Monday, December 15, 2014

22 New Sets added to my collection in one day- a new record!

While I am a set builder primarily, I know that there are many sets that are too rare or too expensive for me to ever have any hope of completing without winning the lottery, but getting at least one example from as many different sets as possible is much more within reach. Usually I can only get one or two at a time, sometimes 5 or so. But this past weekend, I got 22 new sets in one day, by far my personal record! It could only come in non-sports. There aren't that many NASCAR sets not yet in my collection, and the NBA sets I'm missing, while larger in scope than 22, tend to be the high-end, expensive sets, so it is highly unlikely that I could get 22 of them in one day.

But non-sports...the world of non-sports cards is various and expansive. There are literally thousands of sets, covering just about as many topics, and a rich history that goes back to 1879 in the USA, possibly earlier in Europe. (My oldest is, I believe, 1910, but I one of the 22 I got this day may be older...read on). Unlike the NBA and NASCAR, I don't know much about non-sports cards, comparatively. There are some areas I'm fairly knowledgeable on, like Star Wars and DC Comics. But other areas I know very little about, even subjects like history and automotive, there are so many sets that I've simply never seen or even heard of, and then there's the estoric stuff, that I love but know even less about. And that doesn't even take into account the vintage issues, the cigarette card era, etc. The more I learn, the more I enjoy, and there is more I don't know than what I do. But I love learning about them, and the best way is to add those cards to my collection!

I will show each of the 22 sets, and start with the ones I need help with.
This one is the one that intrigues me the most. It's clearly very old, but I don't know how old. The texture of the card tells me that it's 1920s or older. I don't know what exactly is going on on the card front, or what it says. I see a small 1883 at the very bottom, but I don't think that is the copyright, I think that it is actually part of the coat of arms of the company that issued the card. But I could be wrong...I really have no clue. Also, the front and back of the card are 180°, which is highly unusual...although perhaps not in Belgium?
I got 8 of the cards from this next set, which is quite clearly from Germany. The subject is military history, and while all the cards I got are WWI topics, the dealer had others as well. None cover WWII or later. I know cards were quite popular in Germany before WWII, and I wonder if these date to that time? I have no clue, but I'd love to find out. I got cards numbered as high as 264. They are small, and very flimsy. The writing style looks old but I don't know if it really is. Some are yellowed, some are not.
I don't know what country it was issued in, when it was issued, or the while checklist.
This set is from 1976, and I have it tentatively labeled "Car Fax" but I don't know more than that. The dealer had others from the set but this is the only one that was even marginally interesting.



Now, we get into the sets I can ID.
Pre-War, Arm & Hammer issued cards, including 10 series of Useful Birds of America, between 1915 and 1938. This is my first from any of the series. Series Six was issued in 1933. Considering how few early cards I have, quite surprisingly this is not my first set from 1933!
Next up comes Wings Series C. Wings Cigarettes issued several sets of plane cards, two in 1940, one in 1941 and this series, from 1942. They all use the same design. I have cards now from 3 of the four sets, missing only 1940 Series A.
Bowman issued several very important sets, including the first NBA set. Until this weekend I had only their NBA set in my collection. Three of the 22 new sets came from Bowman. (The basketball set was actually pre-NBA, but it's just easier to call it NBA as the league shown would merge with another to create the NBA)
This is a large set, 180 cards.
There were several sets issued of automotive license plates, mostly in the 1930s. This set was issued by Topps in 1950, and I got two of them.
The presidents of the US are popular card subjects, although more in the past than today. Bowman issued this set of 36 cards in 1952, and I got 19 of them! They are mostly all in poor shape, but they are mine, and that's all that matters!
The third and final Bowman set, from 1954, is US Navy Victories. This was a 48 card set, but I only got this one.
For a long time I've wanted the Topps Flags set from 1957...and this isn't that one. But it's close! Actually, I didn't know this one existed until I added them to my collection. I got 6 of them. From what I've gathered, it's from 1963 and called Flags Midgees. I have not been able to find a full checklist yet.
Brooke Bond is still issuing cards in the vintage style, or at least they were until recently. I had never heard of them until I saw some getting posted to the Database, but they do a wide range of mostly historical subjects. I hadn't had any, but I got two sets this weekend- and as it turned out, both were issued in 1969.
This one is a 50 card set of various famous people, although to be honest, I hadn't heard of this person before I got the card.
This one was issued by Brooke Bond Canada, and has round corners. I'm not generally a fan of cards with round corners, but it does prevent damaged corners most times. I love space/astronomy, I wish the dealer had more from this set...
In 1969, Man reached the Moon for the first time, and Topps created a set to memorialize that. I got two of them.
In 1974, Wonder Bread issued a set that was half DC Comics, half Warner Brothers cartoons. I got two of the DC half of the set...both are in poor shape.
John Player and Sons is a tobacco company from Great Britain. They sponsored F1 teams and issued cards. I don't know if they still do, this set is from 1975.
A Marvel set, from 1975. Art by Jack Kirby, or a copy of his. I'm not really a Marvel fan, I grew up a DC fan, but I still have several hundred of their cards....and will pick up random cards from their sets if they are cheap enough...all of them in this rundown cost me under $1.
Oddly I missed the 1991 Marvel Universe set when it was new....I have a complete 1990 set, I have some from 1992 and 1993, and I'm 6 cards away from the complete 1994 set...but no 1991. Now I have two!
An automotive set from 1991. I don't know the checklist, meaning how many or what they are. I'd like to.
Another Marvel set, from 1992. The card is actually is printed on a form of foil stock.
Had to censor this one before I could post it based on the Terms of Service, lol.
And last but not least, a set for Popeye...My favorite classic cartoon. I didn't know Popeye had cards issued, even though I was very much active in the hobby in 1994, until 2012. I am not sure if this is an insert or promo. I need to do more research!
The blue border on both front and back is the same color, but I didn't edit it properly.

And that ends my rundown of my new additions. I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as I enjoyed adding them to my collection!
Thanks for reading!

















5 comments:

  1. I might be late to the party, but I have been reading back on your blog. The first card is form a set of 125 cards, it says it on the back in French and Dutch. Cote d'Or is a Belgian chocolate manufacturer that is still in business. I have some at home actually. The following information I got is from a website delcampe.de. These cards are called 'chromos' which I think translates to lithographs. This card is from the first series of Belgische Folklore (Dutch) or Folklore Belge (French) card number 64. They were issued in 1947. The text on the bottom next to the company logo and foundation date 1883 says someting like 'Jester on the Cat Parade' or Kattenstoet as they call it in Belgium.

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  2. The second card was issued by a German Tobacco company YOSMA and could be collected in an album, like Panini stickers. The card on the picture is from a set that has 300 cards and is called 'Wie die Anderen gerüstet sind' which translates to 'How others are prepared'. This information is on the back of the card in German. The set introduced armaments of all kinds from around the globe. There were more than one sets issued. Set 'Alles für Deutschland' or 'Everything for Germany' was issued in 1934 April the 1st and most sources indicate that the card on your picture also dates back to 1934.

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  3. Wow, thank you so much! I was thinking I'd never find out about these. This is great info! Thanks again! Do you have checklists for either of these sets?

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  4. You welcome. No, unfortunately I do not have checklists. By the way, on the back of the motorcycle card it says "Milano 20060 Basiano" (county, post code, city). It is the location of Candy Gum, the Italian company that issued this set called Moto Sprint. I looked it up, but I could not found any date on it, but Motobi, the company that made the motorcycle on the card was out of business by 1977.

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  5. It's way more than I had before I so I am very grateful!

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