1925-31 W590 Strip Card Set

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	W590 Strip
Year	1925-31
Size	1 3/8″ x 2 1/2″ (but varies by cut)
Images	Black and White
Type	Strip
Number in Set	95 (?)

W590 Strip Card Overview

The W590 strip card set includes black and white images with player names, teams, and positions at the bottom. As is the case with most strip cards, the backs are blank.

The issue is part of a multi-sport set that includes other athletes as well as some movie stars. Other sports included are football, boxing, tennis, wrestling, and golf, among others. A few football players are known to be in the set, including the legendary Red Grange.

Collectors are most inclined to focus on the baseball players and the Grange card. But also of note also is that some rookie cards are in this issue. One is golf Hall of Famer Walter Hagen and his card is highly desirable among collectors.

Regarding the boxing cards, collectors should be aware that they are somewhat similar in nature to the W580 strip card set. It should also be noted that the boxing cards (and possibly others) do not have the narrow borders on the left and right that the baseball cards do.

In addition to the athletes, a few non-athletes are in the set, including some former First Ladies. New variations have been discovered as recently as a few years ago, so the baseball checklist may not yet be complete.

The printing layout on these cards is not fully known. But today, you can sometimes find them in strips of five, ten, or in a five-card by five-card sheet. While the pictures and design are fine, the set contains all sorts of typographical errors.

Several Variations

Numerous variations exists. Some cards state the player’s position and then have ‘former’ added (i.e. ‘former right fielder’) as a variation.

In addition, some players that changed franchises have different team variations with their new team. Others represent athletes in individual sports, such as tennis and boxing, that were champions and former champions. The variations help tell the story of what years these were printed. These cards were printed in 1925 with an additional printing or two until 1931.

In addition to these types of variations, the fonts on the cards is known to vary. Some are darker and others, lighter.

Numbers on Sides

In addition to the variations, the set includes another quirk with some odd numbers being printed on the sides of a few cards. The numbers are sometimes confused as card numbers but that is incorrect.

As seen here in these uncut sheets, the numbers on the sides actually are found only on cards at the left edge of an uncut strip.

In addition, the numbers were likely not intended to be left when a card was cut or torn off. So even if a card, such as the George Kelly one here, had a number next to his name, there was still a good chance it would not have been left by the time it reached a consumer. As I mentioned above, borders were cut pretty short on the left and right so the numbers were usually removed.

As a result, finding cards with numbers printed on the sides are much harder.

Here’s a much deeper look at this topic with information about which card have the numbering, etc.

W590 Strip Card Checklist

Note that this checklist does not include the numerous text variations that exist. In addition, all cards below are baseball unless otherwise noted. New cards are still being added to this set so, while a fairly comprehensive list, others may exist.