Yum Yum Tobacco (August Beck & Co.) card distribution

[rhettyeakley]

I just picked up the following item the other day, and honestly have no idea about how tough these are to come by or anything, but I have never seen another one before. Obviously, it is a wrapper from Yum Yum Tobacco. My question is do we know for sure that YumYum's were only distributed in the tins or could they very well have been issued in wrappers like this one?



This piece is dated from just slightly after the baseball card set was produced and distributed, the tax stamp is dated with a light stamp (I've blown it way up) and you can faintly see "APR 1 1892" at the top.

Blown up scan of tax stamp date:


Any thoughts?
-Rhett

[canjond]

Rhett,

Not sure we know an exact answer. The tin pictured on my website had a paper band on it that read something to the effect of "2 baseball picture cards placed at the bottom of this box."

While it can be said without question that the tins held the cards, it cannot be said with any degree of certainty that the soft packs held cards.

Here is the link to the tin:

http://baseballandtobacco.com/n403.htm

Note, I have also seen Yum Yum pails. Again, however, I have not seen any proof linking pails to the cards.

- Jon

[rhettyeakley]

Jon, thanks for the info. I had heard of the tin with the "cards inside" note, however, I was unaware that it specifically said there were baseball cards inside the tin.

On a side note, have you seen many of these "soft-pack" wrappers before? I only ask because this was a first for me. What would you think value-wise for this type of item?

I look forward to your response.

-Rhett

[rc4157]

Maybe Jeff Schwartz will have more info. regarding these, hope he checks in.

[canjond]

Rhett,

I have seen the wrappers before although I cannot recall seeing one that was close to period. I know Jerry Spillman used to have a Yum Yum pail - not sure if he owned a wrapper but if he did, maybe he can tell us the date of his. As for value - your guess is as good as mine. Without more proof this may have hard a card, it would be hard to price it. As a companion piece, I would price it in the $100-$150 range (considering the date).

- Jon

[rhettyeakley]

Jon, thanks for the assistance.
-Rhett

[canjond]

Rhett - I should have said in my previous post that if it could be connected to card distribution with more certainty, I would imagine the value to jump considerably. Granted you only have a wrapper (and not the actual tobacco portion of the pack which would have been foil), but I would probably ask $500... again, assuming connected to card distribution.

[clamendo]

Rhett,
This looks like a nice piece. There is a good chance they held
the multi-subject/multisport YumYum cards from 1892/1893. See the non-sports series N398, N472, N488. In the N398 series I was fortunate enough to pickup from a guy who was an acquaintance of EC Warton-Tiger a copy of one of the 10 known sport scenes. There was also a golfer in the same auction. It was paper thin and seems like a natural to have been inserted in this type of pack. I think its one of the first football cards issued. Hope this helps. See Leon man does not live by baseball cards alone !!

[rhettyeakley]

Carl, thanks for the info.

I have seen and own other cards from the various Yum Yum sets, and the football card you picture is definitely a true rarity, I have always liked that set. I once owned the Golf card from that series, but that was many years ago. I wasn't aware they dated to the 1892-93 time frame, that is new to me, and would definitely be a positive for the wrapper I have (although it obviously doesn't prove anything).

-Rhett