1935 R89 Gum, Inc. Mickey Mouse Set and Checklist

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	R89 Gum, Inc. Mickey Mouse
Year	1935
Size	2 1/2″ x 3 1//8″
Images	Color
Type	Gum/Candy
Number in Set	96

1935 R89 Gum, Inc. Mickey Mouse Overview

R89 Mickey Mouse Hockey Skater The R89 Gum, Inc. issue was a set of gum cards featuring Mickey Mouse. While the set is desirable among non-sports collectors, there isn’t much to see here in the way of sports. One card, however, does feature Mickey playing a game of hockey. The cards were split into two series – Series 1 included cards 1-48 with Series 2 featuring cards 49-96.

Card No. 81 features Mickey with a hockey stick, skates, and a puck. With only skates, there would be less desire for this card. However, the presence of the hockey stick and puck make it a hockey issue and more collectible among sports fans.

The card, as others in the set do, includes a pun. Minnie Mouse is off to the side saying, ‘Isn’t he a Nice Skater?’ Mickey responds by telling her he is an ‘Ice Skater.’

Two types of the R89 cards exist. Cards No. 1-24 have both variations. One variation has the answer to a question on the same card. The other type has the answer to a question found on a different card. All cards in the set have that version available but only card numbers 1-24 have the first type, too. The cards had a brief description on the back and also stated they were in Philadelphia.

In addition to the variation mentioned above, a Canadian set was also produced by O-Pee-Chee. The cards utilize the same pictures, descriptions, and card numbers. The only difference is that the Canadian cards state they were printed by O-Pee-Chee on the reverse. That set is known as the V303 O-Pee-Chee Mickey Mouse issue.

In addition to the hockey card, at least one golf card is known as well. Mickey and Minnie are featured as golfers with a caption, “Striking fellow, isn’t he?”

Albums and a note on Hal Horne

In addition to the cards, Gum, Inc. also produced two albums for collectors. Collectors could then affix their cards to the albums. Two albums were created because one was for Series 1 cards while the other was for Series 2.

A place was reserved for each card and they also included captions with questions and then directed collectors to specific cards to find the answer. Placeholders for three cards were included on each page.

The albums were copyrighted by Walt Disney on the front and stated that ‘gags’ were courtesy of Hal Horne. Horne’s name is not familiar to most collectors or probably even many Disney enthusiasts. But he was the writer of numerous jokes (i.e. gags) for Disney. He actually sold an entire library of jokes to Disney in 1936, the year after this set was produced.