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Auctionbytes-Update, Number 13 - May 06, 2000 - ISSN 1528-6703
Collector's Corner
1) Baseball Cards: Gum Cards - Part II
By Wayne Tuiskula
My last column focused on early tobacco baseball cards. (See Issue #8 http://www.auctionbytes.com/Email_Newsletter/Email_Archives/22000e.html#CC)
Baseball cards continued to be produced by tobacco companies through the 1920's. There were other cards produced as well. Cracker Jack produced a set of cards in 1914-1915. Postcard-sized cards called Exhibit Cards pictured baseball players along with other sports personalities, cowboys, actors, etc. Strips of cards (strip cards) were sold in sheets that pictured baseball players. Candy companies also produced cards.
It was in the 1930's when bubble gum manufacturers began including baseball cards in a package with gum. These cards depicted colorful drawings or paintings of this era's players. Cards continued to be produced through the 30's and early 40's. Production halted during World War II. After the war, companies like Bowman and Leaf began to produce cards. In 1951, Topps (also the maker's of Bazooka Bubble Gum) entered the market. Later in the 1950's, player's color photographs were first produced on baseball cards.
Topps eventually become the industry leader in baseball cards and produced cards for many years with little competition. Topps continues to produce cards today, but baseball cards have now become big business, and the competition is intense.
2) SciFi: Star Trek/Star Wars - Part II
By Michele Alice
Continuing my mission to seek out new links and more info concerning Star Trek and other sci-fi collectibles, I logged on to another site that had been suggested by the customer-service people at Playmatestoys.com (see Part I in AuctionBytes-Update #11). This site, http://www.toymania.com, is GREAT! Its primary focus is on action figures of every sort from Star Trek to Star Wars to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it offers a wealth of nformation for the serious collector.
When I visited Toy Mania, their "News" section had articles ranging from coverage of Toy Fair 2000 to unlicensed figures turning up from Asia to another story detailing the Hallmark releases for the year (check out http://www.hallmark.com to view the complete list).
Go to "Resources" and you'll find definitions and a grading guide for carded action figures and helpful hints for buying and maintaining your collection in mint condition. For example, they suggest using Goo Gone (carefully!) to remove those pesky price labels, and Future Acrylic Floor Wax to brighten up those dull, scratched plastic "bubbles" on carded figures (though they warned that they were unsure of long-term effects).
Going to "Links" took me to Toy Mania's "Internet Off-White Toy Pages" featuring what may be one of the largest collections of toy-related sites on the Internet. Using a color-coded system, it lists over 500 fan, industry, and sales pages. For example, go to the S's and you'll find that Star Trek and Star Wars. Each has its own sub-page.
I decided to try a few of Toy Mania's links to see what I could come up with. Clicking on http://starwars.hasbro.com took me to the official Star Wars action figure site where I found, under "Questions", that Hasbro was not able "to respond to questions regarding information on dates of manufacture, developers, where to find older items, etc." They DID recommend, though, checking such monthly publications as Hot Toys, Lee's Action Figure News & Toy Review, Tomart's Action Figure Digest, ToyFare: The Toy Magazine, and White's Guide to Collecting for product profiles and in-depth information.
I next tried a site called Seventies SciFi Toys (http://pages.map.com/starwars/70stoys) which was actually mostly about Star Wars. In fact, their Star Wars Toy Resource Page comprises a universe of information for Star Wars collectors. They covered everything from terms and abbreviations to an explanation of the C-1 to C-10 scale. They listed numerous sources of information, such as Tomart's Price Guide to Worldwide Star Wars Collectibles (S. Sansweet and T.N.Tumbusch), which they called THE guide for the serious collector. They even detailed a scam perpetrated on the rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting and rec.toys.misc newsgroups!
Now, I am not a big fan of Star Wars, but it was the SW Toy Resource Page nk to another site, The Star War's Collector's Archive (http://toysrgus.com) that really impressed me. The Collector's Archive not only showcased the most comprehensive collection of Star Wars memorabilia--including prototypes, non-produced toys, bootlegs toys, and fakes-that I have ever seen, but they also listed patents, toy fair and dealer catalogs, cereal box and store display checklists, weapons charts, etc. They even provided an address list for autographs and pics!!! In addition, there was information of a more general nature, such as an article on methods of storing carded action figures to prevent the deterioration of their plastic bubbles (try comic-book bags!).
Next time: Battlestar Gallactica!
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