Ode to Pre-War Football Cardboard

[TanksAndSpartans]

Jeff, great showing on those Packers stars! Did you wind up picking it up as a set since the singles don't come up much? I'm pretty sure I read the theory that they were actually distributed as entire sets in Gridiron Greats as well.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by DezHood

Jeff, great showing on those Packers stars! Did you wind up picking it up as a set since the singles don't come up much? I'm pretty sure I read the theory that they were actually distributed as entire sets in Gridiron Greats as well.

I picked up a lot that appears to have come from two separate collectors. I'm still missing a few from the set.

jeff

[jefferyepayne]

The 1894 Mayo Football Set is the only football tobacco set that exists. It consists of players from Yale, Harvard, and Princeton and includes quite a few college stars from the early to mid 1890s.

Here are a few of my favorites.


Frank Hinkey is one of only a handful of players to be named a 4x All-American. Hinkey, who only weighted 145 pounds, was such a vicious tackler that Walter Camp dubbed him the "disembodied spirit" as he seemed to drift effortlessly through opposing blockers and deliver ferocious hits on ball carriers. Hinkey was a two time captain and led Yale to three College Championships in his four years of football.


Neilsen "Net" Poe was one of six Poe brothers who played football at Princeton in the 1880s - 1890s. Neilsen's grandfather, also named Neilsen, was Edgar Allan Poe's cousin.


Thomas "Doggie" Trenchard played football at Princeton and was an All-American in 1893. He was an early professional football player, playing for the Latrobe Athletic Association and Allegheny Athletic Association from 1895 - 1898. He coached football off and on for 20 years at colleges including North Carolina, West Virginia, and Washington & Lee.

jeff

[cmoore330]

I'm waiting patiently for someone to show off a collection of Gridiron Greats blotters...

[sockwell123]

Doesn't seem to be a lot of this stuff out there

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by sockwell123

Doesn't seem to be a lot of this stuff out there

You will not find a lot of pre-war items at most card shows. Some of the bigger ones attract a few dealers that specialize in vintage football and they may have some nice stuff. Most baseball dealers don't even know what exists pre-war other than perhaps Chicles and Mayos. There's always great stuff at the National. Also a lot of nice things in some of the on-line auctions including ebay.

The Packer's Walkers Cleaners are a regional set. Most of the other items shown so far were distributed on a wider scale but how wide is subject to debate (much like pre-war baseball).

There's plenty of stuff out there to explore / discover, though. You just need to take the time to learn about it and know what to look for. That's part of the fun for me!

jeff

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by cmoore330

I'm waiting patiently for someone to show off a collection of Gridiron Greats blotters...

Well, I don't have THE collection but this might do for now.

Ink blotting paper was used to blot off excess ink from documents being written with a fountain pen. A blotting paper sheet typically had absorbent material on one side and advertisements on the other. Ink blotting paper was attached to a device called an Ink Blotter that would allow the author to rock the blotting paper over a document to blot off the excess ink. For whatever reason, ink blotting paper is often called an Ink Blotter as well which can be confusing.

Many football Ink Blotters (actually ink blotter paper) exist but around 1937, a set of 12 ink blotters of famous football players was produced. They can be found with and without advertisements on them and in three different sizes: small, medium, large plus on a calendar. Here are a few I have with and without advertising on them.


Red Grange


Tom Shevlin


Walter Eckersall

Here are a couple of other ones from the 1950s


25 Year All-American Team


Bronko Nagurski

jeff

[jefferyepayne]

Ok, I guess the ink blotters weren't a hit. Let's go in a different direction.

In 1926 Red Grange starred in a movie called "On Minute to Play". It was sponsored by a Candy Company called Shotwell Mfg. and they produced two sets of Grange cards that were distributed with a Red Grange candy bar they created. The first is a 24 card set that depicts scenes from the movie. They are blank backed so often called the "Blank Back" set. The second is a 12 card set that depicts Red Grange in his football uniform. They have an advertisement on the back so often are called the "Ad Back" set.

A few blank backs:







A few ad backs:







I haven't seen the signed photo or the album that were available from Shotwell as mentioned in the ad on the back of the cards. Maybe somebody on Net54 has these and could show them.

Here is the Red Grange candy bar wrapper.



There are at least three known versions of the Shotwell Red Grange wrapper.

You will also sometimes see empty Red Grange candy bar boxes up for sale as well.

jeff

[sockwell123]

The Blotters look Pristine. What do you store them and the Wrapper in? if i may ask