1938 Sawyer Biscuit Cabinets Set and Checklist

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Sawyer Biscuit Cabinets
Year	1938
Size	4 1/2″ x 5 3/4″
Images	Sepia
Type	Bakery
Number in Set	52

1938 Sawyer Biscuit Overview

The 1938 Sawyer Biscuit set is a collection of small photographs mounted to a red cardboard frame. While the issue is referred to as the Sawyer Biscuit cabinets (named after the company), they were actually part of a promotion for the company’s Sawyer Butter Cookies products.

Pictures of the players were sepia-toned and included his name at the bottom. The photo was affixed to the frame, which had a backing, which popped out to allow it to stand up for display.

The pictures and frames were premium items that were sent to collectors in exchange for a coupon as well as ten cents. The set was part of a local promotion, however, and only included Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox players.

When redeemed, collectors received a letter from the Sawyer Biscuit Company with their cabinet photo. In it, they were encouraged to send more coupons and money to the company at their address (1041 West Harrison Street in Chicago). Sawyer Biscuit also stated fans had numerous options for displaying the photos. They could be stood up on a desk, hung on the wall, or removed from the frame and placed in an album. Finally, in a P.S., the company mentioned two more of their products – Sawyer’s Energized Honey Flavored Graham Crackers and Sawyer’s Saltine Crackers.

Sawyer Biscuit also returned in 1950 with another baseball issue – an 8X10 set of photographs of the Indianapolis Indians.

New Unchecklisted Additions

Roy Johnson 1938 Sawyer Biscuit Cabinet A previously unchecklisted Roy Johnson (Cubs) was found in 2017. Here’s a bit more on that discovery.

Three more previously unchecklisted photos were discovered by a collector in 2019 and first mentioned on my site here. Added to the checklist were Newell Kimball, Sugar Cain, and Red Corriden.

In addition, the aforementioned letter sent to collectors was signed by broadcaster Bob Elson. Interestingly enough, when selecting which photo they wanted, he was also an option, as mentioned in the letter. The most interesting subject, however, was someone named ‘Babs.’ Collectors could receive a photo of one of the players, Elson, or ‘Babs’ as indicated in the letter. For a while his/her identity was not known to collectors. However, I have since discovered it was Dolores Gillen – one of his broadcasting partners.

I have not yet seen a Gillen photo and until one surfaces, it will probably not be recognized by most as an official checklisted item. But it should be assumed that it does exist since it was listed as one of the images offered. For that reason, I have listed it as a checklisted item below.

While the checklist is filling out, there are still several potential cards to be discovered. Some of the most likely candidates were outlined in a separate article here.

1938 Sawyer Biscuit Checklist

The list below is the combined checklist of players available from both the Cubs and White Sox, as well as the two broadcasters. As indicated above, while Gillen’s photo was an option, one has not been seen to date.