Card of the Day: Luke Easter 1954 Dan-Dee Potato Chips

How To Spot Fake 1954 Dan-Dee Potato Chips Baseball Cards

Sports cards popup everywhere.  You can find them in packages of underwear, socks, and various food products.  Its been this way since the dawn of time.

In 1954, salty snack lovers received a surprise inside their Dan-Dee potato chip containers.  Waiting for them inside was a baseball card.  The entire 1954 Dan-Dee Potato Chips set only consists of (29) cards.  Phil Rizzuto, Larry Doby, Bob Feller, Gil Hodges, and Monte Irvin all highlight the set.  There are even a few Short Prints – Walker Cooper and Paul Smith.  But by far the dominant card collectors want the most is Mickey Mantle.

Given that they were packaged directly next to the chips without any protection is one of the main reasons as to why a majority of them have damage.  Its very common to find them with grease stains, creases, and rounded corners.  Finding ones in nice condition is difficult to do.

A good number of reprints and counterfeits have entered the market.  Remember these tips:

• On the front of the card, locate the black box which contains the player’s name.  That box should be solid black with very small speckles of white.  Dots with circles around them is a big red flag.
• Dan-Dee cards were printed on very thin, flimsy card stock.  You can easily shine a light through one.  On reprints and counterfeits the light will not shine through so easily.
• Original Dan-Dee cards have a waxy coating, and almost always have some type of grease stain.
• Reprints and counterfeits tend to be in much better condition, and have darker colors.  Very white borders too.

Authentic

Reprint

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Seattle Pilots 1969 Crane’s Potato Chips Pin

Merchandise from the Seattle Pilots is hot.  It will always be in high demand because this MLB team was only around for the 1969 season before going bankrupt.  Once they declared bankruptcy, a car salesman named Bud Selig swooped in and bought them and moved the team to Milwaukee.  Of coarse this all took place after a ton of legal action was over.  Today they are known as the Milwaukee Brewers.  Elements of the Pilots still exist though.  All you need to do is look at the Brewers team colors.  Selig originally wanted the Brewers colors to be red and navy, but by the time he fully acquired the team it was too late before Opening Day.  That classic blue and gold can be seen on the Brewers uniforms today.  Although the shades have changed.

From 1961-1969 Crane’s Potato Chips included a lot of baseball pins within bags of their chips.  I guess you could say the Pilots just made the cut.  These pins aren’t always in the best condition because they were bouncing around inside potato chip bags.  A pin like this recently sold for $13.00.