sound quite familiar.  

 

But back to the cards now. Here's the fourth one I purchased:

 

 

 

What a great study in light and dark, big and small. That climber is just a tiny speck of life, dangling in the shadows, compared with the enormous range of mountains surrounding him. I think the only sound he'd be hearing right there is the wind, and an occasional creaking of the rope that he's rappelling down. How much farther does he have to go? We've got no idea. But he's probably never breathed such fresh oxygen or felt more alive and aware.

 

And that's what I've been adding to my collection lately. These particular cards ran me between $5 and $12 each, which is quite affordable considering their age and foreign origin.

I think the next step is creating a binder for my growing vintage multi-sport and non-sport collection. Some of them, like these Sanella cards, are cut at an unconventional size, so I've got to find pages that will accommodate them. Might take some research, but it'll be worth the time spent. Cards like these need to be in a binder, not tucked away in a box somewhere.

How about you readers and collectors? Are you fans of the more obscure vintage cards like these? 

 

Let me know in the comment section, and thanks for reading! 

More Adventures from a Time Gone By

A few months ago here on the blog, I shared four cards that I'd picked up from a 1956 set called Gum Inc. Adventure.

Combine the fantastic artwork on the fronts, the captivating stories on the backs, and the era in which the cards were released, and you get a set that I think quite a few of us would have been all over, had we been kids back then. (I know I would have!)

And actually, I'm kind of all over it now—so much so that I picked up a few more cards recently. So transport yourself back to 1956, and get a load of these five gems:

That's America right there, baby.

Just imagine a bald eagle (and its 7-foot wingspan) swooping down to land on your arm. That guy's leather glove had better be pretty thick and tough.

The write-up on the card back mentions how the bald eagle's territory and numbers had been in decline, and how it could only be found in Florida, and around the Great Lakes and the New England coast. I'm happy that things have noticeably improved for our national bird over the past decade or so. We've seen quite a bit of them here in New York.

The heading on the back of this card reads, "Mobile St. Bernards". Here are the details that appear underneath:

Negotiate 20-foot drifts, climb the steepest hills, slide and skid along impassable highways to effect rescue of many who find themselves snowbound in the north country—in the Rockies, the high Sierras, or New England’s wind-swept hills. Powered by mighty engines and propelled by cleated tracks, machines reduce blizzards to naught.

Now look at that image on the card front again—but this time do it as a kid in 1956 who's growing up in a warm climate like Southern California or Texas—and imagine you're plowing through a blizzard in that machine to rescue those folks in the background.

You're a hero.

 

I can't even describe the awesomeness shown on this card front, so I'll just share the entire card back.

 

A one-man flying platform could conceivably be the much desired airplane in every man's garage.

Imagine reading that as a wide-eyed kid in 1956? Outrageous!

If you've ever flipped through an issue of Popular Mechanics magazine from back in the day, this kind of stuff will feel familiar. If you haven't, I highly recommend finding a copy and giving it a read.

Here in 2026, some sort of committee would immediately flag about 35 safety violations evident in this illustration. And those two guys steering the bobsled would have immediately replied by saying, Outta the way, squares!

The card back mentions the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, and refers to its bobsled track, complete with S-shaped curves and walls of ice banked to heights of 20 feet, as "spectacularly dangerous". I like how the two men pictured on the card front look more like everyday guys out to test their mettle than they do professional bobsled racers.

And finally, the scene on this card has everything fantastical to a kid who would have been growing up far from the ranches of the American West, tuning in to programs like The Roy Rogers Show and The Lone Ranger. 

Here's the card back:

Man, if I were a kid in 1956 I would have been all over this story, imagining myself on a ranch with some horse-breaking do to. Taming a horse seems like such a cool, noteworthy thing to accomplish. They're amazing creatures.

 

 

Anyhow, there you have it. Another five Gum Inc. Adventure cards for my collection.

 

There are other interesting and artful cards in this set as well, including a hockey version and some boxing stars. So at some point I might add a few more to the collection. Thankfully, many of them are fairly affordable, especially if you don't mind off-center cuts or a few little dings and creases. (None of the cards you see above cost more than $7.00, for example.) 

 

Ultimately, these Gum Inc. Adventure cards are the kind that energize my collecting batteries these days. 

 

How about you readers and collectors? Have any of you picked up some interesting or obscure vintage cards lately? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Adventures from a Time Gone By

Let's go back to the mid-20th century—1956, to be exact.

 

The world is much larger. You don't have a million online sources that instantly give you all the information you're looking for. 

 

So what do you have? There's the daily newspaper. And some radio programs, And a newfangled, amazing glowing tube in a wooden box called a "television". Those sources do give you some information.

 

But by and large, so many more things out there are completely unknown to an individual. Faraway areas of the globe still exist, and there are so many mysterious and interesting things to wonder about—perhaps especially to a wide-eyed youngster.

 

So imagine you are that 1956 youngster, eager to learn, and with a strong taste for action and adventure. Then imagine you're down at the local drug store and purchase a little package that contains a trading card and a stick of gum, for one penny. It says "ADVENTURE" on the front, and is made by a company called Gum Inc. 

When you open the package, you come across a trading card that creates a scene of suspense like this:

Look out, treasure diver!

  

The artwork is fantastic, and it comes right at you. That shark is monster-sized, and because only the shadow of the diver is in the foreground, it almost forces you to feel that you are that diver, and that's your shadow. How will you get out of this one? Will you escape? Can you escape? You'd have to know more about what's going on, so instinctively you'd flip the card over.

 

 

Legend lines the ocean floor with gold; many men, seeking the end of the rainbow, have never lived to tell the tale; perhaps victims of man-eating tiger sharks.

  

[Gulp.]

 

But if you're that adventure-loving 1950s kid, I'd bet you're going to run home and spend the next 15 minutes acting out a diving scene in your bedroom, and figuring out a way to avoid that man-eating shark. And you know what? That card is the very first one in the set.

Want to see another stunner?

From under sea to outer space. I'll say it again: In the mid-20th century, there were still so many mysterious and interesting things out there.

 

Personally, I know I would have been all over these trading cards back then. The set is known as 1956 Gum Inc. Adventure. There are 100 cards in all, and the two you've seen so far are officially part of my collection now.

 

And if the Gum Inc. name sounds familiar, I'll add that the company was founded by a man named Jacob Warren Bowman (yes, that Bowman) in 1927. They also produced the 1935 Mickey Mouse set, the 1940 Lone Ranger set, and the 1941 Superman set, to name a few.

How about another example from the Adventure set?

This one features a red-headed roller derby gal. (rrrawr) The card back mentions how these skilled derby participants "zip around slick, 45-degree turns with ease," "attain speeds up to 35 miles an hour," and "wear out a set of wheels about every 10 days." It also mentions that some of these ladies could earn $15,000 a year, which was a fantastic amount of money back then!

 

Okay, how about one more?

That's a daring mailman known as "Snowshoe Thompson". Want to know more about him?

From California to Nevada on skis, delivering important supplies to those in need, round-trip in five days. Yeah, tell me the little-kid version of you is not going to act out some adventures with that information. I know you've got that pack full of supplies slung over your shoulders already.

Ultimately, I don't know what's better: the artwork on the front of these cards, or the storytelling on the back.

And it continues throughout the set. From sports to hunting to mountain climbing to armed forces to rescues on the high seas, there's all the variety you need to fill your young, voracious appetite for knowledge of that big, mysterious, adventure-filled world out there.

 

But it's different for kids in this digital age. 

 

The internet has its positives, don't get me wrong. However, one of the negatives is that it can destroy the sense of excitement and anticipation linked with "classical" learning.

 

Let's take these trading cards for an example. Back then, you might hear about a subject, or learn just a little bit about a subject, and then what did you need to do? Go to the library. See if they have any books on the subject. Send away for a specialty magazine. Find a friend or neighbor with some information or photographs. And then maybe you fill in some blanks with your imagination.

 

That all takes effort, and it's good to feel rewarded for that effort. It might take days or weeks to get that reward. But today, that build-up of anticipation and excitement is largely lost. We have too much instant gratification. You scroll through some social media posts on whatever subject you might follow, receive a little dopamine hit, and then you're done. 

 

I'm sure there are studies that link this phenomenon to a shorter retention of information, too. Because when you instead spend so much time and effort doing the research, you hold onto the information you do discover for a longer amount of time. It's more special. You're more apt to put yourself in the position of Snowshoe Thompson as you're right there in the library, reading about him. Thinking about whether you'd be able to accomplish what he did. Feeling the satisfaction of succeeding. Bringing some much-needed medicine or supplies to someone in the wilderness. It's so much different than just sitting on your couch, searching the keywords "Snowshoe Thompson" on your phone, getting all the information you could want on him within seconds, and then saying "hmm, interesting" and moving on to whatever is next.

 

But you know what? It's alright. That sense of mystery is still out there. Use this 1956 Gum Inc. Adventure set as an example again. Even with online search tools, plus all the great trading card blogs out there, plus sites like TCDB, I had no idea these cards even existed until a couple of months ago. And I'm sure there are hundreds of trading card sets—if not thousands—that I still have no idea about, even though I've been back in the hobby for more than 10 years now.

 

So as collectors, we can still find that fresh sense of adventure. We can still get that thrill of the search. And that's reassuring.

 

Now it's your turn. Have you discovered any new sets recently? Would you have been into the Gum Inc. Adventure set if you were a kid in 1956?

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!  

Giveaway Win from Retro Robbie Cards and Coins

For a content creator on YouTube, reaching 1,000 subscribers is a big milestone. It means that you can be part of the YouTube Partner Program, which gives you the ability to start monetizing your channel. 

One of the YouTube content creators I follow in the trading card realm is Retro Robbie, who posts videos about trading cards and coins. Over the past year or two, his channel has grown and his subscribers have increased, to the point where he started to hold a giveaway each time he gained another 100 subscribers. If you watch any of his videos, you'll clearly see that he's got the enthusiasm to be a content creator.

Well, recently all that enthusiasm helped him reach the 900-subscriber mark, and I happened to catch the video that allowed subscribers to enter the giveaway. All we had to do was like the video and leave a comment on it, so I figured I'd go for it. Once the entry period closed, Retro Robbie would choose 9 winners, and give each one a little team bag filled with cards from the sport of their choice. Some modern, some vintage.

 

And wouldn't you know it? I was one of the winners! I selected hockey as my sport of choice, and within a week or so, the prize package showed up in my mailbox.

Let's see what I got.

 

 

 

First up was a branded sticker. It seems like anyone who's anyone on YouTube has a branded sticker, or logo, or something. But now let's get to the cards.

That's Brett Hull's second-year card on the left, and a fun one, as it looks like he's enjoying pre-game warmups. In the middle, Bob Lorimer was a defensive defenseman who was with the Islanders for their first two Stanley Cup championships. Then he and another player were traded to the Colorado Rockies for a first-round draft pick. Yeesh. Talk about going from the top of the league to the bottom. (Fun fact: The Islanders used that pick to select Pat Lafontaine in 1983.) On the right, Adin Hill is currently with the Vegas Golden Knights, and had a great run as the starting goaltender during the 2022-23 playoffs, helping the Knights win the Cup. He's been playing rather well this season, too.

These next three cards are a bit more common. Joe Cirella had a solid 15-year career, mostly for the Devils and Rangers. Patrik Carnback was one of the original Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and Rob Murray played in 108 total games across 8 seasons for Washington and Winnipeg.

Wayne Bianchin was a winger who played for Pittsburgh and Edmonton. In 1976-77 he had an interesting stat line: 28 goals and only 6 assists for 34 points in 79 games played. Joe Nieuwendyk is a Hall-of-Famer and 3x Cup winner (Calgary, Dallas, and New Jersey). The O-Pee-Chee Premier card he's featured on up there is from the very first Premier release, and I wish I had more cards from the set. They're somewhat scarce for a junk wax set, and the big rookies like Sergei Fedorov and Jaromir Jagr command a pretty decent price out there. On the right, Mason Appleton has found himself a steady role with Winnipeg over the past couple of years.

Oleg Belov was a Russian prospect drafted by Pittsburgh in 1995, but he opted for the European professional leagues, playing in Sweden, Switzerland, and then back in Russia. As for Alexander Mogilny, I sure hope he makes the Hall of Fame one day. He was electric throughout his career, especially in Buffalo, and just missed 1,000 career games played (990) and 500 career goals scored (473). Elvis Merzļikins is a young Latvian goalie who has played a pretty decent role in the Columbus net recently.

 

 

 

It's hard to see from the scan, but that card on the left is a Topps Premier Gold parallel of Kevin Miller, who played for a whopping 9 teams across his 13-year NHL career. (Not as many teams as journeyman legend Mike Sillinger, however.) Miller's brothers, Kelly and Kip, also played in the NHL, as did his cousins, Ryan and Drew. On the right is a man who needs no introduction: Jaromir Jagr. Since leaving the NHL in 2018, he's played for Kladno, the professional team he owns in Czechia. He says he's going to retire at the end of this season. We'll see. I mean, he's only 53 years old.

Somehow this is Damon Severson's 11th season in the league, which means I'm getting rather old. Severson was a solid defenseman in New Jersey for many years, and just a couple of seasons ago was traded to Columbus, where he's also done well. The man attached to the mustache on the right is Lanny McDonald, who had a fantastic NHL career and is a Hall-of-Famer. Side note: I love those Colorado jerseys.

 

And that's my little prize pack from Retro Robbie. There's some great variety there, with cards ranging from the 1978-79 set all the way to 2022-23. 

 

If you have a favorite card from the bunch, let me know in the comment section.

 

And if you enjoy YouTube creators who post content about trading cards of all kinds (as well as coins), I hope you'll consider visiting Retro Robbie's channel and subscribing. As you'll see, he's already made it across the 1,000 subscriber mark!

 

A Boost from the Dime Boxes

Last month I looked back on my 2022 collecting year and came up with some pluses and minuses. A plus was that I succeeded in posting content here every Sunday throughout the year again. Another was that I designed more custom cards than ever, which was a lot of fun.

 

A minus was that I only added a couple dozen cards to my personal collection all year. And because of that, one of my collecting goals for 2023 is to get back into the hobby a little bit more, picking up a few cards along the way. 

 

Recently, Mr. Nick from the Dime Boxes blog gave me my first boost toward reaching that goal. The eclectic collector and all-around entertaining blogger celebrated his 11-year blogiversary with a very generous giveaway, allowing readers to claim a healthy amount of trading cards from an even healthier 20-page list.

 

I didn't waste any time, and scrolled through the pages to claim some cards before other more zealous collectors had the chance to snatch them up.

 

 

2010 A&G World's Wordsmiths
#WGWS10, Edgar Allan Poe

First up was writer extraordinaire Edgar Allan Poe. This mini is from a 15-card insert set that features other literary greats like Homer, Shakespeare, Washington Irving, and Marcus Aurelius. I might have to seek out some of those names, as well.

 

 

1979 Hostess #149, Jerry Koosman

Next up is pitcher Jerry Koosman. He's trying to force an optimistic glance past the camera despite having been airbrushed into a Minnesota Twins uniform after spending some great years (and winning a World Championship) with the Mets.

 

 

1978 Kellogg's #23, Willie McCovey

Then I had to claim this sharp-looking Willie McCovey 3-D Kellogg's card—not only because Stretch was a superstar who was winding down his playing career at the time, but also because it seems like he made a concerted effort to place his signature over a portion of the card that would help its visibility. I always appreciate when a player does that.

 

 

1982 Kellogg's #17, Bruce Sutter

While we're on the subject of breakfast cereals, here's another Kellogg's card that I claimed. I like the "relief pitcher" designation instead of just plain-old "pitcher". Relievers were big deals by the time the 1980s rolled around, and Bruce Sutter was a perennial league leader of the era.

 

 

1989 Cereal Superstars #9,
George Brett

This George Brett card intrigued me. From the information I've gathered, it's part of a 12-card set featuring 6 National League and 6 American League stars of the day. Two cards from the set were inserted in select boxes of Ralston Purina–brand cereals back in 1989, and that's how you'd acquire them. Most of the photos are headshots, and because only an MLBPA license was obtained, all uniforms and caps are airbrushed. So even though I've only got 11 cards to go to complete the set, I'm not sure I'll be going for it.

 

1986 True Value Superstars #27,
Dwayne Murphy

Finally, I couldn't resist this True Value card featuring Dwayne Murphy with his baseball cap riding way up high, but tilted way down. Dwayne and his 29 other MLB buddies in this set were issued in fold-out sheets that contained three perforated cards, plus an advertisement for a product you could find at True Value stores, such as Weber barbecue grills, GE light bulbs, and Wagner power painters. Cool.

I'm sure you've noticed a pattern here. If I do regain some zeal for the hobby this year and start picking up card singles, a decent portion of them would be food-issue and oddball cards from the '70s and '80s. They're just the most fun and nostalgic to me, and those are the criteria that drive my hobby tastes the most these days.

 

Big thank-you to Nick for holding such a generous giveaway, and for sending these six cards that are motivating me to search out more cool stuff in 2023.

 

Congratulations again on 11 years of blogging, Nick. Keep up the great writing, and here's to an excellent year 12!

Contest Winner!

This is my second blog post in a month that features modern cards. 

 

What's going on here?!?

Well, like many of you collectors, I occasionally enter a contest that's held by a fellow blogger, YouTuber, or collector. And recently I actually won one of those contests!

 

It was put on by Brent, who has a YouTube channel called Brent's Card Breaks. The only thing you had to do to enter the contest was to like the giveaway video, add a comment to the video, and subscribe to the channel. Easy enough.

 

Well, the date of the contest arrived, Brent spun the digital wheel with the names of all the entrants on it, and wouldn't you know it? "Nine Pockets" came up as the winner.

 

It was a generous prize package. Have a look at the team bags that recently arrived in my mailbox.

 

 

 

Modern baseball, '90s baseball, vintage baseball, and some random basketball cards added as a bonus.

 

Here are some of my favorites in the bunch.

Kelenic is trying to make his way back to the MLB. Detmers pitched a no-hitter in May of this year, but struggled with consistency and was sent to the minors in June. He's back with the big club now. As for Hayes, he's holding his own in Pittsburgh.

Here's a 2016 Topps Aaron Nola Rookie Debut card, a Jack Flaherty Bowman rookie from 2018, and a shiny 2021 Alec Bohm Panini Prizm Rookie Class card that didn't scan well.

And here we have autographs from two prospects. Agrazal pitched a number of games for the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 2019, and is currently a minor-league free agent who last played with the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Double-A). Ottenbreit is playing Single-A ball with the Clearwater Threshers, and is currently injured. Let's hope both of those guys can get back on their horses soon! On the right is a fancy 2019 Chrome Black Refractor of Corbin Martin on the 1984 Topps design, serial numbered /199. Martin currently pitches for the Diamonbacks, and collected his first career hit in June.

Some nice vintage is up next, with a 1976 Topps victory leaders card, a smiling Jim Rice on the 1978 issue, and a Lee Smith Donruss rookie!

Jim Rice is a little more pensive here on his 1986 Fleer Star Sticker, Reggie is still swinging hard in 1987, and Frank Thomas is very happy on his 1990 Score rookie card, possibly because he knows how happy I am to have it in my collection.

 

 

All in all, a great prize. Big thanks to Brent at Brent's Card Breaks. If you enjoy watching wax packs being opened, especially those from the '80s and '90s, please do stop by his channel. 

 

And that raises a question: Do any of you readers and collectors watch trading card channels on YouTube? There are definitely some great content creators out there, including our good blogging buddy shoebox legends.

 

Share some of your favorite channels in the comment section, and thanks for reading as always!

Long Before Pogs

What's the most interesting addition I've made to my vintage card collection this year?

Menko!

(Fronts and backs are pictured together throughout this post.)
 

I still have a lot to learn about menko, which are often smaller than standard North American cards and thicker, too. But for me, one of the best parts of collecting anything is doing the research and learning about your collection, so I really look forward to digging deeper into the history of these Japanese beauties.

I've picked up eight menko over the past year or so, all baseball themed. As many of you collectors likely know, the subjects go well beyond baseball players. Images of automobiles, movie stars, robots, monsters, samurai, sumo, and more can be found. Most of the menko here date from the 1950s and 1960s, I think.

I'm enjoying the various images and illustrations. (Check out the classy spectacles and pose on that Chunichi Dragons pitcher above.) The designs on the back can vary greatly, but I do enjoy the cartoon-ish ones.

I also like the fact that menko were designed as a game for kids. From what I've gathered so far, a player puts one of their menko on the floor, face up, and the other player takes one of their menko and flings it down, trying to flip the first menko over on its back.

If that reminds you of the Pogs craze of the mid-1990s, you're not alone. If the idea of deliberately banging up your cards makes you cringe, you're also not alone. But menko were meant to be played with, and I think that's a good way to view them when it comes to condition.

For another interesting aspect of menko, look closely at some of the card backs. You'll see what appears to be a rock-paper-scissors type of game, with a small illustrated hand taking on the shape of a rock or a scissor (I don't have any examples of paper yet). I wonder if this was used for a trading game, where you'd each flip down a card, back side up, and see whose card had the winning object. Man, that'd be a tough way to lose a card.

I also wonder how many kids back then tucked some of their menko away, not wanting to ding them up or lose them in a game. I'm sure a lot of kids had at least a couple of special ones. 

And now I do, too.

Thanks for reading, as always.