Quote:
Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie
I don't search for these, but I have not seen many for sale. I know I saw or bid on a Fitzsimmons on eBay a few years ago. There was a 2010 sale by HA that states that they were "made for the Canadian market." Were the cards made in New York, but distributed in Canada? The winner of the lot got 13/20 in nice shape for under $800. I know they also made jockey cards.
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It doesn't appear they were made in NY for the Canadian market. The NY business is a small business operating out of a single storefront (that would explain why these cards are so brutal to find) that doesn't seem to have distributed widely. I can't find any evidence that any candy from a Robertson Candy Co. was sold outside of New York City anywhere in the world at this time.
As far as I can tell, every subsequence resource to Burdick has just repeated that it is Canadian because that is what he catalogued it as, and there has been no inquiry or research. When Burdick did his research, this NY firm appears to have been a relic of the past, but there was a Robertson Candy Co. in Canada (which didn't exist when the cards were issued, founded in 1928).
They are probably printed in the NY area, but that is a deductive guess and we cannot know at this juncture.
The cards were either issued by this small local manufacturer (or repackager?) and retailer, or by a different business of the same name. If it is a different business, there must be evidence that they existed. If there is nothing that indicates this alleged Canadian firm existed, then the set must be an E card issue from the local NY manufacturer.