1919-21 H.A. Robinson / Robinson Cruso / Our Hero Peanuts Set and Checklist (W514)

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	H.A. Robinson / Robinson Cruso / Our Hero Peanuts W514 Strip
Year	1919-21
Size	Varies by Cut
Images	Color
Type	Food/Strip
Number in Set	120

H.A. Robinson / Robinson Cruso / Our Hero Peanuts (W514) Overview

Cicotte W514 The W514 strip card set is one of the more significant such issues. It includes almost all of the banned members of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox team, including would-be Hall of Famer Joe Jackson. The lone player not included is Fred McMullin.

While most of the W514 cards are found with blank backs, some feature an ad for H.A. Robinson Company, creating a similar but slightly different issue.

The cards were discovered by noted collector Bob Lemke and revealed on his blog in 2009. Since other copies had not surfaced, there was some initial skepticism about the legitimacy of these cards. Forgeries of other similar type cards (where collectors added stamps to the backs of issues in an effort to increase their value) were known and at the time, this was a new find to the hobby (at least new in the sense that it was not previously publicized). But a second has since surfaced, adding a little to the legitimacy.

It is not completely confirmed how those cards would have been distributed. However, an empty ‘Our Hero’ package was found and mentioned by Lemke in 2015 that mentions ‘a prize’ in each package. Cards could have been for prizes but until more definitive proof appears, the mode of distribution for these cards will not have been completely known.

The cards are the work of H.A. Robinson Company, a peanut manufacturer for their ‘Our Hero’ and ‘Robinson Cruso’ (sans ‘E’) brands of peanuts. On the blank-backed W514 cards, the company printed or stamped (appears to be printed) an advertisement for their packages of those peanuts, stating that each was five cents.

Back Variations

It should be noted that the known cards actually have slightly different backs with different fonts used.

It certainly does not mean they are not legitimate and other companies also used more than one type of back. However, the variances do need to be recorded.

The first discovery (featuring Eddie Cicotte) has a decidedly thicker font than the one in the Bill Killifer card seen here.
Very significant differences can be seen in the serif of the letters in the ‘5 CENTS’ wording.
Many of the lines of text do not match up exactly in the two versions.
The second period after the ‘A’ in H.A. Robinson is lower on the Cicotte card.
The spacing after the two horizontal lines is different. The lines ‘Try a Package’ and ‘H.A. Robinson’ are positioned lower on the Cicotte example.

H.A. Robinson / Robinson Cruso / Our Hero Peanuts (W514) Checklist

Since the H.A. Robinson cards are extremely rare, it is not known if every card in the 120-card W514 set can be found with these advertisements. The only known cards with this back are of Eddie Cicotte and Bill Killefer.

The full W514 checklist is below and these would be cards that could presumably have the H.A. Robinson ad on the back.