1931 Swedish Kanolds Kick-Mint Set and Checklist

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Swedish Kanolds Kick-Mint
Year	1931
Size	1 1/4″ x 2″
Images	Black and White
Type	Gum/Candy
Number in Set	Unknown

1931 Swedish Kanolds Kick-Mint Overview

1931 Swedish Kanolds Kick-Mint Back This unique set was produced in Sweden by Kanolds. The cards are extremely rare and included a number of different athletes.

Of most interest are two cards featuring football star Jim Thorpe. Thorpe is featured in the set as a track and field star before he became famous in professional football.

The cards are small and measure only about 1 1/4″ wide by 2″ tall, making them even smaller than the standard-sized tobacco and caramel cards of the early 1900s. The cards included a black and white image of an athlete and a white border at the bottom included a name and a card number as well as a brief description.

The cards are referred to as Kick-Mint cards, presumably distributed with a mint product (Kanolds did produce mints, among other products). The backs of the cards vary, however, with different messages on them.

Before Thorpe became a famous professional football and baseball player, he starred in the 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.

The 1912 Olympics were hosted by Sweden, who captured the most total medals. The United States was second in total medals and finished first in gold medals with 25 (two won by Thorpe).

The medals won by Thorpe were quite valuable. They were made of solid gold, which was the final year that happened.