1930s R311 National Chicle Premiums Set has Baseball and Football

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	R311 National Chicle Premiums
Year	1930s
Size	6″ x 8″
Images	Black and White
Type	Candy/Gum
Number in Set	60

1930s R311 National Chicle Overview

The R311 National Chicle Premium set, produced in the mid 1930s, included 6″ x 8″ photo cards of both baseball and football players. Both individual players and complete teams were available.

In all, there are three recognized sets/subsets here – the glossy baseball set, leather-like baseball set, and football set. The glossy photos are just as the name describes them with a shinier finish. Similarly, the leather-like set has a less glossy stock.

A total of 28 cards are in the glossy set while only 15 are in the leather-like baseball set. 17 cards are in the football subset.

The photographs are black and white and the backs are blank. The glossy baseball photos as well as the football photos were premiums that collectors could get in exchange for National Chicle wrappers (National Chicle football wrappers and National Chicle’s Diamond Stars baseball wrappers). While 15 baseball wrappers were needed for one baseball photo, 20 were needed to get a football photo.

While we know that National Chicle is responsible for the glossy baseball photos and the football photos, the leather R311s have the name “National Studios” on them. While they were catalogued as R311s by Jefferson Burdick in his American Card Catalog, it isn’t known if they were part of the Diamond Stars promotion or not.

Dating of the Sets and National Chicle Link

While the set is credited mostly as a 1936 issue, that is possibly incorrect for at least the baseball photos and the exact date of production isn’t entirely known. However, it is from the 1930s and the baseball series is known to be tied to the 1934-36 National Chicle Diamond Stars set. We can tie the two together because several of these premiums were mentioned on a salesman’s sample advertisement from 1935.

In addition to promoting the Diamond Stars set, the advertisement stated that seven of the premiums were distributed in each box of Diamond Stars. The advertisement also mentioned that retailers who sell the Diamond Stars cards would exchange these photos dubbed “The Most Famous Pictures in Baseball” for Diamond Stars coupons. A second ad found gives some clarification, stating that 15 Diamond Stars ‘wrappers’ were required to receive one of the photos and that collectors could redeem them in the store where sold. This was presumably a sign used as a display in the venue.

In addition to the seven mentioned (Bill Terry, Pie Traynor, Dizzy Dean, Mickey Cochrane, the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and St. Louis Cardinals), the advertisement also stated that new photos would be added every month. All mentioned were part of the glossy set. Also, another advertisement mentions Joe Cronin, the New York Yankees, and Earl Averill, as well as others from the first list.

Through this link, the set was likely issued in 1935 at the latest. The Diamond Stars set was printed from 1934 through 1936 so it is unknown if this same promotion was available in 1934. But it appears that at least some were issued before 1936. But further confusing the issue is that the team photos featured teams from different years – some 1934 and some 1935. Based on that and since the advertisement states that more would be released every month, it is possible (even likely) that these were printed in more than one year.

Baseball Checklist Complete at 43?

Currently, we know of 43 baseball photos in the glossy and leather sets. But the checklist may not yet be complete. Wrappers of Diamond Stars gum mentioning the promotion stated that 50 baseball pictures would be available with new ones issued every few days.

Further, while the 28 glossy images are part of this promotion, it isn’t guaranteed that the leather ones were. However, even if you count those, you still come up with only 43 total baseball photos. If the wrappers were correct in saying that 50 pictures would be offered, that means that seven more have yet to be discovered.