Advertising Poster

Updating the Provenance of the 1915 Cracker Jack Advertising Sheet

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It was a big-time hobby event in the spring of 2009 when REA sold the nicer of the two known 1915 E145 Crack Jack Advertising Posters for $152,750. The lot’s description said it had never been sold before at auction, but Goober’s seems to have offered it in their September 1991 catalog.

Here are the photos of the sheet when REA offered it in 2009; it’s definitely the same item Goober’s offered.

The discrepancy comes in the fourth paragraph of the auction’s description:

There is very little pricing history on the 1915 Cracker Jack Poster due to its extreme rarity, and no sales ever at auction. In years past, Robert Edward Auctions has handled the private sales of both 1915 Cracker Jack posters known to exist. The restored example appeared as Lot 2 in Robert Edward Auctions’ September 1994 auction, but due to the restoration on that example, it failed to receive the minimum bid of $25,000. It was sold privately immediately following the close of the auction for an offer of $20,000. The poster offered here was long ago personally owned by REA president Robert Lifson. He purchased it from Herman Kaufman, one of the hobby’s great and most knowledgeable longtime collectors and dealers, in the mid-1980s for the then princely sum of $8,000. At the time, $8,000 could buy a T206 Wagner. Herman Kaufman had just purchased it days earlier at a lower level from another hobby legend, Josh Evans. In retrospect, all of them knew it was a great item but none of them realized the magnitude of the piece. This was unchartered territory in terms of quality and rarity, and these sales occurred long before the Internet, full-color baseball memorabilia auction catalogs, or the explosion in values that occurred over the next few years. In 1989 Lifson was offered $35,000 to sell the Cracker Jack poster in a direct sale, an offer which he accepted. At the time, $35,000 was more than the value of an entire high-grade Cracker Jack set or a T206 Wagner. The buyer has had it hanging on his wall ever since. After twenty years he has decided it is time to allow someone else the opportunity to enjoy it, and has consigned it to this auction. He’s asked us what we think its worth, and we just can’t tell him. We didn’t know the true value of the Cracker Jack poster in the 1980s, and we still don’t know how to value this piece twenty years later. After this auction, we’ll know!

It is possible that the person who bought the sheet for $35k in 1989 tried to sell it via Goober’s, but the sale fell through, a buyer’s premium wasn’t met, or that REA missed this part of the advertising sheet’s history, I have no idea.

Also, in August 2017, Heritage tried to sell the slightly refurbished poster, but the item’s page says “not sold.”

1949 Topps Pixie Bubble Gum X-Ray Round-Up Advertising Poster

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Today, we present a 1949 Pixie Bubble Gum X-Ray Round-Up Advertising Poster from Topps’ early days.

I scanned this image from Mastro’s June 2006 Classic Collector Auction. Since it was an internet-only auction event, none of the items in the catalog included a description. I presume there were descriptions online, but their site has long been deleted.

The Modern Hobby Guide To Topps Chewing Gum: 1938 to 1956 includes a few words about the gum and card set within a discussion about 1949 being the year of many cards:

With the tempered success of Magic Photo giving way to the realization that the lifespan of a top selling set was about six months, Topps came out with a new gum tab called Pixie in the summer of 1949. The cards sold with this gum were called X -Ray Round -Up, as Topps continued to identify the gum and cards separately. Featuring well drawn, vivid color renderings of a series of subjects such as Pirates and Wild West stars on one side, a piece of “X-Ray film” was needed to see the line drawing on the other. Made of red cellophane, the film cancelled out red lines on the back of the card thereby revealing the X-Ray. A piece of X-Ray film was included along with each card. The set was actually marketed featuring the X-Ray pictures as the primary component as Topps slowly learned the business of “inserts”.

Interestingly, some of the illustrations of Indians in the set were closely based on old tobacco cards that had been issued in the 19th Century. The portraits on these cards, which were a quantum leap forward from the simplistic drawings that comprised Tatoo, were probably illustrated by the art agency of Solomon & Gelman.

The guide also offers a multi-page set synopsis; it’s free to download here.

Hake’s Auctions sold one of these poster signs for $275 in 2009, describing it as 20.5 ” x 26″.

1952 Topps Baseball High Numbers Advertising Insert

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The following rare 1952 Topps baseball high numbers two-color advertising promo was designed to be inserted in cases and later displayed at points of sale, but few have survived. This example is from the November 2000 Mastro Fine Sports Auction catalog.

At the time, they wrote that the 7” x 11-1/2” window display piece was one of two known survivors. Other than the two folds across the sheet, as issued, they described the piece as being in Near Mint Condition.

In 2017, REA sold the following example, which looks different from Mastro’s, for $13,200.

REA wrote, “Extremely rare 1952 Topps advertising poster features images of a large wax pack near the center and a smaller head-shot image of Jackie Robinson (same used on his actual 1952 Topps card) in the lower-left corner. The text printed in red reads “New Series… just out! Over 400 Players.” To the left of the wax pack are the names of five major stars from the high-number series listed with a red star in front each one of their respective names. Listed are Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Roy Campanella, Bobby Thomson, and Pee Wee Reese. Along the bottom next to the small image of Robinson the text reads “Listen To The Jackie Robinson Show Every Saturday 9:30 A. M. WNBC.” The poster, designed to be inserted into cases and later displayed in candy-stores, announced to the world that the new baseball set was finally available. This poster has a Near Mint appearance with two natural vertical fold lines (as issued). Because of their intended use, it is understandable that few of these point-of-sale advertising displays have survived. We have seen fewer than five examples of this rare Topps poster over the past thirty-five years. A superb and extremely rare poster, which would be an outstanding companion piece to any complete 1952 Topps set or addition to any world-class advertising collection. The poster measures 11-1/4 x 6-1/4 inches and has also been matted and framed to dimensions of 18-1/4 x 13 inches.”

REA resold the same piece for $21,600 in the spring of 2019.

1950-1951 Junge’s Bread for Energy Advertising Poster

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Christie’s offered this incredible Junge’s Bread For Energy advertising poster in their October 1993 Sports Memorabilia catalog auction. These are some of the toughest cards to find in the hobby.

Christie’s described the Bread For Energy Label Advertising Poster as follows:

The scarcest of all sports bread end label sets is the 48 label “Bread For Energy” set. It includes 16 Movie Stars, 16 Western Stars and 16 Sports Stars four each of boxing, basketball, wrestling, and football. This rare advertisement for Jungle Bread contains an uncut sheet of 16 labels in color including the following sports subjects, Johnny Lujack, Buddy Young, Kid Gailan, Joe Fulks, Gene Stanlee and the very rare Rocky Marciano. In excellent to mint condition.

The expected price was $1,800-2,200.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much information available about the set. While Christie’s said the set has 48 labels, Beckett’s online directory says the set has 44 cards, while the seller of the following sheet on eBay says 42. And if this is the D290-12 set, my American Card Catalog says there are 64 cards.

That seller on eBay wrote,

This 14 inch by 22 inch magnificent piece of sports and movie nostalgia is the only known, uncut bread-end label sheet and advertising poster for the 1950-51 D290-12 “Bread For Energy” series of 42 different multi-sport and Hollywood celebrities.  The labels were distributed on the ends of loafs of various brands of breads & bakeries. Junge’s Bread was not previously known as a D290-12 bread label bakery brand and this advertising poster is as fresh and beautiful as the day it was printed and prepared in 1950.  

A 16-card, 11 inch by 11 inch, uncut sheet of 16 different bread labels, which were originally exclusively identified with Fischer’s bread, have been affixed to a cardboard poster.  These Junge’s Bread, “Bread for Energy labels” are brand new except for a slight crease that runs from Bing Crosby’s head to the bottom of the William Bendix label. The Kid Gavilan, Edgar Bergan, Joe Fulks are all affected. The sheet contains 3 of the 5 keys to the set including Johnny Lujack, Joe Fulks, and most importantly, a rookie issue of Rocky Marciano.  

Curiously, they wrote that their poster, with an asking price of $10k, is the only known piece, when there is another one on eBay with an asking price of $6k, and none of the three, compared to Christie’s, look the same.

Also, Leland’s has sold three of these Junge’s Bread-style posters. The first two have the same look as the previous three I’ve shared; the first sold for $1,364 in December 2020, and the second sold for $1,240 in February 2021 (this appears to be the $10k eBay one).

However, Lelands also sold this Junge’s Bread for Energy poster for $1,364 in April 2021. Notice that it has a few different cards on it!

If you want to see more examples of the cards, BMW Sports Cards has a nice directory. If you know anything else about them, please get in touch with me.

1938 Goudey Heads Up Advertising Poster

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Here’s another hobby man cave collecting goal for many of us: a 1938 Goudey Heads Up Advertising Poster, which was described as Goudey’s file copy!

This example was a part of Robert Edward Auctions July 2000 catalog. Here’s how they described it:

This candy store window poster announces Goudey’s classic 1938 Heads Up series. It features a giant card of Brooklyn pitcher Van Lingo Mungo. This poster originates directly from The Great Goudey Find of 1969 when the files of Goudey surfaced in the hobby. This is Goudey’s file copy of this poster. Goudey file copy materials were saved by being stapled into a large album for future reference. Very close examination reveals a pair of very small and clean staple holes in the upper right and left corners, and the faint hint of a vertical crease. The poster is otherwise in Near Mint condition. Of the very few (less than ten) examples of this poster known, it is likely that this is the finest. One of the rarest and most impressive of all card related advertising displays. 8 1/8″ x 12″

The only other copy I was able to track down was also sold by Robert Edward Auctions. It was mounted on cardboard and framed with three cards (DeMaree, Bartell, Lombardi); it sold for $4,930 in the spring of 2005.

1887 Allen & Ginter Store Display Advertising Poster

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In July 2000, Robert Edward Auctions & eBay presented The Wagner Card as the featured item in their internet/telephone auction. But the auction was LOADED and included this amazing 1887 Allen & Ginter Store Display Advertising Poster.

Here’s the lot’s full description:

This poster advertises the very first full color baseball card set ever issued, the classic N28 Allen & Ginter Tobacco set of “Worlds Champions” Allen & Ginter, and competitor Goodwin & Company were the first to introduce the novelty of baseball cards as advertising inserts in the late 1880’s when they included one card in each pack of tobacco to encourage the sale of their products and to promote brand loyalty. This poster advertises the very first Allen & Ginter set to feature baseball players. It features illustrations of all ten baseball cards in the set, plus the cards of all forty additional sporting champions of the day which comprise this historic set. The ten baseball players include Hall of Famers Cap Anson, John Clarkson, Charles Comiskey, Tim Keefe, Mike “King” Kelly, and John M. Ward, as well as noted stars Charles Bennett, Robert Caruthers, Jack Glasscock and Joseph Mulvey. Other famous athletes in the set include Nineteenth Century boxing champions Jack Dempsey and Jake Kilrain. Printed in full color, this advertising poster was produced utilizing the highest caliber chromolithographic printing techniques of the era. One of the most attractive and significant of all baseball display pieces, this poster was supplied by Allen & Ginter only to tobacco stores, and was designed to hang in these shops for the purpose of announcing the landmark “World Champions” card set of 1887. To the best of our knowledge, there are only five N28 Allen & Ginter posters known to exist. Of these, it is our opinion that this example is in the finest condition. Extremely bright, crisp, and clean; close examination reveals a few small creases; with minor professional restoration; still overall Excellent condition. 28″ x 16″ Museum backed and framed. Value references: To date, according to our research, there has never been an N28 Allen & Ginter poster sold at auction. In the 1930’s Jefferson Burdick made note of this poster in The American Card Catalog (which was the first price guide and the publication that originally introduced the catalog reference numbers such as T206, R319, etc, which are still in use to this day). Assigning the N28 Allen & Ginter poster the catalog reference code “G20”, Burdick valued the poster in the 1930’s at what was then the shocking sum of $15, making this the second most valuable baseball item listed in the entire American Card Catalog, trailing only the T206 Wagner (which was valued at $50).

I’ve found a few other sales, including a pair from Heritage Auctions; this first one sold for $15,535 in April 2010.

This next one went for $9,000 in August 2017.

Between those sales, in January 2014, Lelands sold a restored copy for $18,752.

Hobby Library decoration goals!

1940/41 O-Pee-Chee Hockey Double-Sided Uncut Sheet

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There are some incredibly unique collectibles out there, like this 1940/41 O-Pee-Chee double-sided “uncut sheet” I found in a 2005 Mastro auction catalog.

Here’s the lots full description:

In 1940, O-Pee-Chee continued the production of their oversized 5″ x 7″ cards from the year before. The offered uncut sheet contains images of all 50 cards in the 1940 set. Card #’s 101-125 are printed on one side of the sheet while cards #’s 126-150 appear on the other side. Card #’s 101-125 are printed in black and white while the remaining cards are in sepia. A plethora of stars are present, including #’s 102 Sands, 108 Broda, 116 Reardon, 118 Apps, 125 Lach, 130 Broda, 131 Bentley, 132 Schmidt, 136 Patrick and 146 Apps. The sheet measures an imposing 25-1/2″ × 36″. Due to its size, it is host to a plethora of condition problems, including multiple creases, edge tears, surface scrapes, etc. Despite these flaws, we cannot overstate its importance, and the piece may well be the only one of its type in the hobby. With proper framing and matting, this rarity would make a spectacular display piece and nicely complement the finest advanced hockey collection.

However, I think Heritage Auctions got it right when they sold an incredibly similar item in October 2021 for $810 and described it as an advertising poster.

They wrote, “This is a two-sided poster printed on thin paper. Was it meant to hang in retail stores? Did O-Pee-Chee consider making dual-sided cards on paper to accommodate the war effort like ’41 Play Ball baseball cards on paper in the states? Either way, it is very rare. There is some obvious edge damage, surface damage and creasing. Every card is affected by creasing. Overall size is approx 25” x 35″ on paper.”