Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Jim Thorpe Battling with Buffalo Bill Strip Cards
Year	1930s
Size	1 5/8″ x 2 1/4″
Images	Various
Type	Strip
Number in Set	Unknown

1930s Jim Thorpe Battling with Buffalo Bill Strip Cards Overview

Most collectors know Jim Thorpe as a legendary football player. But after his playing days, he also spent quite a bit of time as an actor. He was 1/2 Native American and often appeared as an Indian, as he did here.

Thorpe was included twice in a postcard set featuring other actors – Sterling Sports Auctions says it was produced in 1931. The pictures are said to be from the 1931 movie, Battling with Buffalo Bill.

One of the postcards featured Thorpe with a headdress and was the same image used to create a strip card shown here. That 1931 date would appear to be the likely year this card was produced.

At least one additional strip card featuring Thorpe in the movie is known. A red-tinted card (also here) featuring Thorpe with Tom Tyler was also produced. This one has a horizontal layout as opposed to the vertical card with Thorpe wearing a headdress. This is also likely a 1931 issue.

Both cards are typical strip issues. They were produced on a lesser quality paper stock and are hand-cut, often with uneven edges. The dotted line shown here in the headdress card was to aid collectors and vendors distributing them in the cutting process.

Thorpe was famous also for being a gold medalist in the 1912 Olympics. Thorpe would win gold medals in both the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon. Those medals were later stripped from him after it had been deemed he played semi-professional baseball (professional athletes could not participate in the athletics) but the medals were later restored in 1983.

1930s Jim Thorpe Battling with Buffalo Bill Strip Cards Checklist

It is unknown if these cards are standalone issues or part of a set, similar to the Exhibit postcards.

Follow Pre-War Cards on Twitter and also be sure to like our page on Facebook.