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!

Who's Minding The Mint?

Time to gas up the Mystery Machine and get the Scooby snacks handy folks, as we search today for an answer to an age old question. (NOTE-this post has been updated twice from the original posting due to a combination of new information and really bad editing on my part. 8/11/09)

As you will no doubt recall, Topps issued a wrapper set in 1949 and '56 called It Happened To A President which was the interior wrapper of an issue entitled Golden Coin. Here's a '56 box with a mix of packs inside, the one third from the left is from '49:


(From the collection of Jeff Shepherd)

Within you would find one from a set of presidential coins, 32 in number and made of metal.



The reverse had some text:



Now presidential math is always a little tricky but with the Grover Cleveland kangaroo jump 33 presidents yielded 32 slots in the album if you're scoring at home and I'd wager when Ike was added the slots were upped by one to 33, even though he was president number 34. Keep this in mind as we look for clues below. Bear in mind though that there was also a coin minted of the U.S. Capitol, although there is no spot in the album for it.

The original album was a Bazooka premium and you could mail away for it:


(From the collection of Jeff Shepherd)

The bottom items are from a '49 pack. The coin itself was housed in the paper sleeve with the red printing which has the address to mail away for the album. The album looked like this close up:





In 1956 a Canadian version of the set was issued via O-Pee-Chee that upped the presidential coin count to 33 and increased their size slightly (still around the size of a quarter). The fronts have changed a bit if these are indeed the Canadian coins (UPDATE Aug 10th-these are likely NOT the 56's. See some details here on Net54) and they are actually made of plastic:



The backs changed too, although to a lesser degree:


(Both scans from the old Net54 ID of MarquisofCards)

Gotta love the original cello wraps! I doubt the '49 coins were entombed this way, I think this type of cello technology came a couple of years later. In 1956 the inner folder looked a little different up North:


(From the collection of Todd Riley)

The back goes through Eisenhower:


(From Sport Americana Price Guide to the Non-Sports Cards 1930-1960, 2nd ed, Edgewater Book Company, 1993-Copyright by Christopher Benjamin)

Sorry for the b&w scan there kids! I don't think an album was issued for the OPC set in '56, by the way since there is no mail in offer on the folder.

Here is where the mystery lies though. There is supposedly no US counterpart to the '56 coins but what then, do we make of these?



(Anonymous e-mail post)

I still find it hard to believe no US version exists, perhaps it was abandoned and rejiggered for the Canadian market but what of the above coins then? There is some evidence too the Golden Coins were also issued as gas station premiums in the 50's and early 60's so Topps may have just licensed from another source the coins originally and there is more to this set than can be discerned here.

The Net54 link above has some scans from Jeff Shepherd you can look at, including a trade ad for the 1949 edition.

Foiled Again

Well, pursuant to my last post, I have not had any luck tracking down a 1949 Topps Golden Coin yet but I did manage to obtain the reissued It Happened To A President Wrapper from Topps Canadian partner O-Pee-Chee. For some bizarre reason, the 1956 US presidential election was thought to be a good topic for a Canadian bubble gum set. Why? I have no idea.

As you will see below the Golden Coin wrapper issued by OPC was similar to the Topps issue seven years earlier. There are some differences though.

The OPC wrapper itself is taller (in the front orientation) and measures almost 5 inches. In addition the 1789 and 1949 dates have been obliterated and replaced by the price in the upper left and right lozenges. The "33"(representing the number of presidents through Truman) on the bottom lozenges have been replaced by an eagle motif.

Here is the 1949 Topps:



And the '56 OPC:



Notice too the "signature" of Topps Chewing Gum remains intact.

The comics in 1956 had a red coloring added to them:



It didn't make the set any less goofy but the coloring gives it a little fresher look than plain old sepia would have.

Foiled!

Once again we take the WABAC machine to 1949, a favorite place of mine, to explore the three wrapper interior sets Topps issued sixty years ago.

I have already extolled the virtues of the Willard Mullin Spalding Sports Show wrappers previously but fear not, intrepid reader, there are more wonders to be seen. To refresh your memory, the set designated R414-1 by Jefferson Burdick looked like this:





The Atom Gum wrapper would be seen again, namely backstopping a hard to find set called Famous Events (R711-4).



This set potentially features at least 365 wrapper interiors but it's anyone's guess how many were actually issued. Friend O' The Archives Jeff Shepherd has told me that there is at least one date with two events, so it's a mystery altho' Jeff is trying to track them all down. The horoscope-like sayings are a bit odd methinks.

The exterior wrapper looks identical to the one used for Mullin's cartoons and I'm only showing it because it's clearer than the other scan:



If you had a nickel to spend, Topps had a big bar of bubble gum for you, plus a bizarrely narrated set entitled It Happened To A President (seriously, check out the stuff these guys are saying !) and sporting an ACC number of R711-5.



Presumably the set goes all the way up to President Truman. Here is the outer wrapper, quite gorgeous isn't it?



The Golden Coin wrapper is over 6 1/4" x 4 1/2" in size, so that must have been one whopping piece of bubble gum in there! The coins are described in various references as being made of a bronze colored plastic and there is a relationship to a premium set of metal coins (also called Golden Coin) given away by gas stations and who knows what other establishments in the 40's and 50's. The coins (both types) and presumably the wrapper interiors were updated for the 1956 election when O-Pee-Chee reissued It Happened To A President, with a distinct red tint, in Canada of all places.

I'm working on getting scans up of the coins and the OPC wrapper (hopefully) soon, watch this space!