Home PSA Set Registry Forum

1955-56 Parkhurst Quaker Oats Hockey

I've been asked a few questions about this set,
so I thought I would share some of the info that I've
accumulated over the years.

Back in the 1970's and 80's, most people were led
to believe that these 1955-56 GREEN BACK cards were 2-3x
tougher than the regular 1955-56 parkhurst hockey cards.

In my travels during the 80's, dealers and I came
across many high grade vintage hockey from 1933-1974.

The one set that I NEVER came across in high grade was
1955-56 Quaker Oats. As a matter of fact, I rarely came
across any in ANY condition.

The current POP reports show that we have availabe
to us.....357 PSA 8 NQ's......and 8 PSA 9 NQ's from the regular 1955-56 Parkhurst set.

The POP reports from Quaker Oats show that we have......
8 PSA 8 NQ's and ZERO PSA 9 NQ's from 1955-56 Quaker Oats.

I've asked experts in Canada including Gerry Chartrand,
whose comment is that they just don't exist. I've asked smaller
dealers who say the ratio is about 15-1 over the regular issue,
but the condition is usually brutal.

However, the PSA numbers show that it is about 40 times
tougher to get a PSA 8 in the quaker oats compared to the regular issue. Even BMW sports who sets up religiously
at the Toronto Expo says that these cards are impossible in high grade.

Why are these cards so tough ?
They were only distributed in quaker oats cereal boxes back in the
50's. If you were lucky enough to complete a set after buying 80 boxes
of cereal, you could not redeem a prize unless you found the three chase cards.
So after you bought another 30 cereal boxes to find the chase cards, then you
could redeem these cards for prizes like hockey skates, etc, etc.
The 1955-56 set has 79 cards, so that is a lot of cereal to buy to get them.

Very few sets have survived to this day. The dealer information and POP
reports show that these cards are one of THE TOUGHEST hockey issues
to find in high grade. Couple that with the fact that this is also one
of the most eye appealing parkhurst issue of the 50's, makes this a
true collectors dream.

If anyone else has input, please chime in.

marc

Comments

  • ranchranch Posts: 341
    Interesting article, Marc. Here's the problem, when you attend shows and view other dealers' cards through their glass displays, it's hard to tell if the card you are looking at is a normal Parkhurst card or from the Quaker Oats series, the back is the only way you can tell, I'm assuming. So in other words, I might have seen million of them at shows or flea markets and still not have known?

    ~Ranch
  • doubtful. most dealers who have any decent amount of 55 Parkhurst know all about Quaker Oats.

    Marc, i will comment in a little bit about the set, right now i must search through my collection and find some stuff to list on ebay. that Plante WILL be mine, even if i have to sell off a good portion of my stuff to get it.
  • murcerfanmurcerfan Posts: 2,329 ✭✭
  • a few questions about this set...

    -how were they distributed? in cereal boxes? similar to cracker jack toys (individually wrapped)?
    -how many of each card, especially the Plante, have survived?
    -i've heard reports that cards #1, 33, and 37 (Lumley, Clancy, and Richard respectively) are extremely tough to locate. why? were they intentionally short printed as "chase" cards?
  • jackstrawjackstraw Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭
    psa didn't even begin to distinguish the diffrence until about 2 years ago so you can throw the pop reports out the window! i know because i had morenz,rocket roars,beliveau bats and curry scores quaker cards in psa holders and not one said that the were green backs/quaker cards! i had the morenz in a 7 and it was a beuty too bad i gave it away on ebay for 100.
    i am sure that will is correct on the 1, 33 and 37 cards are for some reason short printed as far as the regular 55 set i have had a tough time with the jack leclair and would not be surprised if that was short too? about 7 years ago in white plains i heard that a guy had bought the richard for 12,000 with a crease? i have no proof of the story so it was only hearsay.
    harvey had a cahan greenback in a 9 on his websight not long ago but again was not marked by psa as such!
    Collector Focus

    ON ITS WAY TO NEWPORT BEACH, CA 92658
  • zsz70zsz70 Posts: 541
    Will,

    You are correct. Those were the chase cards for the prizes.
    They were distributed one per cereal box. I don't know if they
    were in cellophane or not.0

    Jackstraw,

    That Morenz 7 may be registered on the set registry with a picture
    in the proper holder. I got that sometime back. It may or may
    not be the same card that was once yours.

    PSA did miss a few cards, but I would
    "GUESS" that we're not looking at more than 10 cards if that.
    The POP reports are a little off because of your accurate statement.
    I would guess that it's not substantial.

    Will, good question as to how many survived.
    Gerry Chartrand got his recently from a large buy of a
    big collector I believe. I believe these cards only surface
    when people sell collections. Most dealers are out of these cards.

    There are some raw ones on ebay now that showed up at
    the recent Toronto expo. You have to get them while you can if you're into them.

    marc
  • jackstrawjackstraw Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭
    is that sgc beliveau yours?
    Collector Focus

    ON ITS WAY TO NEWPORT BEACH, CA 92658
  • jackstrawjackstraw Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭
    here are my last 2 greenbacks

    image
    image
    Collector Focus

    ON ITS WAY TO NEWPORT BEACH, CA 92658
  • aro13aro13 Posts: 1,961 ✭✭✭
    Marc - Including the ones that were sold to you, my friend had 5 or 6 quakers that were not labelled as such by PSA. Also, the Morenz card that you have was not Jackstraws.
  • nice read.
    hockeybonkers@yahoo.ca
Sign In or Register to comment.