1954 Red Hearts

1420sports

I have always liked this set ever since I realized there was one. Something about a 50's dog food set sounds pretty cool. Are these tough to find in mid grade? I know that sounds crazy, but all of the ones I see are PSA 7 and higher (for the most part) and the raw ones look pretty nice. Was the stock "thick" or something? I own one card, and was thinking of doing the set in PSA 5-6.

Thanks in advance fellas.

helionaut

I got started on a Red Heart set a while ago with a McDougal 7, but progressed no further. They are fairly easy in 6 or 7, and not really hard in 8. I think the deal was you could mail into the company and request the set as late as the early 70s, so they are fairly common overall, and their prevalence leads to decent condition being common, unlike most other food or regional issues.

Griffins

They are really easy in PSA 7 or below. There are 3 series of 11 each- Red Background, Blue and Green. Into the mid 70's at least you could still send in for a blue or green series. Red's are definitely pricier as they were short printed.
The stock is pretty decent weight, and find them raw shouldn't be too tough. 1954 was the best year for regionals in my opinion, and of the main ones (Red Man, Wilson, Dan Dee, Johnston, Stahl Meyers, Hunters, etc) Red Hearts are the best starting point with the lowest cost.
In PSA 8 the tough ones for me were Snider and Lemon. Snider is usually too OC to get an 8, Lemon is a red background- it may not be tougher than any of the other red bg's, but was for me. None of these were tough in 7's, the level I had originally collected them. I think it took a total about about 5 weeks to put the set together in 7, they are certainly out there.
Bit of trivia- Red Heart dog food also made Morrell Hot Dogs, and the Morrell Dodger sets from '59-61. I don't know if that means the dog food was really high quality, or the hot dogs were really scary. The cards sure are cool.

PlayBall

I had bought a few of these awhile ago. The one thing that I learned was that E-Bay is not the best place to buy these unless the seller provides a very good scan. Some of the 6's and 7's I bought had incredibly poor focus. The centering and corners would have met any company's standards of NM/MT, but the focus made the players faces blurred. Check around the Fort this weekend and compare and contrast some different cards in different grades.

1420sports

Thanks fellas. I will be at the show on Fri nite, so maybe I will see a few. The design and player selection is great.

RepublicaninMass

<< <i>.
Bit of trivia- Red Heart dog food also made Morrell Hot Dogs, and the Morrell Dodger sets from '59-61. I don't know if that means the dog food was really high quality, or the hot dogs were really scary. The cards sure are cool. >>



I think they used the ole smell test at the factory.... "eewwww this one is for the dogs"

RedHeart54

I wouldn't imagine a PSA 5-6 set being too tough. You could probably even buy a few raw ones and get those grades sending them in yourself.