We Liked Ike, But When?!

Regular followers of this blog and those who have read my book know that Topps issued a set of 33 coins in 1948-49 depicting the Presidents of the United States (and one featuring the Capitol) and then repeated this in 1956-57, although the design changed and plastic was substituted for metal. I've always been bothered by there being no 1952-53 version of the set (Golden Coin), especially since Eisenhower was a newly minted Chief Executive at the time. I've just acquired the complete contents of a '56 pack that I think helps support the idea a set was issued following the 1952 election.

Here is the all encompassing 56 setup:

As always, the wrapper states it was distributed by O-Pee-Chee in Canada but manufactured by Topps Chewing Gum in Brooklyn.  This dichotomy will repeat, as we shall see.

The It Happened To A President inner wrapper is correct as it features the red and black version associated with the 1956 issue:

Our first anomaly shows up in the form of the inner tray and gum, the latter of which disintegrated completely about six seconds after I opened the mailing package:

Here is a closer look at the tray, which measures about 4" x 2 1/4", not counting the flip up edges; it's completely petrified at this point, you could kill somebody with it easily enough:

And therein lies the rub as the inner packaging from what I have read and researched is supposed to be a cardboard envelope that looks like this in 1956:

Compare that to the 1948-49 sleeve:

I have no doubt the plainer sleeve is the earliest of the bunch as the slogan and design clearly mark it as such. 1949 wrappers have the 1949 date prominently displayed on them so that's a no-brainer for dating purposes. Plus the '49 coins have the text back; in 1956 they used a shield with a large ordinal number within:

We also have this curiosity, from a couple of scans I picked up along the way:

Sooooooo....the question is when did Topps decide to push the 2 for 1 deal?  Was it after returns of the 1948-49 coins came in (and they did come in as Topps sold bulk overstock in Billboard Magazine in early 1950) or when a 1952 edition came out?  I have to think the yellow "eagle" pouch is from 1952 if the black, plain tray is from '56.  I'd love it if a scan or example of the "2 coins" made itself known.

There is yet another disconnect, namely this big Bazooka insert from the 1956 version:

That was clearly wrapped around the black tray from the look of things.  Bazooka Joe was a 1954 invention, so could not have come with an earlier Golden Coin set. But why is there a U.S. address for a Canadian product?!  I admit to being a bit baffled at it all.

Building Capitol

One of the many things I discovered while doing research for The Modern Hobby Guide was that the 1948-49 Topps Golden Coin set was issued with, in addition to a coin for each president through Harry Truman, one depicting the U.S. Capitol. Thanks to (who else) BFF O'the Archive Jeff Shepherd, who sent me one, I can now show what this coin looked like, although there is a twist:

The front is quite well rendered, just like the Presidents but the back has a surprise or two:

Firstly, there is a typo as the coin reads "Restored for use or Congress in 1817" when the "or"should be an "of" but the bigger surprise is the Osborne Register company indicia at the bottom (under "Washington").  So far as I am aware, the Osborne Register company information was not on any of the President coins in 1948 but instead was added in 1953 when the board game Meet The Presidents was issued. That game was originally a Topps for Toys product in 1949 but a Selchow & Righter property in 1953. 

What this does is make me wonder if there was also a 1952 release of Golden Coin.  Such a thing seems possible to me for two reasons:

1) The "2 Coins in Every Pack" kicker stapled to the front of some 1948-49 style boxes:

Topps experienced returns of Golden Coin in 1949 so this could have been a way to move the product four years later, when the next election was occurring.

2) A variant Harry Truman coin, without or with glasses.  Jeff S. confirms the no glasses version came along with a folder album while the coins with glasses came from the 1949 Topps for Toys Meet The Presidents game. 

 

I own a folder album as well and my Truman also is sans glasses and has no Osborne indicia:

It would seem then that the Truman with glasses was an update.

And what of the "bright border' coins found in cello overwraps that are in a slightly different style than the 48's, although I am not sure these are confirmed as a Topps product.  I am still trying to cipher these.

One thing's for sure, Golden Coin is one tricky issue (or three) to get a grip on!

For Two Cents Plain

It's not an election year in most parts of the country but I am in a presidential mood today.  A while back I took a look at the 1949 Golden Coin issue that ended up being reused in any number of ways by Topps until 1965.  Friend o'the Archive Lonnie Cummins recently sent a long some box scans of the 1949 version that seem to support the notion the cards did not sell well when first issued.

Check this box out.  Not only is it in really nice shape but it adds a new layer of mystery to the set:

Yes, Topps has added a coin to the pack i order to move more product.  They must have done this quickly as the main tag line on the box indicates "another coin in every bubble gum pack" but the splash lozenge clearly states 2 coins are now being sold.  If you look closely at the lozenge, it appears to be stapled in place:

I would surmise that the packs look the same as when originally issued.  The additional coin does not seem to have mattered much as the set was being liquidated as overstock by early 1950.  I'd wager there are more mysteries lurking when it comes to this set. Any other Archivists out there have anything good?

Looking Very Presidential

I have posted sporadically on the 1949 Topps Golden Coins and various permutations thereof but while getting into some deep research on the Shorin family I found an intriguing reference to an obscure board game that has a connection to Topps and this set, one of the first issued by Topps, albeit in conjunction with It Happened To A President.

The 1953 Catalog of Copyright Entries lists two entries for Joseph Shorin, the President of Topps at the time, for Meet The Presidents, which turned out to be a Selchow & Righter game (think Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit) that, much to my delight turned out to feature a set of presidential coins as integral pieces. In addition to Joseph Shorin, who was listed individually, Marion E. Stringer also held a copyright (along with Joseph) and Selchow & Righter for the game rules. It would appear that the individual entry for Mr. Shorin was for the coins used in the game, which are based upon the Golden Coins. Ms. Stringer apparently liked to design board games, as she was involved with another game called Assembly Line.

Here are the two side-by-side, the game piece on the left (made of aluminum) and a Golden Coin on the right (made of brass) that was probably a gas station premium.



The metal Golden Coin measure exactly 1" in diameter, while the aluminum game piece is larger at 1 3/32". This would seem to mimic the original plastic coins, described as 1 1/8" in diameter. The arc of the coin design from plastic gum insert to metalized component of something larger sold off a shelf follows that of Play Coins of The World, also an original 1949 Topps issue.

The backs are identical as well:



We get a clue as well from the game coin: It was produced by The Osborne Register Co. of Cincinnati, a firm that was founded in 1835 and exists to this day as a private mint (very handy for a company like Topps). I would think Osborne was involved in producing the metal Play Coins and the Lucky Penny Bazooka premiums from 1957-58 at a minimum.

The game itself is a letdown. Here is the original, 1953 cover and some contents:





That holder contains 32 pieces but there is a 33rd (Grover Cleveland has fouled up the Presidential count for many years now, hasn't he?). Reissues from 1961:



and 1965:



gave us redesigned covers (and game boards) and also 35 and 36 coins respectively. I have to think there was a game with 34 pieces in there too. These are a neat little piece of Topps history!

Dollar Store

It should be no surprise to the intrepid readers of this blog that a time machine with the controls set to the late 40's and early 50's would be the number one item on my science fiction wish list of impossible gadgets. You see, the plan would be to find and purchase a large quantity 1940's U.S. Currency, go back in time and then buy up all sorts of goodies that would be mailed to my childhood home (purchased in 1956) with a note to my dad saying "do not open until Christmas 2010". Pops is a good guy and fellow collector (of toys and trains mostly, not cards) and he would definitely squirrel away such care packages as instructed.

Failing that, I'd like to find a wormhole to 1950 mail ninety-two cents to Topps for what looks to be the first Fun Pack:



That ad is from the April 29, 1950 issue of The Billboard, which as we all know used to cover all sorts of amusements and vending concerns in unbelievable detail until it went mostly music only in 1961.

While Topps indicates 6 different types of Novelty packs were available, they only list five in the ad: Flip-o-Vision, Pixie, Golden Coin, Varsity and Tatoo. The sixth could have been either Hocus Focus (the Magic Photo pack, not the later issue) or Stop 'N Go license plates. Another nickel pack like the Flip-o-Vision or Golden Coin is also a possibility. It was probably left open-ended so whatever return from the distributors was occurring at the time could be included.

The ad reappeared in the May 27 issue so Topps clearly had some overstock to move. While that fact and the ad itself are noteworthy, what's even more interesting to me is that every novelty issue described in the ad is known to definitively pre-date 1950 with one exception: Varsity, which contained the small Felt Back Football cards.

The Felt Backs have been the subject of past scrutiny via articles in hobby publications over the years, there being two distinct schools of thought. The first is that they were issued in 1949 and then reissued the following year. The second is that they are a 1950 only issue. Even Topps is at odds with itself on this; Sy Berger was in the 1949 camp while the corporate office in the early 1990's was in the 1950 only camp.

I think this ad eliminates the possibility of option #2 as it would not have allowed enough time for returns of the set to flow back to Topps. I also doubt they would have sold football cards in the early months of 1950 as they really would only be attractive in the fall. The wrapper carries a 1949 copyright by the way, which is meaningless as Topps sometimes copyrighted things a year or two before issuing a set.

Tatoo is another issue that may be dated incorrectly as some veterans think it was a 1948 issue, although it seems pretty clear from reading Chris Benjamin's guides that is came out in 1949. This ad does not give any further insight into that but it gives a pretty good look at what didn't sell through for Topps in '49.

Flip-o-Vision, which was a gimmick set of flip movies, had been beset with various licensing issues and may have been intentionally pulled from the market to avoid litigation. The Golden Coin set was probably just a poor seller as the coins are not around in any quantity today. Tatoo may have been overproduced as it seems to have sold well enough to be reissued and expanded in 1953 while Pixie, which held X-Ray Round-Up cards, was probably severely overproduced even after selling quite well. Likely a second run was printed after the first one sold like gangbusters. Multiple vending bricks of X-Ray Round-Up have been found after the fact so there was a bunch of unsold product out there for sure.

That leaves Varsity and with Bowman and Leaf having the NFL locked up in 1948/49 in a supposed deal that gave the former the 1948 season and the latter the '49, Topps was left with the less appealing college football market.

Given the scarcity today of the felt backs, it would seem even this attempt at an aboriginal fun pack met with limited success. I'd guess the remainder of the products intended to populate the unsold 100 count sample boxes were ultimately destroyed, possibly dumped in 1960 along with the 1952 baseball high numbers by Sy Berger himself.

Happy New Year folks!