1935 Wheaties

[cliffyb]

Hi everyone,

There is so much expertise on this site so I’d like to get some thoughts on the 1935 Wheaties Series 1 baseball cards. I remember eating my Wheaties as a kid and it must have been so cool to have a card on the box. I’ve done some research and would like to ask what, in general, you all think of these cards? PSA has graded only 19 and SGC only 146. It seems the Dizzy Dean and Mickey Cochran White Cap are rarer but maybe the collectors aren’t all that interested in these cards overall. I don’t know. Anyway, thanks to you all.

[VintageCardCo]

I have quite a few of these for sale a d can honestly say, grading them is expensive and the rarity is unknown. It is just tricky due to the size.

[BobC]

They aren't really considered by many in the hobby as true cards, and seem to have been more of an oddball issue that only a relative few collectors showed much interest in going back many years. As of late though, especially with the run-up in prices with many of the more mainstream pre-war card issues, a lot of collectors I feel have started turning to more "unconventional" card issues, like these Wheaties cards, and they have been gaining popularity. The prices are such that collectors that maybe can't otherwise afford items of certain players from the more conventional card sets can now look to issues like these Wheaties cards instead. And it also seems that set collectors are slowly being replaced by more type card and/or specific player/HOF collectors. So, these Wheaties cards help to fill in and cover such collecting niches. And the fact that the major TPGs do grade them is a plus, despite the added expense that can be incurred from grading them due to the need for oversized holders. Especially for Registry people who are looking for a fairly new set, or trying to find another card for a specific player's master set, and so on. Personally think the Wheaties items are great, and include some very colorful and unique designs and images. And when they are in really nice shape and condition, that can look amazing.

They may not be everybody's cup of tea, but I think more and more people are noticing and picking up on them, and their desirability, as time goes by.

[cliffyb]

Thank you so much. I find them especially appealing when the full frames are intact. These Wheaties boxes must have been quite beautiful to look at. Imagine looking at your favorite players like this every morning. I think If Wheaties produced these nowadays, they’d fly off the shelves.

[mrreality68]

would love to see some that you own
could you post a few

[BabyRuth]

Here's a few - they seem like bargains in today's collecting landscape!

[bigfanNY]

Originally Posted by BobC

They aren't really considered by many in the hobby as true cards, and seem to have been more of an oddball issue that only a relative few collectors showed much interest in going back many years. As of late though, especially with the run-up in prices with many of the more mainstream pre-war card issues, a lot of collectors I feel have started turning to more "unconventional" card issues, like these Wheaties cards, and they have been gaining popularity. The prices are such that collectors that maybe can't otherwise afford items of certain players from the more conventional card sets can now look to issues like these Wheaties cards instead. And it also seems that set collectors are slowly being replaced by more type card and/or specific player/HOF collectors. So, these Wheaties cards help to fill in and cover such collecting niches. And the fact that the major TPGs do grade them is a plus, despite the added expense that can be incurred from grading them due to the need for oversized holders. Especially for Registry people who are looking for a fairly new set, or trying to find another card for a specific player's master set, and so on. Personally think the Wheaties items are great, and include some very colorful and unique designs and images. And when they are in really nice shape and condition, that can look amazing.

They may not be everybody's cup of tea, but I think more and more people are noticing and picking up on them, and their desirability, as time goes by.

I have no idea why anyone especially members of this forum would say that Wheaties Backs are not Baseball cards. Every major catalig lists them as Baseball cards. The first trade I made with John Ramirez in 1975 was a 1960 Post Cereal for a Gehringer with most of the box intact. So in OP's view since both the 1960 post and the wheaties were from cereal boxes we were not actually trading baseball cards.
From the begining baseball player images have been issued along with various products to boost sales. I feel the pain of poster Keith Thompson who's Mom would not buy Wheaties. My Mon wouldn't buy Kelloggs and definitely no Pop Tarts despite the cards promised in the Box.
But yes Bob and Kieth Wheaties are Baseball cards. So are Post Cereals, Hunters, Briggs Eskay Meats 1910 Orange Borders and other candy boxes. And every other issue that some fortunate youngster cut out, or off of a box. A box they either convinced their Mom to buy or saved their own pennies to bring home.
They exist today because they were treasured and preserved by the card collectors of the past. And they will be passed along to card collectors in the future becase they are treasured by many card collectors today...but like all things they are not treasured by everyone.

[smitti8]

Consider me hooked, with a little bit of love they present well and they still have previously undocumented specimens floating around like this series 4 mini Hemsley I recently found.

[jefferyepayne]

I'm a big fan of Wheaties cards but focus on the football ones. There are 50 football Wheaties box cuts from the 30s and I completed the 'set' years ago. I think the reason why the Pop seems so small is that a lot of collectors of these don't bother getting them graded. All of mine are raw including several I cracked from their plastic tombs.

Thought members might like to see the Wheaties display I had in my display case for a while. I've added many new ones since this display was built (including some nice complete boxes) but I really like how this display came out.







jeff

[bigfanNY]

Originally Posted by smitti8

Consider me hooked, with a little bit of love they present well and they still have previously undocumented specimens floating around like this series 4 mini Hemsley I recently found.

Great card although the Mini cards are sumilar to series 4 cards they are in fact their own series. I want to say series 16 but I would have to verify. I owned a Gehringer for many years. And in 50 years of collecting ( first card show 1973) I have only seen 5 different cards from this series. There is a thread here on net54 where 3 different cards are shown.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by bigfanNY

I have no idea why anyone especially members of this forum would say that Wheaties Backs are not Baseball cards. Every major catalig lists them as Baseball cards. The first trade I made with John Ramirez in 1975 was a 1960 Post Cereal for a Gehringer with most of the box intact. So in OP's view since both the 1960 post and the wheaties were from cereal boxes we were not actually trading baseball cards.
From the begining baseball player images have been issued along with various products to boost sales. I feel the pain of poster Keith Thompson who's Mom would not buy Wheaties. My Mon wouldn't buy Kelloggs and definitely no Pop Tarts despite the cards promised in the Box.
But yes Bob and Kieth Wheaties are Baseball cards. So are Post Cereals, Hunters, Briggs Eskay Meats 1910 Orange Borders and other candy boxes. And every other issue that some fortunate youngster cut out, or off of a box. A box they either convinced their Mom to buy or saved their own pennies to bring home.
They exist today because they were treasured and preserved by the card collectors of the past. And they will be passed along to card collectors in the future becase they are treasured by many card collectors today...but like all things they are not treasured by everyone.

Because these early Wheaties items are just like you stated, they're the backs of the boxes, whereas the Post cereal items were cut from the backs and are basically the same/similar standard size and shape of what are considered "cards" in the more mainstream hobby definition of what a "card" is thought of as by many collectors. I myself enjoy and have collected many early Wheaties items, and don't really care much about what does or doesn't constitute a "card" when it comes to defining such items. Forgive me for merely attempting to respond to the OP's question by pointing out that not everyone considers the entire back of a Wheaties box as a true baseball card, and that will likely include many Net54 members as well. There is no one, single correct definition as to what really constitutes a "true baseball card". It can, and does, vary from person to person. Again, I merely tried to respond to the OP's post, and focused somewhat on his implied question of why these Wheaties items don't seem to garner the same overall interest with collectors that other items do.

You mention how these Wheaties backs are listed in catalogs, but so are things like Sports Stamps, PX7 Double Header coins, German Transfers, M101-2 Sporting News Supplements, and on and on, but I don't think anyone normally considers any of those such items as "cards" at all. If you consider Wheaties carton backs as cards, great. And if you don't consider them as cards, that is great also. I simply consider them valuable collectibles, and leave it to others to get worked up as to what a particular collectible is considered as. To each, their own!

And by the way, where in my original response to the OP did I ever definitively state I personally consider these Wheaties carton backs are not cards? I didn't say they were or weren't cards, yet the very first line of your post seems to insinuate I did since you specifically chose and quoted my earlier post to respond to, and then there's your direct response, naming both myself and another poster (Keith), and asserting to us both that these Wheaties backs are definitely cards. The OP never said these weren't cards either.

[todeen]

A few of mine, not all 1935.






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[nolemmings]

Those are really nice Tim-- so too that football display and that mini. I only have the '35 Foxx left-- I always liked the 35s and 36s the best, but many of the others are nice too.

I consider them cards. As mentioned, they are really not different than at least a dozen other food/candy/gum issues over the years. Do collectors really quibble that Darby Chocolate, J=K, Orange Borders, All-Star baseball and Baseball Bats Candy are not cards?

Are the 1960 Post Cereals or 1959 Bazookas cards? I guarantee if Wheaties had chosen to put a dashed line around the outer edges of its box with some sort of "cut here" direction then these would be viewed differently, even though it was obvious they were intended to be removed and saved--at least the ones with the ornate frames. So do I have a Wheaties card if I cut this one up?:

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Those are really nice Tim-- so too that football display and that mini. I only have the '35 Foxx left-- I always liked the 35s and 36s the best, but many of the others are nice too.

I consider them cards. As mentioned, they are really not different than at least a dozen other food/candy/gum issues over the years. Do collectors really quibble that Darby Chocolate, J=K, Orange Borders, All-Star baseball and Baseball Bats Candy are not cards?

Are the 1960 Post Cereals or 1959 Bazookas cards? I guarantee if Wheaties had chosen to put a dashed line around the outer edges of its box with some sort of "cut here" direction then these would be viewed differently, even though it was obvious they were intended to be removed and saved--at least the ones with the ornate frames. So do I have a Wheaties card if I cut this one up?:

That's a beauty!