1921-22 E121 American Caramel Set

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	E121 American Caramel
Year	1921-22
Size	2″ x 3 1/4″
Images	Black and White
Type	Candy/Caramel
Number in Set	263

E121 American Caramel Overview

The 1921-22 E121 American Caramel set is actually two distinct sets. One is classified as a Set of 80 while the other is a Set of 120. The 80-card issue was created in 1921 while the 120-card set is from 1922.

While 200 cards are advertised, with pose variations, there are actually more than 250 different cards in the set.

As was the case from the E120 set, fronts include black and white images with the player’s name, position, and team. Backs were entirely different, though, depending on which set they were from. One stated they were part of a series of 80 cards while the other mentioned the 120-card set.

The backs also advertised that the cards were made only by the American Caramel Company in Lancaster and York, Pennsylvania.

E121 American Caramel and W575-1 Backs/Parallels

In addition to the standard American Caramel Company backs, this set was virtually reproduced to create the blank-backed W575-1 strip card set. The checklists are nearly identical.

On top of that, numerous advertisers used these same cards as indicated by their backs replacing the American Caramel reverse text. Known companies with back advertising include:

These backs utilize either the Set of 80 checklist, the Set of 120 checklist, or the W575-1 blank-backed checklist (the W575-1 set is basically the two sets put together with a few differences).

Here are pictures of all of the various backs mentioned above.

W501 Parallel and Poster Cuts

Finally, the cards found in the W501 set feature the same pictures/players found in E121 and W575-1 sets.

These cards are generally distinguishable by their presence of a small “G–4-22” that is often printed in the top border. There are other W501 cards found without that printing, though they are not recognized by most as W501 cards and instead are usually just classified as W575-1 cards.

Additionally, collectors should be aware that poster cuts of some sort exist for this set as well. Similar to the 19th Century album and poster cards for tobacco cards that exist, at some point, an advertising poster featuring these card is also known. Some of these cards are identifiable today by traces of black ink on them from letters, similar to the poster cuts for the N284 Buchner Gold Coin cards.

Collectors should note that not every poster cut card has black lettering such as this. A find of poster cut cards was made in 2017 and many in the group did not have the lettering as overprint ink had not appeared on them. Thus, it can be very difficult to distinguish between a hand cut E121 card and a card that was truly cut from the poster if it does not have the black overprint ink on it.

Here’s a bit more detail on the poster-cut cards.

E121 American Caramel Checklist

Two sets make up the E121 series. A set of 80 was created in 1921 and a set of 120 was created in 1922. Note that all cards below are not known with each of the various companies with advertising backs discussed above. For the most part, only a few cards for each of the various sets have been found to date and it is unknown how many of the cards in the checklists below (and the W575-1 set checklist) can be found with those various advertising backs listed above.

These are confirmed cards from PSA’s pop report.

Set of 80