1936-37 Goudey Wide Pen Premiums Set (R314)

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	R314 Goudey Wide Pen
Year	1936-37
Size	3 1/4″ x 5 1/2″
Images	Black and White
Type	Candy/Gum
Number in Set	168 (plus an additional 75 in Type 4 and 5 that I believe are V352)

R314 Goudey Wide Pen Overview

The R314 Goudey Wide Pens sets consisted of black and white premium photos with player names written in cursive.

For the first time in four years, Goudey chose to not publish a traditional baseball card set. Some collectors are hesitant to collect these. While often called cards, they are actually miniature photographs. Because they are categorized in the American Card Catalog, though, they are often pursued by card collectors. The photos are on a thinner paper stock and easily damaged.

Photos are similar to the National Chicle fine pens set but the names are written with a thicker pen (hence the name wide pens). Here are some differences between the two sets.

Five Types

Below is a short description of the five R314 Types as generally identified by collectors:

Type 1: Photos with a ‘Litho in USA’ printing in the white border – 120 cards
Type 2: Photos with the white borders but no ‘Litho in USA’ printing – 24 cards
Type 3: Photos with no borders – 24 cards
Type 4: Photos with a creamy border and no ‘Litho in USA’ printing (likely V352) – 36 cards
Type 5: Photos with a creamy border and only Canadian players (likely 352) – 39 cards

In all, approximately 250 photos exist among the five types. Photos were printed on a thinner paper stock and most have a slight gloss.

Types 1, 2, and 3 were printed in 1936 while Types 4 and 5 are from 1937.

V352 Confusion

A total of five total Types are generally classified with each including different players from various teams. However, that classification is incorrect as Type 4 and Type 5 likely belong with the V352 set as identified by Jefferson Burdick in his American Card Catalog.

It is believed that some of the photos could have been produced by the World Wide Gum Company since all (across the five types) did not have the Litho in USA tagline across the bottom that the Type 1 photos did. The World Wide Gum company is theorized as a potential distributor since they had printed the nearly identical cards from the 1933 and 1934 Goudey baseball card sets in Canada.

The V352s have what is described as a ‘creamy’ border that is more off-white in nature than the R314 Wide Pens.

Lloyd Waner Exception

One exception in the Type 1 set is known. While all of the photos have the ‘Litho in USA’ name, one does not. The photo of Hall of Famer Lloyd Waner is found with both the ‘Litho in USA’ label and without it.

The version without the ‘Litho in USA’ is generally believed to be rarer but it does not usually sell for a huge premium.