Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Trading Cards

Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Sunny, clear skies and windy
(# 2 post of the day)

Trading Cards

If you're from 100-5 years old, you probably know about trading cards. I used the word "trading", because not all of these cards were manufactured by bubble gum companies. Some, as I'm presenting today were enclosed in cigarette packages. I got the idea for today's post,when I visited and got permission from Mr. George Murphey whose ebay store is called abhitchant.

When I was a "kid" (child) on the 1950's (I'm 65), I had bubble gum cards. The most common cars have been baseball cards, followed by assorted professional posts. I was never interested in baseball cards (too many to collect), and liked the cars such as western cowboys, Zorro, and so forth. Of course, when you bough the cards, you immediately chewed the gum until you had lockjaw! You also "played" (more like gambling) as you tried to win other people's cards in assorted games.

What amazed me, althoughI vaguely recall having read about other non-bubbnle gum cars were George's cards. He had cards of Native American Indians, professional billiards (pool) players, and WWII Japanese war cards/.I'm not going to add the war cards as they're much too graphic for anyone under 10 years old to see - that's war! However, if you go to George's past listings that sold you will see these very historic cards!

Please click here to visit George Murphey's extremely interesting store

The Goudey Gum Company was an American chewing gum company started in 1919. The company was founded by Enos Gordon Goudey (1863–1946) ofBarrington Passage, Nova Scotia. Formerly an employee of Beemans, he opened a factory in Boston, Massachusetts in 1919 and later in Allston. It operated there from 1924 until it closed in 1962. Goudey sold the business in 1932 but he retained an interest as a consultant. On his retirement in 1933, William Wrigley Jr. dubbed him the "penny gum king of America". Today the Goudey name is mainly associated with its collectible baseball cards which were introduced in 1933. Goudey was the first American company to issue baseball cards with each stick of gum. (They had been available with cigarettes and certain lines of candy for many years.)^[1]^[2]*

^{• Description Courtesy of Wikipedia}

Please click here to read more about the Goudey Company

I couldn't find much information on the Mecca Cigarette company, but I did find material about cigarette trading card companies.

Please click here ti visit a very interesting article by Wikipedia about cigarette cards

For those who don't know, the most valuable trading card in the world is omen of a famous baseball player by the name of Mr. Honus Wagner. The reason this cars is so valuable is that Mr. Wagner disliked cigarettes, and when the American Tobacco Company was going to include his photos on the cards,he threatened to sue. Most go the cards were removed from the cigarette packages,but a few "got through". As such, several of these Honus Wagner cards have sold and resold for over $ 2,000,000.00 American!

Please click here ti visit a very interesting article by Wikipedia about cigarette cards

So the moral of today's post is this:

never throw out anything that you think may be valuable one day - one never knows!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

An Amazing Seller of Toy Catalogues and Other Very Interesting Material

Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Cloud and rain all day

An Amazing Seller of Very Old

Toy Catalogues and

Other Very Interesting Material

I was visiting ebay yesterday when I came across some a great group of discoveries. I was looking for old toy catalogues when I came across several listings from a seller on ebay who goes by the name of abhitchant. There were 3 very old toy catalogues with one actually being a true antique, having been printed in 1912 or 102 years old. I decided to check this one out and it turned out to be even more interesting. It had originally been sent to the Library of Congress as copyright material. SO not only was this a true "antique", but it was also rare ephemera.

For those who don't know, the word ephemera means:

ephem·era

noun \i-ˈfe-mər-ə, -ˈfem-rə\

things that are important or useful for only a

short time : items that were not meant to

have lasting value*

*http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ephemera

Almost anything out there is collectible, and there are, of course, lots of things that we throw away. Yet someone out there will in fact probably collect it. How many times have you gone to a hardware store or a department store and taken home a pamphlet about some piece of equipment or some new perfume or cologne. You keep this paper material, then eventually throw it out. But some people collect these items, and search for them!

When I opened my ebay mail this morning, I had received the approval from Mr. Boyd Hitchner. I was elated. Here was the most interesting catalogue and ephemera that I would have the privilege of writing about. I decided to see what interesting sales Boyd had in the past, and I was even more elated. You absolutely, positively have to visit Boyd's past sales and search out old trading cards. I won;t say more, because I want you to see these fantastic items for yourself.

Please click here to visit Mr. Boyd Hitchner's most interesting ebay store

THIS AUCTION IS FOR A GIBBS TOYS FOR LITTLE GIRLS AND BOYS CATALOG COPYRIGHTED 1912 WITH THE LETTER FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, COPYRIGHT OFFICE IN WASHINGTON, D.C. , DATED JUNE 8, 1912 WHEN IT WAS PATENTED. IT IS 12 PAGES AND IS IN SUPERB CONDITION. THE COVER IS EMBOSSED FRONT AND BACK. I HAVE PICTURED THE ENTIRE CATALOG.*

*Description Courtesy of Mr. Boyd Hitchner

The above letter is the actual one that the Library of Congress sent to the Gibbs Manufacturing Company on June 8, 1912 to acknowledge receipt and copyright of the catalogue that I am presenting.

If you ever get to go to Washington, D.C. (USA), you have to visit all of their museums, and even the Library of Congress. What made America great and What America is today has been well kept in all of their fine museums. My wife Heidi and I visited Washington a while ago, and stayed for 3-4 days. I could have stayed there a month, just to visit the museums. And I like to go through a museum fast!

Many old toy catalogues and hardware company catalogues that sold old toys also, among other things, commonly had hand-drawn illustrations of their factories where their items were made or warehoused.

I thought that I had written about the Gibbs Company in the past, but I didn't find a label on the right side of my blog. A label is simply a key (important) word or words that you add to a list for each post. In this way, you- the reader, can search out and fine anything on my blog.

These are certainly interesting toys that I will have to write about.

I already found some of them on Liveauctioneers, and will visit the fine auctioneers whom have allowed me to use their photos.

What always amazes me are the wholesale cost of toys way back then But then again, when I was a "kid" in the 1950's (I'm 65 now), a bag of potato chips was 5 cents, a bubble gum was 1 cent (no more cents in Canada!), and a candy bar was also 5 cents. Comic books were I think 10 cents (wish I had all of my Superman comics!), and those "Classic" comic books. Classics were shortened versions of fine books shortened to about 20-30 pages and illustrated with illustrations.

When I meet very interesting people or people who might have very interesting items, I get very excited and ask all kinds of questions. My wife sometimes has to tell me to wait for the answers, before I ask the next series of questions.

It's a good thing that I'm not visiting Boyd Hitchners' store (if he had a real actually store).

He'd never get rid of me!