W503....strip card or caramel card?

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Posted By: Mark Macrae

Leon.... This is an example of an early categorization error. These cards were sold with caramel in a few parts of the country. Buck Barker had quite a few that he remembered getting in the St Louis area & John Spalding bought a sizeable group about 25 years ago from an original collector that lived here in the Bay Area his entire life. Over the last 30+ years, I've stumbled across samplings in original Bay Area collections, maybe 75 or so, which support John's story. I seem to recall John writing an article on these many years ago. I would think that the lack of advertising present on the card would lead the earlier collectors to place it among several 'annonymous issued' W cards. It's possible that it could have been a 'stock set', but as far as the Bay Area roots are concerned, it's an E-UNC.