1921 W551 Strip Card Set and Checklist

Posted on October 5, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	W551 Strip
Year	1921
Size	1 3/8″ x 2 1/4″ (but varies by cut)
Images	Color
Type	Strip
Number in Set	40

W551 Strip Card Overview

The 1921 W551 strip card set is another multi-sport issue W-card release. A total of ten baseball players were included in the set that also features boxers, other sports, and movie stars.

Only ten cards of baseball players are in the 40-card multi-sport set. However, the small group of baseball players is star-studded and is led by Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Walter Johnson. Eight of the ten baseball players are members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Fronts included color images and player names and teams while the backs were blank.

In addition to the baseball players, there are some other coveted cards here as well. A few included boxer Jack Dempsey, tennis player Bill Tilden, and golfer Gene Sarazen.

One interesting note is that this set was also used by Wool’s American-Maid Bread, which printed or stamped their name on the backs. It is unknown how they distributed the cards but they carry more value than the regular blank-backed cards.

Rookie Cards

W551 Gene Sarazen Golf

W551 Strip Card Bill Tilden Tennis

The set is quietly a haven for some key rookie cards of athletes. Cards of Tilden and Sarazen, for example, are rookie cards that can go unnoticed by collectors that are not familiar with tennis and golf issues. The card of Sarazen, in particular, sells for more than many collectors would suspect.

Additionally, boxing Hall of Famer Mickey Walker’s rookie card is found here as are rookies of tennis Hall of Famers Suzanne Lenglen and Molla Mallory.

Jack Dempsey’s card is sometimes cited as a rookie card by collectors. The card is certainly one of Dempsey’s earliest issues but he has several other cards from 1919 and/or 1920.

Uncut Strips

The cards came in uncut strips of ten. They are not numbered but like sports were printed together. All ten of the baseball players, for example, were printed in one strip. Uncut strips today are relatively tough to find but do pop up from time to time. Additionally, you will sometimes see partial uncut strip cards consisting of two or more cards.

Collectors should be wary of the baseball ones in particular as they have been known to be faked. A two-card strip of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb are among those. On authentic ten-card strips of the baseball players, Ruth and Cobb were printed next to each other. So while uncut two-card strips of Ruth and Cobb are possible, the majority encountered are not real.