1937 Mayfair Candies Touchdown 100 Yards Set (R343)

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	R343 Mayfair Candies Touchdown 100 Yards
Year	1937
Size	1 3/4″ x 2 3/4″
Images	Color
Type	Candy/Gum
Number in Set	24

1937 R343 Mayfair Candies Touchdown 100 Yards Overview

These unique cards featured color scenes of football games and players. Produced in 1937, it was catalogued as R343 Mayfair Candies by Jefferson Burdick in his American Card Catalog. Burdick’s description also calls it the ‘Touchdown 100 Yards’ set.

The cards are the work of Mayfair Candies, a company based in New York City. While most of the players in the set are not identified, Hall of Famer Red Grange is depicted on one.

All of the cards have a horizontal layout except for two which are printed vertically. The cards have a perforated edge to them on two sides (the long edge).

The cards are rare and to date, PSA has graded only a few of these cards.

Redemption Offer

Backs of the cards described a particular football scene. The set gets its ‘Touchdown 100 Yards’ name from a special promotion run by Mayfair Candies.

Each card had a particular yardage value on it as well as a description of a play. Collectors of the set had to gather cards that had descriptions adding up to 100 yards to redeem them for a football. In addition to the cards, the collector was also required to send ten cents to help with the postage for the cost of receiving the football.

Collectors were to send their cards and money to Mayfair Candies at 609 West 51st Street in New York City. Those offices were located just off the Hudson River and in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Constructed in 1924, the building itself would have been fairly new at the time it was occupied by Mayfair. The redemption offer expired on February 15 of 1938.

The redemption offer, if the cards were not returned, could help explain the rarity for this set.

Red Grange

As mentioned earlier, Football Hall of Famer Red Grange is found in this set. It is clearly the most desirable card in the issue not only because other players are not identified on other cards, but because Grange is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time.