1896 PE7-2 American Pepsin Gum/Whitehead Hoag Athlete Pins Set and Checklist
It’s In The Details’
| Title | PE7-2 American Pepsin Gum/Whitehead Hoag Athlete |
| Year | 1896 |
| Size | 7/8″ diameter |
| Images | Sepia |
| Type | Pins |
| Number in Set |
Unknown |
1896 PE7-2 American Pepsin Gum/Whitehead Hoag Athlete Pins Overview
Produced in 1896, the PE7-2 Cameo Pepsin Gum pins are among the oldest known when it comes to baseball issues. They are classified as PE7-2 by Jefferson Burdick in the American Card Catalog as they were a pin issue but one that was also distributed with a candy product (hence the ‘E’ in the PE designation).
The PE7-2 issue is actually only a small subset of the PE7 pins. Burdick put 24 different subsets into the PE7 series and PE7-2 and PE7-24 (Yacht Cup winners) are the only ones that includes athletes. Other subsets include a variety of non-sports issues such as celebrities, Presidents, state maps and seals, flags, etc.
The pins have a sepia tone and feature a portrait of a player on the front along with his name. In addition to baseball, boxing is another sport featured in the set. The backs state that the pins are made by The Whitehead & Hoag Company in Newark. This set was referred to as the American Pepsin Gum series by Burdick but is also known today as the Whitehead & Hoag set.
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