Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
  eNews Issue #110 (June 2013)         www.oldcardboard.com

Please Note: If images are not loading in this email, click here. Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia.  More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page. Contents: 1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar 2. Featured Set: 1954 F156 Red Heart Dog Food 3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website 4. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings) 1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Key Events Calendar on the Old Cardboard website. Have an event that needs to be on the OC Calendar? Email editor@oldcardboard.com.

OC eNewsletter Sponsor

June 2013
19	Internet	All-Sports Auctions (see website for details).
20	Phone/Internet	Sterling Sports Auctions (see website for details).
27	Phone/Internet	Collectible Classics Auction (see website for details).
27	Internet	Bagger's Auctions (see website for details).
27	Internet	Sirius Sportscards (see website for details).
28	Phone/Internet	Leland's Catalog Auction (see website for details).
29	Phone/Internet	Small Traditions Auction #10 Session 1 "Pirates" (see website for details).
July 2013
2	Phone/Internet	JVSC Auctions (see website for details).
6	Phone/Internet	Small Traditions Auction #10 Session 2 (see website for details).
12-14	Chantilly, VA	CSA Chantilly Show (see website for details).
19	Phone/Internet	Goldin Auctions (see website for details).
23-25	Phone/Internet	Hake's Americana & Collectibles Auction (includes baseball; see website).
25	Phone/Internet	Sterling Sports Auctions (see website for details).
7/31-8/4	Rosemont, IL	National Sports Collectors Convention (see website for details).

2. Featured Set: 1954 F156 Red Heart Dog Food If you were a kid in 1954 and collected baseball cards, you likely opened many Topps packs searching for a card of rising superstar Mickey Mantle. Unfortunately, a card of Mantle, still early in his Major League career, could not be found in the 250-card Topps issue. But if you had a dog that ate lots of Red Heart dog food (and assuming your dog had no appetite for baseball cards), you were in luck. A Mantle card could be obtained in this 33-card set produced in 1954 by the dog food maker. As an added bonus, the Red Heart set also included a card of Stan Musial, another top star of the period that was missing from both the Topps and the Bowman sets that year. Altogether, the Red Heart Dog Food set includes 11 players (one-third of the set) now in baseball's Hall of Fame (identified in Red Heart Checklist). The cards are listed in the American Card Catalog as set F156. The Red Heart set is made up of three series of eleven cards, each distinguished with either a red, blue or green background on the card fronts. The red-background cards seem to be a little more difficult to find and were apparently produced in smaller quantities. Overall, however, the set is not particularly rare, and it has been reported that the cards were still available from the company for more than a decade after they were originally produced. The Red Heart cards could be obtained via mail by sending the company two labels from a can and 10 cents for each 11-card subset. It is perhaps due to this mail-in process (rather than the cards being distributed with the product) that many of the cards today are found in relatively high grade. The 2-5/8 by 3-3/4 inch cards are printed in strong colors on heavy stock. The card fronts display a hand-colored player image over an enlongated diamond that frames the player's name. In addition to distinguishing among the three Red Heart subsets via the background color, the diamond name panel is also color-coded for each subset. Cards in the "red-background" subset display a green diamond. Similarly, all "blue" background cards contain a yellow diamond while "green-background" cards contain a red name panel at the bottom. In all cases, the player's team is identified in the white border at the bottom of the card. Red Heart card backs contain player biographical data followed by statistics for both the 1953 season and for "Life." An ad for "Red Heart, The Big League Dog Food," as well as a copyright notice by "John Morrell & Co." is found at the bottom. The John Morrell Company, sponsor of the Red Heart Dog Food set, continues to operate today as the John Morrell Food Group, an independently operated branch of Smithfield Foods. 1959 Morrell Meats -- Hodges Morrell company origins extend back to 1827. It now has nearly 10,000 employees in over 15 locations across the country with annual sales approaching $4 billion. It claims the title as the oldest continuously operating meat producer in the US. Many West Coast collectors are also familiar with three Los Angeles Dodgers sets produced by the company from 1959 through 1961 under the name of Morrell Meats (see example at right). As seen in the example, the Morrell Meats cards are brightly printed in a borderless format. A Set Profile, Player Checklist and Full Gallery of the 1954 F156 Red Heart Dog Food set have been added to the Old Cardboard website. OC eNewsletter Sponsor 3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include: Set Profiles have been added for: 1887   H804-17   Blueish-Green Trade Cards 1954   F156   Red Heart Dog Food Set Checklists have been added for: 1887   H804-17   Blueish-Green Trade Cards 1933   R319   Goudey 1954   F156   Red Heart Dog Food Set Galleries have been added for: 1887   H804-17   Blueish-Green Trade Cards 1933   R319   Goudey 1954   F156   Red Heart Dog Food Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the website and the list continues to grow every month. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com. In addition to these additions to the Old Cardboard website, we continue to expand and refine our eBay Custom Search Links to make finding vintage baseball cards on eBay easier than ever. The results of these searches are continuously changing, so check back often to find the most recent listings. 4. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings) Schedule for "Nationals" Set for Balance of Decade. While Chicago and Cleveland continue to dominate as hosts for the National Sport Collectors Convention, Atlantic City, NJ will host the event in 2016. The schedule for the balance of the decade was recently announced. After this year's show in Chicago, the schedule is: 2014, Cleveland; 2015, Chicago; 2016, Atlantic City; 2017, Chicago; 2018, Cleveland and 2019, Chicago. Host sites are selected by vote of the show exhibitors from a list prepared by convention organizers. eBay "Top 25" Sellers List Update. Old Cardboard has recently updated the Top 25 eBay auctioneers of vintage sports material and published the updated list linked from the Old Cardboard homepage. Each dealer has been recognized as an "Old Cardboard Top 25" vintage baseball card dealer. The 25 dealers making the cut are: buythatcard, davidbvintage, wvshoebox, kityoungcards, czs1, memorylaneinc, ppgustafson, hyee_auctions, 1oldcardman, mikedenero, orkdoolian, oldbbcards, just_collect, joesvintagesportscards, grays, mwcards, cookiemonster501, SomersetVelvet, darby-s, jhustle1, dentom, b-e-collectibles, bagger77, hendersonscards, bbcexchange. We have awarded each of them with a "Top 25" icon for use on their websites and eBay listings. Be sure to look for these guys when bidding on auctions. They are the best-of-the-best when it comes to selling vintage cardboard on eBay! Lyman and Brett Hardeman Old Cardboard, LLC. Old Cardboard, LLC. was established in December 2003, to help bring information on vintage baseball card collecting to the hobbyist.  Produced by collectors for collectors, this comprehensive resource consists of three components: (1) Old Cardboard Magazine, (2) a companion website at www.oldcardboard.com and (3) this eNewsletter. The Old Cardboard website contains more than 500 pages of descriptive reference information for baseball card sets produced fifty years ago or longer.  Each of these set summaries has a direct set-specific link to auctions and a similar link to 's powerful search engine for further research.  The website also includes a Show and Auction Calendar, an eBay Top 50 Vintage Sellers List, and much more.  As a result, the Old Cardboard website makes a great "Alt-tab" companion for vintage card shoppers and researchers.  Old Cardboard eNews provides current hobby news, upcoming shows and auctions, and updates to the website and the magazine.  It is published around the middle of each month.  For a FREE subscription to the eNewsletter, or for subscription information on Old Cardboard Magazine, please visit the website at www.oldcardboard.com.  If you find this information resource helpful, please tell your friends.  We need your support and your feedback. Thank you.