Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
  eNews Issue #155 (March 2017)       www.oldcardboard.com


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Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia.  More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page.

Contents:
1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar
2. Set Profile: The Innovative 1935 R321 Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs
3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website
4. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)


1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar

The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Key Events Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.

Have an event that needs to be on the OC Calendar?
Email editor@oldcardboard.com.


OC eNewsletter Sponsor

March 2017

9Phone/Internet Sterling Sports Auctions (see website for details).
9Phone/Internet Mile High Catalog Auction (see website for details).
14-16Phone/Internet Hake's Americana & Collectibles Auction (incl. baseball; website).
16Phone/Internet Prestige Collectibles Auction (see website for details).
16Phone/Internet Sandler's All-Sports Auctions (see website for details).
17Phone/Internet Leland's Catalog Auction (see website for details).
23Phone/Internet Goodwin & Co. Auction (see website for details).
30Phone/Internet CollectAuctions.com Auction (see website for details).
31-2Chantilly, VA CSA Chantilly Show (see website for details).

April 2017

1Phone/Internet Goldin Auctions (see website for details).
1-2Chantilly, VA CSA Chantilly Show (see website for details).
5-6Phone/Internet Clean Sweep Auctions (see website for details).
8Internet BST Auctions (see website for details).
13Phone/Internet Sterling Sports Auctions (see website for details).
15Austin, TX Distribution of Old Cardboard Issue #34 (see website for details).
21-23White Plains, NY White Plains Sports Card Show (see website for details).
22Phone/Internet Goldin Auctions (see website for details).
30Phone/Internet Robert Edward Auctions (see website for details).


2. Set Profile: The Innovative 1935 R321 Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs


1935 R321 Goudey (front)

1935 Goudey (back)

In an apparent cost cutting move for its 1935 issue, the Goudey Gum Company of Boston continued a dramatic downsizing in set size. At just 36-cards, the 1935 Goudey Set was down from 240-cards in 1933 (the company's inaugural issue), and 96 cards in 1934. To help make up the difference, however, the 1935 cards were printed with four players per card.

With only a couple of exceptions, the four players on each card are all from the same team. The color images are labeled with the players name in an all-capital bold typeface, along with the team nickname in smaller italics lettering. The borders for all cards in the set are printed in red, although the background for each player image is found in red, blue, yellow or green.

An interesting innovation for the 1935 Goudey set is provided in the card backs, which in various combinations form nine different puzzles. The table (below left) summarizes the key aspects of these puzzles, and provides links to the completed back subsets. An example puzzle solution for Al Simmons is also shown (below right).

R321 Puzzle Backs
Picture
Number
Title Number
of cards
Link
1Tigers Team12 (4x3)Solution
2Chuck Klein6 (2x3)Solution
3Frankie Fisch6 (2x3)Solution
4Mickey Cochrane6 (2x3)Solution
5Joe Cronin6 (2x3)Solution
6Jimmy Foxx6 (2x3)Solution
7Al Simmons6 (2x3)Solution
8Indians Team12 (4x3)Solution
9Senators Team12 (4x3)Solution
Puzzle #7 Solution (Al Simmons)

As can be seen in the R321 Player Checklist, each card front is found with either two, three or four card back variations. Similarly, each puzzle element printed on the card backs can be (but not always is) found on the back of more than one card front.

Each card back is labeled with both a picture number plus a letter designation for each card element in the picture. Rather than the expected left-to-right, top-to-bottom arrangement of the card letters, however, the sequencing is arranged in a rather unusual pattern (see each puzzle's solution for details). As a result, solving the puzzle, while easy, is best done by visual alignment.

An example wrapper used with the 1935 Goudey set is shown at left. Featured at the center of the brightly colored red, white and blue design with a portly silhouette of Babe Ruth at bat.

A message on the top end of the wrapper describes the contents of the package: "The picture in this package shows you four outstanding Major League players! Later series will include groups of the leading hitters, pitchers, fielders, etc. of each team. The other side of this card is one section of a large picture. When matched with other cards you will have a full size picture of a Big League team or some famous Big League Player. Each Card is numbered as follows: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc. Collect all of the cards of each group--save or swap cards to complete your set."

On the other end of the wrapper is printed "One Big League Coupon." Details of the coupon offer are as follows: "This Coupon is redeemable at face value for any Big League Premium. Join the 1935 Knot Hole League of America. Send us only 150 Big League Coupons or 50 Coupons and 50 cents (stamps or coins) and we will send you your 1935 Knot Hole League Membership Card, the 1935 Premium List, AND -- THE OFFICIAL RING of the Knot Hole League of America!!!!" The redemption address and restrictions are then stated: "The Goudey Gum Company, Boston, Mass. U.S.A. Postage on Coupons Must Be Fully Prepaid--Void in States where premiums are prohibited. This coupon will not be redeemed after Dec. 31, 1935."

A 1935 Goudey Set Checklist (including a cross-reference to the puzzle back letter codes) and Gallery of Cards has been added to the Old Cardboard website.


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3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website

We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include:

Set Profiles have been added for:
1907   Simplicity   Tigers-Cubs Postcards
1935 R321 Goudey "Puzzle Backs" (links to "puzzle back" solutions added)

Set Checklists have been added for:
1907   Simplicity   Tigers-Cubs Postcards
1913   Cravats Felt Pennants (expands checklist to 27 pennants)
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Set (with cross-reference to puzzle back letter codes)

Set Galleries have been added for:
1907   Simplicity   Tigers-Cubs Postcards
1913   Cravats Felt Pennants (expands gallery to 27 pennants)
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Gallery of Card Fronts
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Puzzle 1 Solution
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Puzzle 2 Solution
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Puzzle 3 Solution
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Puzzle 4 Solution
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Puzzle 5 Solution
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Puzzle 6 Solution
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Puzzle 7 Solution
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Puzzle 8 Solution
1935   R321   Goudey "4-in-1" Puzzle Backs Puzzle 9 Solution

Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the website and the list continues to grow every month. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, images of cards missing from our galleries, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all feedback to editor@oldcardboard.com.

Beyond the above pages recently added to the Old Cardboard website, we continue to expand and refine our eBay Custom Search Links to make finding vintage baseball cards on eBay easier than ever. The results of these searches are continuously changing, so check back often to find the most recent eBay listings. Samples of a few of these custom searches are provided below. Hundreds more are provided on the Set Profile pages throughout the Old Cardboard website.

R-Cards (Goudey)
1933 Sport Kings
1934/39 Premiums
R314 "Wide Pens"
1933 Goudey
1934 Goudey
1935 Goudey 4-in-1
1936 Goudey
1938 "Heads Up"
1941 Goudey

R-Cards (Bowman)
1948 Bowman
1949 Bowman
1950 Bowman
1951 Bowman
1952 Bowman
1953 Bowman (B&W)
1953 Bowman (Color)
1954 Bowman
1955 Bowman (TV)

(more custom searches
by major card group)



4. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)

Cravats Checklist Continues to Expand.   Examples of two new players in the 1913 Cravats Felt Pennants series have been recently reported. Thus, Hal Chase and Heinie Wagner have been added to the Cravat's Set Checklist and Gallery of Pennants on the Old Cardboard website. In addition to a drawing of the likeness of the player, the newly reported felts feature labels as "Hal Chase -- Yankees" and "C. Wagner -- Red Sox." C. Wagner is the longtime Red Sox infielder Charles Francis Wagner (more widely known as "Heinie" Wagner). The Cravats checklist now totals 27 players.

19th Century Uniforms Database Focuses on 1889.   Craig Brown's "Threads of our Game" database recently added renditions of baseball Uniforms of 1889 for a number of Major, Minor and Negro League teams. Click on link to view the uniforms.


Lyman and Brett Hardeman
Old Cardboard, LLC.

Old Cardboard, LLC. was established in December 2003, to help bring information on vintage baseball card collecting to the hobbyist.  Produced by collectors for collectors, this comprehensive resource consists of three components: (1) Old Cardboard Magazine, (2) a companion website at www.oldcardboard.com and (3) this eNewsletter. The Old Cardboard website contains more than 500 pages of descriptive reference information for baseball card sets produced fifty years ago or longer.  Each of these set summaries has a direct set-specific link to auctions and a similar link to 's powerful search engine for further research.  The website also includes a Show and Auction Calendar, an eBay Top 50 Vintage Sellers List, and much more.  As a result, the Old Cardboard website makes a great "Alt-tab" companion for vintage card shoppers and researchers.  Old Cardboard eNews provides current hobby news, upcoming shows and auctions, and updates to the website and the magazine.  It is published around the middle of each month.  For a FREE subscription to the eNewsletter, or for subscription information on Old Cardboard Magazine, please visit the website at www.oldcardboard.com.  If you find this information resource helpful, please tell your friends.  We need your support and your feedback. Thank you.