1921/1922 Lou Gertenrich Candy Set

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Lou Gertenrich Candy
Year	1921/1922
Size	2″ x 3 1/4″
Images	Black and White
Type	Candy/Caramel
Number in Set	Unknown

Gertenrich Candy Overview

Gertenrich Candy cards are one of the many sets that utilized the design/checklist from the popular W575-1 strip card set and/or E121 American Caramel set. The cards are feature a black and white player image along with his name, position, and team at the bottom. These cards are recognized as both a 1921 issue or a 1922 issue by different collectors.

Backs of the cards is what distinguishes these from other W575-1 and E121 card issues.

The back of these cards includes a large advertisement for the Lou Gertenrich Candy Company. A picture of a baseball scene is displayed with a closeup of a player shown off to the left. The bottom of the back states that the company is ‘The Baseball Player Candy Manufacturer.’

For a long time, the player was just considered to be a generic one. He was shown with a blurred out name on his jersey, so it seemed likely that it was not a known person. But the image is actually of Gertenrich himself. Among the known W575-1 and E121 advertiser-backed cards, this is the only one with any sort of a baseball picture. Gertenrich himself was an actual player but only appeared in three major league games.

One unique aspect is that many of these cards have been found with paper loss on them. It seems possible that they were pasted into scrapbooks and later removed.

Gertenrich Candy Checklist

Not many Gertenrich Candy cards have been found to date. In addition, a complete W575-1 checklist has never been fully confirmed. That checklist, however, lines up closely with the E121 American Caramel checklist. For that reason, I have listed that checklist below and these would seem to be potential cards that could have a Gertenrich Candy back.

W575-1 Part One (E121 Set of 80 cards)