Dizzy Dean

The 1934 Gold Medal Foods Set And Its Original Envelope

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I don’t often dive into pre-war sets—they’re not my specialty. But when I spot an elusive premium issue in an old catalog with a ‘hobby-library adjacent’ aspect, it’s hard for me to ignore. Here’s a 1934 Gold Medal Foods set and its original envelope from Mastro’s December 2007 catalog.

Per The Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards, the set was issued by Gold Medal Foods (the parent company of Wheaties) to commemorate the 1934 World Series. It includes six members of the Detroit Tigers and six members of the St. Louis Cardinals. The cards are blank-backed and 3-1/4” x 5-3/8” in size. The key card belongs to Dizzy Dean.

Here’s an SGC-graded Dizzy Dean card that REA sold for $300 in February 2022.

The set sold by Mastro included nine cards slabbed by SGC, and three more (Dizzy Dean, Goose Goslin, and Joe Medwick) were ungraded and labeled “factory miscut” by SGC.

The set’s history is a bit complicated, so I recommend checking out these two threads on the net54 forums for more information.

Happy collecting!

1930s Dizzy Dean Grape-Nuts Cereal Advertisements: A Glimpse Into Gashouse Gang Glory

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In Mastro & Steinbach’s August 1997 auction catalog, I saw this stunning 1930s Dizzy Dean Grape-Nuts cereal advertisement. More research led me to find three total cardboard counter display versions from the Gashouse Gang era, showcasing vintage marketing at its finest.

Here’s the full ad description from the catalog:

From the glory days of the old Gashouse Gang, this striking easel-backed cardboard counter display (approx. 22-1/2″ x 26-1/2″) features the colorful Hall of Famer, Dizzy Dean, making a pitch for Grape-Nuts cereal. Still attached is the cardboard holder along with an original pamphlet which promoted Grape-Nuts’ Dizzy Dean premium offer. A hint of soiling, along with a minor crease in the upper left and missing tab on the lower right do not detract from its otherwise colorful and attractive appearance. One of the nicest cardboard display ads you’ll find from this era.
Minimum Bid $300

REA sold the same version of the Grape-Nuts counter display as Mastro & Steinbach offered for $630 in the fall of 2024. They also included a photo of the back but noted that the easel wasn’t original.

Most auctioneers date this next version to 1934. While appearing to be more common, it sells for more than the previous example, usually for just over $1k these days. It’s ~26” x 40” in size.

This final version seems the scarcest and is described as 20-1/2” x 26-1/2” in size. Like the previous examples, the easel isn’t original.

There may be other cardboard counter display examples out there, too, because there are certainly posters with different designs; if you know of any, let me know in the comments.