Tobacco/Candy/etc. card packaging

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Posted By: Dylan

Since Ive become so interested in the advertising backgrounds of my cards ive started looking at the packages they came in as collectable too. Ofcourse many of these are near impossible to find, but a few seem to pop up somewhat reguarly. The T206 piedmont packages, and the occasional old judge cigarette pack for instance. What im wondering is how do you guys price these products, and assess their relative scarcity? I know some packs(like obaks) are impossible to know if theyve been opened or not so to never pay a premium for an "unopened" pack, but how much of a premium would you pay on an unopened pack normally? Any info would be great, and if you guys want to post some your cards packaging and its relative value that'd be great too.

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Posted By: leon

This stuff (candy wrappers and boxes) is generally so unique that it's difficult to put a price on them. Tobacco packs are a little more common, relative to candy stuff, so pricing can be approximated. It's really supply vs demand for value on these items. Even though something might be unique the people collecting might only want to go to a certain price point on a given item. I picked up the Nadja box for about $200 on ebay and my snipe bid was over 5x that. I really wanted it and was willing to pay for it. I think it's value, in a nicely publicized auction would be about $500....but who knows? I have quite a few other wrappers and candy boxes (many on my site in my personal collection) and they usually range from about $10 ea to $100 ea.....As for unopened tobacco packs the date is the most crucial thing...and specifically the overprint on the tax stamp. If it does match up to a year a card could have come in it, especially baseball, then value jumps greatly. Also, we should remember that even if everything matches perfectly on an unopened tobacco pack the chances of a baseball card in it are quite small. If there is no overprint on the tax stamp or the wrong date, but it's still a period unopened pack, then I would add maybe a 2x-3x value to it, relative to an opened one. As for candy packs that are unopened but could have contained a card...I am not sure if I have ever seen a really old vintage one so don't know....it would be worth quite a bit though.....regards

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Posted By: davidcycleback

As far as tobacco brand scarcity, the relative rarity of the card brand generally/loosely matches the relative rarity of the pack. Sweet Caporal and Piedmonds are common, American Beauty harder but can be found, Drum hard, Yum Yum hard, Lone Jack hard, Ty Cobb very rare, etc. Most to all of these brands are findable, some harder than others.

You can collect the brand, even if the item isn't from the right year. For example, you can find an assortment of 1800s Mayo Cut Plug packs and tins that aren't from N300 year. You can find a Sweet Caporal pack from 1919. Even though not from the year of the card, they are all displayable. I own an 1800s Sweet Caporal sign, which looks great on the wall, though it's obviously not from the T206 years. If you come across a rare and great Lone Jack or Kalamazoo Bats pack, I wouldn't necessarily turn it down because it isn't from the year of the cards. Besides if a collector is only interested in a Yum Yum or Lone Jack pack that has a baseball card in it, he'll be looking for a long time.

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Posted By: mr. moses

and sometimes easel-back comes in three variations. I have a neat die-cut with a wooden fence in the background and one of the die-cuts with advertising like you have shown above is "posted" like a bill of lading. I believe it was modled after a French game of some sort as I once saw the figures without the advertising and the bottoms inserted into wooden blocks. I miss the days of hunting in the northeast and the shows in the NY triangle. So much to see and process even if you come out empty. So many questions - so little time......

I wanted to
so I did
because I can

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

The easiest candy container to find would have to be the Colgan's Chips tin. They range from about $10-$30 depending on condition. I have never seen a sealed one. The violet chips tins are a bit easier to find than the mint tins in my experience.

The Mello-Mint tins you see on ebay and for sale on websites did not contain mello-mint cards. I don't even think it's the same company.

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Posted By: mr. moses

the Colgan's containers. There was one auctioned within the last 8 years that was supposedly unopened. I have seen one heavy cardboard container the size of Colgan's for Ju Ju Drums. Neat Croft's items are the wooden cases and of course the jars with labels. I've been lucky enough to own a couple of each. If you ever see a zeenut package please LMK first

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Posted By: Anonymous

Does anyone have a scan to share of a package from broadleaf, cycle, or drum?

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Posted By: Jimmy

Many packages exist, it just seems to be hard to find any that once had a card or has a card inside. I look for antiques all the time and rarely come across packages with any significant value. These maybe tough to collect, but you may have some luck in the auctions or from a long time collector willing to part with them.

Jimmy

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Posted By: Zach Rice

The third issue of Old Cardboard magazine has an excellent article detailing the 16 (15 if you do not include Ty Cobb back) tobacco brands found in the T206 set and the packages they were distributed in. The article includes full color images of all the tobacco packages except for Hindu; the Hindu package pictured is sepia and cropped from an original ad piece.

All of the Old Cardboard issues are invaluable resources, I’d strongly suggest making the investment and purchasing all back issues

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Posted By: Jon Canfield

Dylan,

I wrote the Old cardboard article on the packs... I would be happy to send you scans of the ones you asked for if you want to email me at jon_canfield@hotmail.com or jcanfield@mofo.com. I'm at work right now so don't have access to post them. That being said, if you check out Trey's t-206 site, t206.org, I provided him scans of all of the t-206 packs which he has posted.

- Jon