Auction #2 - June 2019
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/23/2019
Gum, Inc of Philadelphia, PA continued their dominance of the nonsport world in 1941 when they issued the R157 Uncle Sam set. The 96 card set pictured soldiers, sailors, marines airmen and civilians as stated on the back of the card. The cards showed members of the different branches of service in different daily activities--both in the USA in preparation for war and working through drills, and in the field in actual combat.
This lot contains the original artwork for card #78 in the R157 Uncle Sam set. The card is titled "Jiujitsu for Military Police" and pictures soldiers in hand to hand training. The artwork is inked on a board and the actual artwork is slightly larger than the finished card with the outer size of the board being 8.5 x 10 inches. The piece is in good overall condition. The back of the artwork has a strip of what appears to have been glue around the top where it was likely included in some type of album or story board. It can't be stressed enough how rare it is to find original artwork from 1930's sets. The are a little slice of Americana and give us insight into how our collectibles were created.
The artwork is from the collection of Charles Steinbacher who was the art director of Gum Incorporated. The Steinbacher collection represented one of the few finds of any original artwork from the 1930's gum card era.
(Please note: The original series finished card is not included in this lot and is only shown for comparison purposes).
Click above for larger image.