The Heinz Company issued three different sets of cards picturing airplanes and aviators in 1935. Aviation had become more mainstream and the explosion of different aircraft and famous aviators was a popular subject on cards to try to help sell products. A vast number of aviation-themed sets from the 1930’s and 1940’s are collected today and perhaps none quite as widely as the Heinz issues. The F277-1 first series pictures 25 different airships from the 1930’s. Picturing planes from all the large manufacturers like Douglas, Vaught, Boeing, Sikorsky and more, the set pictures full color drawings on the front with a small bio on the back of the card at the top and details about the set and a redemption offer for the albums at the bottom.

This lot contains an uncut block of (6) cards from the F277-1 Heinz Cereal Aviation series. Uncut sections, such as these, are rarely seen for any 1930's card sets and this one is no exception. This uncut block gives us a small glimpse into the production process and how the cards were placed on the sheet. The block is in VGEX to EX condition and relatively clean with just some surface wear.

Update 1-17-2018
From the consignor......"It belonged to Allan Heaslip who received it from his dad, William J Heaslip--the artist for the cards. William received, I believe, three or four uncut modern airplane sheets from Heinz. Allan told me that his dad used to cut out airplanes from the sheets and give the hand cut plane cards to the neighborhood kids. Allan kept everything of his dad's items after William passed away (Allan was the executor and he has a very very nice house with a basement where all his father's items could be stored and catalogued).  So, Allan ended up with two uncut sheets (one in poor condition and one in fair condition) and one partial sheet (the block you have at auction)."

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