Bubble Gum Cards

BGC 022

“To know the HORRORS OF WAR is to want PEACE. This is one of a series of 240 True Stores of Modern Warfare. Save to get them all,” as published by Gum Inc. A fitting statement for a personal discovery in the bubble-gum history of trading cards. Originally released February 17, 1938 by the Philadelphia-based Gum Inc., The HORRORS OF WAR anti-war trading cards were manifested by J. Warren Bowman, the company’s then president. Bowman art directed horrific war accounts working closely with the George Moll advertising agency in Philadelphia. The HORRORS OF WAR is a large set -- 288 cards divided into two series. The original set has 240 cards that focus on the Spanish Civil War, Ethiopian War and the Chinese-Japanese War. 48 Cards came later as a supplemental release. Among these cards are three that show Adolf Hitler, the beginnings of WWII history. By May 9, 1938 Gum Inc. reported sales of 50 million packets. May 20, 1938 the Japanese government seized 500 boxes of the gum in Yokohama and protests to Washington that the cards depict “false scenes of Japanese cruelties in China.” J. Warren Bowman described, “That was a good joke on the Japanese,” announcing, “I am making $44,000 a week on these cards and predict I will sell 100 million packets by year end.” He was right.

BGC 022Each politically charged, often grotesque and violent card was meticulously detailed on the front with a simple hand ruled border with rounded corners. In compliment to the embattled scene on the front is an appropriately titled, numbered and historical account printed on the back of each card. Tiny-typography guides you through the fifteen-lines (or so) of detailed accounts chronicling the atrocities of a bloody offense/defense colorfully illustrated on the front. HORRORS OF WAR got an endorsement from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He allegedly used the cards to show people some of the horrific things that were happening overseas. At the time, America was still recovering from WWI and there was little support to get involved in the increasing unstable environment overseas. And while some politicians mocked Roosevelt, the attention helped push the set's popularity to new levels. 1938 Gum Inc. Horrors of War continues to resonate today. Cards continue to command strong prices, no matter the card's condition. Historians can look to the cards to debate their place as a propaganda tool and how they shaped sentiment among the young people and the general public. While there's much to debate about the set, its status as a premier set in the hobby isn't one of them. I have a near complete set

Price: $7000.00

BGC 021

43/72. “MAN’S PAST is stained with BLOOD; His FUTURE can be bright with PROMISE – if in the PRESENT he will wage PEACE.” Gee, now there’s a light and entertaining theme for a children’s bubble gum trading card series. Bowman Gum, naturally, was the company which produced it. The 72 cards chronicle the sum of mankind’s violent past and his potential for a violent future. The color artwork is so incredibly beautiful and detailed that each card is a miniature masterpiece, but such quality also had its “downside”. There is evidence that Bowman intended to produce as many as five series of “WILD MAN” cards (180 in all), but artwork and production costs were beginning to undermine the Bowman empire. Wild Man, sadly, was the last of the Bowman post-war sets to be produced in the grand tradition that its flamboyant owner had established in the halcyon days of Gum, Inc.

The first series of 36 cards was issued in the summer of 1950, right on the heels of the wildly successful “WILD WEST” set. A second run of 36 cards followed, but the market for the series was much softer than Bowman envisioned, and less of these cards were made. None of the Wild Man cards are easy to obtain, but the second series (37-72) is definitely harder to find. This collection contains 43/72 cards.

Price: $2000.00

WW 819

Complete set of 132 gum cards titled “War Gum”. This was the last great bubble gum card series to be issued in the U.S. before the war effort cut off all supplies of essential materials. Produced by Gum Inc’s. marvellous team J. Warren Bowman and George Moll, the 132 – card series began distribution in 1941 and continued well into 1942. This allowed the Gum Inc. art and writing teams to cover many of the current events of the war, to report the actions of the first American heroes, and to spotlight many Allied leaders as well. Compared to the “Horrors of War”, the artwork and write-ups of War Gum are far less graphic and concentrate not on enemy atrocities but on the bravery of Allied servicemen and leaders.

Price: $4500.00

BGC 020

Leaf Brands has a tradition of confusing collectors by skip-numbering their card sets, and this series of “CARDO TRADING CARDS” is a case in point. It was originally thought that the set total was 30 cards, six in each category. We now realize that none of the subgroups has the same number of cards, and none have a straight run of numbers. By 1983, we had assembled a checklist of 66 titles, and no new ones have been discovered since that time. The obverses of the cards have multi-color artwork drawings in the center, with four monochrome designs in each of the wide side margins. The size of the artwork on the card seems to vary by sub-group, and also within some of the subgroups; in all cases, the card title is printed directly underneath the picture. The blue print backs bear the series name, subgroup name, card number and text. The symbols in the vertical panel under the card number are not explained by anything written on the card, and we can only assume that there was additional information included with the cards. The corners are rounded in playing card style. The manner in which these cards were packaged is unknown at this time. This collection contains 54/66 cards.

Price: $990.00

WW 818

Complete set of 96 gum cards titled “Uncle Sam”. Issued by Gum Inc. of Philadelphia in 1941, it depicts four military branches of service: Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Because the series was distributed before direct U.S. involvement in WW2, the focus of the set was directed to U.S. preparedness for hostilities, and it is devoid of the vivid and horrifying details of the overseas warfare which was already taking place. “Uncle Sam” seems bland to many collectors compared to “Horrors of War” and “War Gum” and is generally in less demand than those two sets. The color artwork of cards 1-96, minus numbers 31 and 34, were reproduced in two small-sized books entitled “America’s Army” and “America’s Navy” (Rand McNally 1942). Some of the cards were also illustrated in a Planter’s Peanuts premium booklet distributed in the same time period. It also appears that all 96 cards were printed on two paper sheets, possibly to hang as advertising in store windows or to hand out as premiums. KH

Price: $3000.00

BGC 019

The “I’M GOING TO BE” series of 25 cards was a Schutter-Johnson product issued in a one-cent wax paper candy pack. The color artwork cards depict people of different vocations in the foreground, with background scenes related to each specific job. A blue frame line and white borders surround the picture. The back has a snappy description of the subject and also bears the card number. Backs also carry advertising for various premiums offered to anyone completing a set. This was made virtually impossible since card No. 4 was distributed on an extremely limited basis. Winners had their sets returned to them with the scarce card hole-punched and stamped “VOID”. This collection contains 24/25 cards, missing the scarce No. 4 card.

Price: $900.00

BGC 018

Although a line on some of National Chicle’s “SKY BIRDS” cards advertise “a series of 144”, there were only 108 titles issued. The subjects are famous pilots and airplanes; cards 1-24 are dated 1933 and cards 25-108 are dated 1934. In recent times, collectors have noted print variations on back which suggest that the series may have been reissued and this is currently being studied. Artwork variations have also been reported. This collection contains 72/108 cards.

Price: $2500.00

BGC 016

The anonymous strip card series titled “THE NIGHTMARE OF WARFARE” was a copycat version of Gum, Inc.’s more elaborate “HORRORS OF WAR” set. The design and coloration of the cards and the intentional pirating of titles and text from a competitor all point to the W.S. Corporation as the producer. The artwork is limited to black silhouettes set against yellow backgrounds, with an occasional red accent thrown in. The vertically-aligned backs have the set title, card number, a “series of 48” line, card title, and text – all printed in black ink on gray stock. Since these are strip cards, one or two edges on all cards will be rouletted. Complete set of 48.

Price: $1800.00

BGC 013

If you believe the advertising found on the 5-cnt wrapper, “FREEDOMS WAR” was “The most complete set of military cards ever published.” Perhaps not the BEST as fans of “Horrors of War” and “War Gum” would argue, but surely the most comprehensive in terms of scope. After all, the set included Korean War scenes, combat training, military insignia, weapons, medals, generals, airplanes, ships and even a set of die cut tanks which could be made into stand-up toys. Topps used both color artwork and color photographs in making up the set. As the wrapper said, this was “A prize collection for the Sons and Daughters of Freedom.” Freedom’s War was distributed in three printings over a two-year period that began in the summer of 1950. These three “waves” of cards were separate from each other in a number of details, yet close enough time-wise to have been confusing to collectors then and now. Some collectors have speculated that the captions were left off cards 1-103 of the first print run in error. It is more likely that they were added as a “design element” improvement to make succeeding cards more visually attractive and interesting. At any rate, it appears that the entire series was released another time in one-cent and five-cent packages, and this time ALL the cards, with the exception of the tanks (97-103), came with captions on the fronts. We must assume that there were mechanical difficulties in producing the tanks because they are the scarcest cards in the set, and they were eliminated from the third and final printing which followed. I have 83/203 cards.

Price: $1500.00

BGC 012

Cards if the “FIGHTING MARINES” series issued by Topps in 1953 have smooth edges on all sides if issued singly, or four separation “nubs” on the right or left edge if distributed in panels. The set is a mixture of color photographs and multi-color artwork; the photos show Marines in training and their equipment, while the artwork depicts famous moments in Marine Corps history and Corps’ uniforms the American Revolution to the Korean conflict. The card fronts were given a patriotic air by the use of red and blue frame lines on the white background of the borders. Cards 44, 74 and 96 seem to be scarcer than any others in the set. This collections has 76/96 cards.

Price: $2300.00