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MC-L: When is the next auction from their collections scheduled?

AW: Our next premier auction will be in March. We are now deciding
what items will go in that sale. There is so much to choose from, along
with plenty that we are waiting to be returned from third-party graders,
so it is very much a work in progress. But suffice it to say that the non-
sport section of the auction will be another impressive round.

MC-L: Why is this type of ephemera so popular these days? Where’s the
interest coming from?

AW: Cards in general are one of the ultimate forms of nostalgia. Most
of us had some type of cards growing up, be it in the days of gum packs
or from the more modern era of trading card game cards. It is just such
an easy way to acclimate oneself into becoming a collector, whether
they realize it or not. Once you have a few cards you want more. Then
you want them all. Completing a set, finding a rare chase card, or what-
ever the scenario may be, the obsession becomes real once you start to
go down that road. They are also small and relatively easy to store, even
if you have a large collection. Interest in cards comes from those
reclaiming their youth, and the cards that might have been thrown
away, or the more modern collectors who are buying the new product
because it speaks and appeals to them. Over the years the term “gum
card” has morphed into “trading card” as the gum was dropped, and
the wax wrappers became foil packs.
MC-L: What’s the back story on these types of trading cards?

AW: Non-sport cards were issued in a variety of ways dating back to the
late 1800s, inserted in packs of cigarettes, issued with food products,
wrapped up with sticks of gum, included with toys, as panels of candy
boxes, and more. Once the concept took off and was a hit, there was no
shortage of ways these were issued, and consumers—both kids and
adults—were hooked and obsessed with completing a set. Over the last
century plus, non-sport cards have gone toe-to-toe with sports cards in
popularity and sales making them a ubiquitous product still found
today on store shelves and the like, just sans the white powder-covered
pink slabs of gum.

MC-L: Please share your thoughts about the November auction results
– what surprised you in terms of what sold and didn’t sell, and your
takeaways from the auction.

AW: Based on the scope and quality of what we offered this auction,
both from the pedigree collections and otherwise, I was expecting great Superman #1
results. I can say we delivered that on all fronts. The 1936 Strange True
Stories complete set, PSA graded, at $64,905 far exceeded our estimate
of $10-20K, but we were conservative with that. There was no real Auction Highlights
apples-to-apples comparison, and this set is just so difficult to find
single cards of, let alone a complete set with the wrapper and with five • A complete 1936 Wolverine Gum Strange True Stories gum card set,
cards being the highest in the PSA Census. This ended up being the top including “The Bat Man” PSA Graded with wrapper sold for
item in the entire auction of 1,909 lots, of which only about 75 were $64,905.90. The cards feature interesting art on the fronts and detailed
non-sports cards. The 1940 Superman card #1 PSA 6 EX-MINT was text on the back about the images shown along with the tagline, “True
next in line at $23,600. This has always been a coveted set among Stories From The Files Of One Of The World’s Greatest Collectors Of
non-sport collectors but over the Strange Tales.” While the back also
years has also appealed to sport notes the potential of 260 cards in
card collectors and more recently this series, ultimately only 24 were
comic book collectors. When you ever produced. The set deals with
have all of that cross-interest, the some truly strange and macabre
price we achieved is no surprise. subject matter. Card titles include
Another record price was for the “Drowned By A Giant Clam,” “In
1970 Hee Haw Topps test set. The Grip Of The Python,”
While that TV show may be a “Torture Of Galileo,” “Hari Kari,”
distant memory for many, it was “The Iron Maiden,” and
more about the rarity of these “Poisoned,” just to name a few.
cards, having never been put into The true highlight of the set, and a
mass production, which propelled highly sought-after card on several
this set to $22,066. These are the levels, is #24 “The Bat Man.” This
top three non-sport sales but across card came out a full three years
the board most lots hit or exceeded before the first appearance of the
our pre-auction estimates as collec- superhero Batman in Detective
tors turned out in big numbers Mars Attacks Comics #27, published in 1939.

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