W-UNC Universal Novelty Strip Cards Set and Checklist

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‘It’s In The Details’

Title W-UNC Universal Toy and Novelty Strip Cards
Year Unknown
Size Varies by Cut
Images Color
Type Strip
Number in Set
 Varies by Set

W-UNC Universal Toy and Novelty Strip Cards Overview

Universal Toy and Novelty created an assortment of products, including small boxes filled with all sorts of novelty items. In some of those boxes, it is believed they issued small panels of baseball cards and boxing cards.

These cards are not listed in the American Card Catalog. Thus, they are considered to be W-UNC cards, as they were not cataloged.

Technically, they have never been truly confirmed to be Universal Toy and Novelty cards. They do not bear the name of that company on them. But some have been cited to have been found in one of the company’s box and today, they are largely identified as Universal Toy and Novelty cards.

A few different types of these cards exist:

  • Baseball Action Shots
  • Baseball Portraits
  • Boxers

Because the portraits are so different from the action shots, I would not necessarily lump those together as one set. In fact, grouping the action cards with the boxers makes more sense, as those have a similar look. Also differentiating the cards is that a panel of six portraits has been found while the action shots and boxers have, to my knowledge, only been seen in groups of four.

Finally, dating these cards has proven to be difficult. They are most commonly referred to as early 1920s issues but some believe they were printed as early as the late 1910s. There is no consensus on their dating.

W-UNC Universal Toy and Novelty Strip Cards Checklist

The checklist for these cards is muddied greatly because none of the cards have names on them. Some cards of players are easily identifiable with their images being used elsewhere on known cards of players. However, some are more difficult to determine.

Please note that while this checklist has been speculated, it is not confirmed.

Baseball Action Shots

  1. Grover Alexander
  2. Stan Coveleski
  3. Rogers Hornsby
  4. Walter Johnson
  5. Babe Ruth
  6. George Sisler

Baseball Portraits

  1. Grover Alexander
  2. Dave Bancroft
  3. Ty Cobb
  4. Eddie Collins
  5. Heinie Groh
  6. Walter Johnson
  7. Rabbit Maranville
  8. Steve O’Neill
  9. Babe Ruth
  10. Ray Schalk
  11. Tris Speaker
  12. Zack Wheat

Boxers

  1. Luis Firpo
  2. Benny Leonard
  3. Unknown
  4. Unknown

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