Here’s one of the scarcest non-sport collectibles in the hobby from the Walter Johnson Candy Company, a 1930s Dick Tracy R41 set wrapper.
In November 2000, Mastro offered this one along with a complete set of 144 cards. They dated it to 1934, but others, like TCDB, date the release to 1937. The Non-Sports Bible just calls it a 1930s set.
The auction description said, “The wrapper displays vividly, bright red and blue coloring printed on wax paper. It displays customary wear for such artifacts and grades as an eye-appealing Excellent.”
Naturally, the box is even tougher to track down; REA sold the following example for $1,560 in the summer of 2019.
Welcome to the relaunched Unopened Archive! It used to have pages with photos of packs, wrappers, boxes, and cases from all the big pre- and post-war releases. This 2.0 version is more of a hub for all my blog posts about different unopened material. Over time, I’ll bring back the old content and add way more—like info about fakes, finds, sales, collation, and all the known products out there.
If you’re looking for a particular unopened product photo, shoot me an e-mail.
You’d think wrappers from the 1930’s would be super scarce and super pricey. You got the pricey part right, but they’re more common than you’d think; Mastro offered this lot of 11 together in July 1998.
Mastro wrote that it was the largest group ever made available at one time. A few months earlier, in March, they sold a single wrapper for just under $500. They described the wrappers as having a few wrinkles, but none were less than Ex to Mt condition.
They also explained that this blue and red variety was rarer than the yellow version, most likely because the blue wrapper was only used for Diamond Star’s high-number series. That said, 1) I’m not a pre-war expert, 2) I’ve read in a few vintage publications that at least eight different wrapper variations from this set were used between 1934 and 1936, and 3) Memory Lane Inc. has sold two lots of Diamond Star wrappers, which leads me to believe the Mastro lot may be dated to 1935 and that there are ten wrapper variations.
Memory Lane Inc., which has sold a lot of rare wrapper runs over the years, described this first lot of eight as being from 1934-35, with the blue wrappers with red stars described as 1935 variations.
The second lot was for four different “1936 Diamond Star Baseball Wrappers with 2 Candian Versions.” Notice the star is orange on these wrappers.
If you have more insight into these collectibles, leave a comment!
Sotheby’s offered a set of 26 (plus the 2 DiMaggio variations) R326 Goudey Flip Movies booklets in its April 1994 auction, with an expected price of $3.5k—$4k; an aggressive ask since Tom Reid found a bunch of these in the late 80s, though this was the nicest copy.
They described the lot as a circa 1937 (today some folks say 1938, others 1937-1938) complete set of 26 plus the 2 “extremely rare” variations of Joe Dimaggio picturing brother Vince. They mentioned that Goudey mistakenly used Vince’s picture instead of Joe’s but quickly corrected it so few are seen around the hobby today.
Each cover has a portrait and is either blue, black, or green. In the set, each player is represented twice in two parts. They also directly mentioned Tom Reid’s Find of thumb movies several years previously, but this was the finest set known to exist, mostly in mint condition.
I mentioned that the $3,500-$4,000 price range looked aggressive because Robert Edward Auctions re-sold what I think is the exact same set of Goudey flip movies in 2017 for just $1,560.
Here’s REA’s complete set description:
Issued in 1937-1938 by Goudey Gum, and catalogued R326 in the ACC, this unusual set is printed as small booklets (2 x 3 inches) and was designed to be viewed as a flip book with each player featured in action either batting, throwing, or fielding. There are thirteen different players each produced in two booklets (part 1 and 2) to capture the whole in-action scene. The front cover of each booklet features a portrait image of the specific player and a brief biography of the player on the back cover. Offered is an exceptional high-grade and rarely offered complete 26-booklet set, plus two error variations (two Joe DiMaggio booklets picture an image of his brother Vince by mistake), for a total of twenty-eight booklets. This is the first complete set of this unusual issue that we have ever offered! Goudey selected the greatest stars of the day for inclusion in this unusual set. Rarely does a set have such a high concentration of major stars. More than half the players featured are members of the Hall of Fame (two booklets of each): Luke Appling, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Jimmy Foxx, Joe Medwick, Mel Ott, and Paul Waner. This is a tremendous set of R326 Goudey “Big League Baseball Movies,” clean and crisp across the board, and it should be stressed that all have an Excellent or better appearance. Most examples graded less than Ex have been downgraded due to very technical concerns, such as a very light crease or tiny tear. It is remarkable that the set has survived in such extraordinary condition. As made, five of the booklets do not have a staple binding it together. This is by far the finest set that we have ever seen, and it most likely originated from Tom Reid’s famous find of thumb movies back in the late 1980s. For years, this has been one of the most overlooked of all 1930s gum issues because grading companies simply did not have holders for this set, but that has very recently changed with the introduction of holders by Beckett that now allow for professional grading and encapsulation of this issue. This is an outstanding complete set (plus two variations) of this rare and condition-sensitive issue. Total: 28 booklets. Reserve $300. Estimate $1,000++.
The set’s price has crept up as the hobby has boomed over the past few years; I’ve seen one move for more than $3k in 2023. Also, I think if PSA or SGC started slabbing these, the set’s price would skyrocket. And, just because I used to have an unopened archive here on the site, here’s an R326 wrapper that Heritage sold for $90 in 2017.
I’ve always loved wrapper collecting. Too bad I wasn’t buying yet in 2005 when this incredible lot of 100 (1949 to 1972) baseball, basketball, football, and hockey wrappers were auctioned off together.
Most were described as being in clean EX to NM condition. There was also a bit of duplication amongst the collection: BASEBALL: Bowman 1949 one cent green/orange, 1950 one cent dated, 1952 one cent. 1953 Color (GD), 1954 dated (VG) and 1955 (VG). Topps 1951 Red Back one cent, 1952 (VG), 1953 one cent (a NM beauty), 1954 one cent, 1955 one cent, 1955 Doubleheader one cent, 1956 one cent, 1957 one cent, 1958 one cent, 1959, 1960 (2), 1961 (2), 1962 (2), 1962 Baseball Bucks one cent, 1963 one cent, 1964, 1964 Giants, 1965, 1966, 1967 (3), 1968 (3), 1968 Posters, 1969, 1969 Posters, 1970 (2), 1971, 1971 Tattoos, 1971 Super, 1972 (5) and 1972 Posters. Leaf 1948-49 and 1960. Fleer 1960, 1961 and 1963. FOOTBALL: Bowman 1951 one cent, 1953, 1954 one cent and 1955. Topps 1951 Magic, 1956, 1957 one cent, 1958 one cent, 1959 one cent, 1960 one cent, 1961-71 and 1972 (5). Fleer 1960-63. Philadelphia 1964-67 Also 1961 Nu-Card, 1963 Topps Canadian and 1972 O-Pee-Chee. BASKETBALL: Fleer 1961-62. Topps 1969-70, 1970-71, 1971-72 and 1972-73. HOCKEY: Topps 1968-69, 1969-70, 1971-72 (2) and 1972-73.
Wrapper collecting isn’t for everyone, but they are way more affordable than unopened wax packs. And, stored in binders, vintage wrappers display very well together. Another cool thing about wrappers is that there’s usually exciting hobby history involved, as Topps often advertised giveaways on them.
Here’s an extremely scarce wrapper from an extremely scarce Canadian pre-war set: the 1924 Willard’s Chocolates V122 Sports Champions.
Ron Oser Entperises offered the 4” x 4” wrapper with a reserve of $100 in their March 1998 catalog. The lot’s description mentioned a 2” tear along one seam.
The V122 set has 56 cards, including three baseball players: Babe Ruth, Eddie Collins, and Ty Cobb. The baseball cards are super pricey; REA sold a PSA 5.5 Babe Ruth for $25,200 in September 2022.
In October 2009, Heritage Auctions sold this wrapper with four hockey cards from the set for $836.50.
They wrote, “Willards Chocolates was a Toronto based firm that produced a few sports theme sets in the mid-1920’s. In 1924 the company produced a 56-card set showcasing athletes from various sports including, baseball, boxing, track and field and hockey. This presentation offers all four hockey subjects: #’s 43 Watson, 45 Collett, 47 Smith and 52 Munro. All four present nicely but were once housed in an album and have paper/glue residue affecting the top portion of the back of each card, Collett has creases. Also offered is a very rare two-color wrapper adorned with a somewhat crude drawing of a runner while promoting “A Picture in Every Bar” of “Willard’s ‘Sports’ Nut Bar.” The rarity of the wrapper explained by the chance to exchange 100 wrappers for “imported chain” for Girls and a “watch chain” for boys. The wrapper has fold lines as issued, plus area of paper damage along the left and right edges, the result of being opened. Despite condition flaws, the wrapper presents at the VG/EX level.”
