Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

1939 Ross Jewelry Washington Redskins Overview

In 1939, a local jewelry business featured members of the Washington Redskins on matchbooks to promote their company.

Ross Jewelry distributed a set of 20 matchbooks, each featuring a different Washington Redskins player. Each matchbook included a black and white image of a player, some personal information, and a replica signature.

The matchbooks state that there are 20 ‘autographed pictures’ in the set and that they are compliments of the jeweler. The other side of the matchbook included the team’s 1939 home schedule, making it easy to date these. The schedule and printing was done in red.

On a scale of rarity, these are not impossible to find but more difficult to locate than the popular Diamond Matchbooks of the 1930s, which were mass produced. These were a very regional issue and, as a result, not as many were produced.

The set must have been a popular one. Ross Jewelry continued to distribute more of these types of sets into the 1940s.

Here are pictures of the entire set.

1939 Ross Jewelry Washington Redskins Checklist

1. Jim Barber
2. Sammy Baugh
3. Hal Bradley
4. Vic Carroll
5. Bud Erickson
6. Andy Farkas
7. Frank Filchock
8. Ray Flaherty
9. Don Irwin
10. Ed Justice
11. Jim Karcher
12. Max Krause
13. Charlie Maloe
14. Rob Masterson
15. Wayne Millner
16. Mickey Parks
17. Erny Pinckert
18. Steve Slivinski
19. Clem Stralka
20. Jay Turner