U.S. Caramel’s Rare 1932 President William McKinley Card

U.S. Presidents are no strangers when it comes to cards. Entire sets dedicated to those who have held the highest office in the land have been made for decades. Some of these cards can be found today very easily, while others are next to impossible.

On this Presidents’ Day I’d like to talk about the 1932 U.S. Caramel Presidents set, specifically the William McKinley card.

A total of (31) cards make up the 1932 U.S. Caramel Presidents set. Each card features a U.S. President. (1) card came packaged with a caramel candy. Upon completing the set, you could redeem your cards for a 1-pound box of chocolate.

Purposely printed in fewer quantities, only a handful of William McKinley’s cards are known to exist. U.S. Caramel did this so they wouldn’t be handing out free chocolate to everyone. Plus they knew people would hunt for the McKinley card therefore selling more candy.

Why the canceled stamp and hole punch? U.S. Caramel would do this to those sets people sent in to deter them from using the same cards again and again in order to obtain free chocolate. If you wanted another box of chocolate, you would need to put the set together again.

Tactics like this were very common at the time. The Charles (Lindy) Lindstrom card from U.S. Caramel’s Famous Athletes set was printed in very few quantities as well.

If you think its cruel to purposely print fewer copies of a card to intentionally make a promotion difficult, that’s nothing. At least U.S. Caramel included those cards. Goudey completely left out Napoleon Lajoie #106 from their 1933 set in order to sell more gum. They had customers looking for a card that didn’t exist until later on.

Monty Sheldon Mailday Includes A Very Rare Kalas Sketch

This afternoon I received a package in the mail from renown sports artist Monty Sheldon.  Inside was a birthday gift that I will never let leave my personal collection.  Monty took the time to draw me a Harry Kalas one-of-one sketch card.  This card is way beyond awesome!!!!!!!!!  It was extremely nice of him to take the time to draw this cardboard masterpiece.  This has to be the ultimate one-of-one in my collection.  You won’t be able to find another card like this anywhere else in the world.  You can’t imagine how surprised I was when I opened the package.  This has to be one of the nicest cards I own.  Now this is a true one-of-one.

In addition to the Harry Kalas sketch card, Monty also sent my three Phillies 2010 National Chicle SP’s, and he autographed a few Chicle cards for me including Michael Vick and Jimmie Foxx.

Be sure to check out Monty Sheldon’s website and auctions.

This card depicts Hall of Fame Phillies broadcaster, Harry Kalas, throwing out the first pitch.  Monty Sheldon even signed and dated the back of the card.  It is card number 64 in his 2010 Sketch Card Set.

Tobacco Cards Should Never Be “Chromified”

I just saw the images of 2010 Topps T206, and I don’t like the way the rare red refractor mini tobacco sized cards look.  These mini cards should never be “Chromified”.  What do you think?

Card of the Day: George Bush 1990 Topps

This is probably the rarest 1990 Topps card you’ll ever find.  Gotta love those dotted borders.

Rare Press Pass Cut Signature Spotted

When you think of Press Pass, the phrase “cut signature” doesn’t always pop into your head.  They aren’t known for making a lot of cut signatures for The Hobby and maybe thats a good thing.  One of the few cut signatures they have made has popped up for sale.  This one is of the King of Rock N’ Roll Elvis Presley and is serial numbered 1/1.  It can be yours for the small price of $4,995.00.

Did the 90’s have the best insert cards?

During the 1990’s the hobby really got into insert cards.  This is what collectors would look for when opening up their packs before memorabilia cards became so popular.  In my opinion, 1993 Topps Finest is what made the insert card take off.  That product introduced the world to the “refractor” and had collectors searching for that special shiny rainbow coating.  Today you don’t see collectors that excited over insert cards that lack and autograph or piece of memorabilia.  If I were hobby king for a day I think that I would try to get collectors back into looking forward to pulling out an insert.  Have you ever taken a look at what some of these cards from the 90’s looked like?

I think we need to bring more attention back to cards like this.  There are a lot of people that still collect these cards and, if you were just getting into collecting when insert cards were so popular, it is very possible that you could have a valuable card in your commons box.  Back then it may have looked like a common to you, but it really could have been rare.  A lot cards back then were not even serial numbered like they are today.  So instead of going out and buying that new box of cards, go through your commons box.  You never know what you might rediscover.

Watch Out For Those Refractor Colors

Refractors have become one of the most collected types of cards in the hobby today.  Since they were introduced in 1993 Topps Finest baseball cards, many collectors have become hooked on finding those rare refractors of their favorite players. 

When purchasing a refractor over the internet you should be very careful.  There are a lot of different levels of refractors that have different numbering.  It is important that you know which colors have what numbering.  For example, Bowman Chrome Gold Refractors are numbered to 50, Reds are numbered to 5 or 1 etc…….  It really depends what set you are looking at.  When a seller takes a photo or scans a card that is a refractor the computer can sometimes make the card look like a different color than what it really is.  Sometimes a gold refractor can look orange, and a plain refractor can look blue.  The difference in these colors can really increase or decrease the price of the card.  This is why you should do your research before buying.  You should find out the different numbering of the refractors from a particular set before purchasing online.  There are people out there that will try to pass off a gold for and orange just to make more money.  Please be careful.