1919 Great Allentown Fair Baseball Stamp Set and Checklist

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

It’s In The Details’

Title	Great Allentown Fair Baseball Stamps
Year	1919
Size
Images	Color
Type	Stamps
Number in Set	4 (?)

1919 Great Allentown Fair Baseball Stamp Overview

1919 Allentown Fair Stamp These stamps served as an advertisement of sorts for the Great Allentown Fair in Allentown, Pennsylvania. A woman is featured in the series that spanned more than one year.

The baseball stamp is of most importance. The woman sitting in a tree is featured prominently on the stamp but the interesting part for collectors is the baseball scene in the background. Teams appear to be playing in front of an empty or sparse crowd inside of a stadium. The stamp is not terribly easy to find and is usually in the $15-$25 range. in addition to the stamps, the fair was advertised on other types of ephemera, including postcards.

The baseball stamp promoted the fair, which was to last for nearly a week from September 22nd to 27th in 1919, the year this would have been issued. The fair is one of the largest in Pennsylvania and has been operating since 1852. It still operates to this day every fall.

The scene on the baseball stamp is somewhat similar to the ‘Everybody’s Rooting For’ trade cards. Those featured a dressed up woman sitting (on a fence instead of in a tree) just outside a stadium with a baseball scene behind her.

Other Allentown Fair Stamps

While the baseball stamp is the most popular, other stamps were created for the Allentown Fair in different years.

Another similar stamp is in the set with horse racing in the background. A third includes a woman sitting on top of a globe. A fourth features a woman sitting atop luggage waiting for a train. The baseball stamp is from 1919 but others are from 1916 and there could be others from different years as well. To date, I have only encountered the four in the checklist below.