Auction #2 - June 2019
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/23/2019
The American Chicle Company of Louisville Kentucky issued a Confederate Portrait Album for their Kis-Me Gum brand. The album measures 7" by 9" and has places for small portrait cards to be affixed. A total of 141 ‘cards’ were made to be affixed in the album. The 141 individual cards picture Jefferson Davis and his staff, Generals, Major-Generals, Brigadeer-Generals, Lieutenant-Generals and Naval Commanders. The backs of the individual cards—really pieces of thin paper—note what the subject’s name is and where to paste them in the book. Each page has 10-12 subjects and is noted at the bottom of the page as to who the subjects are.
The first interior page of the album had directions on how to assemble the album. In most of the full albums that have been seen, the larger photo, picturing Jefferson Davis and his generals, has been pasted over the instructions inside the cover. The American Chicle company heavily advertised the Kis-Me Gum brand as it was one of the early leaders in the chewing gum category. Kis-Me Gum was originally manufactured by the Colgan Gum Company of Louisville but subsequently, American Chicle bought out the Colgan Gum Company and its assets.
Many of the subjects found in the Kis-Me book can also be found on other non-sport issues of the time like the N78 Dukes Generals Booklets and the N114 Dukes Generals oversized cards as well as the A28 Duke’s album ‘Heroes of the Civil War’. The album could be had for 10 Kis-Me Gum wrappers and 15 cents. The likely timeframe for manufacture and distribution of this item was most likely between 1908 and 1915, so 15 cents was, at that time, a great deal of money. This may explain the difficulty in locating copies of this album and the subsequent pricing for the complete album. In addition, it is heavily collected by Civil War collectors more than actual ‘card’ collectors.
This near set (139/141) averages in EX to EXMT condition and is overall very clean with some better and a few worse. All card fronts and a sample page of card backs have been scanned. Missing only #36 Alexander Stewart (Tennessee) and #82 George Pickett (Virginia). This near set does not include the larger inner cover 4" x 5" card.
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