What are "Exhibits" cards?

hookem

Can anyone give me some background on these cards? Who made them, when were they produced, etc?

For example why are the baseball ones listed as 1947-1966? Did they continue to get printed all those years?

smtjoy

I will give you some basic info-

The Exhibit Supply Company of Chicago made "exhibits" postcard sized cards that you purchased in vending machines at amusment parks, fairs, stores etc from 1921-66. They issued sports, including baseball, football and boxing as well as actors, wild west and many other types.

The baseball were issued from 1921-66 and are broken into a number of sets. The 1947-66 is the most common and they were issued as either 64 or 128 cards each year and they made many additions and subtractions each year but they maintained the same look so they are cataloged together.

Here are 3 examples of the machines that were used

Aric

Exhibit Cards were issued to be sold in arcade machines and are the size of a postcard. There were other manufacturers of arcade cards besides the Exhibit Supply Company but they have become collectively known as Exhibit cards. I have recently become interested in them as they were made here in Chicago.

Here's a couple sites dedicated to them, the first I believe is maintained by a CU forum member. There's also a good thread on the Net54 forum about them.


Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

hookem

Great info guys. Thank you!

So is there no way to tell what year they were produced?

smtjoy

Grabed this is from fellow board members site FKW, its as good as you can get at helping to know the dates-

"MADE IN USA" (all caps) was used from 1939 through 1950

1939-41 "MADE IN USA" of 3/4 inch - 1939-41 sets were 16 cards and the 1942 sets were 32 cards. Averill, Gehrig, Gomez, Hartnett, Klein, Kreevich, Cordially, Lombardi, Mulcahy, Very Best Wishes Newson (sic), Rizzo and Russell. The "#9" Williams was also issued in this period and is about "medium tough".

1942-45 "MADE IN USA" of 1/2 inch - Include Rieser and Pollett who did not have full years until 1941.

1946 "MADE IN USA" of 9/16 inch - New plates were made and all cards given a red-brown color. Williams "no #9", Feller "pitching", and Greenberg "sideview" first shows.

1947 "MADE IN USA" of 1/2 inch - Exhibit returned to the production of a 64-card set. Dickey, McQuinn and Ott were dropped with 28 of the others continuing on. There were 35 new cards with the "Salutations" dropped. The 1947 set was really half salutations and half new style.

1948 "MADE IN USA" of 5/8 inch - 39 cards can be identified as from this year. A rarity was created as Barney McCosky was issued in error as Barney Mc Caskey.

1949 "AN EXHIBIT CARD" - 32 of the cards were given this new distinctive mark, and team cards were added for the first time. Eddie Waitkus was reissued with the "C" for Cubs airbrushed off his cap, so actually 33 cards were identifiable as being issued in 1949.

1950 "MADE IN USA" of 7/16 inch - 25 new cards were issued.

"Made in USA" (upper and lower case) from 1951 through 1953

1951 "Made In USA" - Exhibits abandoned the custom of changing the size of the mark each year and merely changed the mark to upper and lower case. There were 33 cards issued with this mark in the years 1951 and 1953.

1952 - B&W makes them easy to identify.

1953 - (same as 1951 above).

"PRINTED IN USA" (all caps) from 1954-1956

1954-56 "PRINTED IN USA" (upper case) - Thirty cards were issued in this way. All except one, the Pee Wee Reese, had the player's name set in a distinctive typescript. In 1955, an anomaly occurs where the Rizzuto and Doby that first appeared in 1949 appears with the "AN EXHIBIT CARD" scratched off.

"Printed in USA" (upper and lower case) 1957-61

1957-61 "Printed in USA" - The first two years, 1957-58, brought 35 cards marked in this way of which 28 were completely new to Exhibit. A total of 47 changed cards were introduced in 1959, giving the first year when all 64 cards had the same mark "Printed in USA." Even the "Salutation" Williams was updated this way. Up to now all cards were still somewhat reddish brown. (1960 B&W) And then in 1961 all cards were a deep brown. It is thus possible to do some dating by color in this issue.

1960 - B&W makes them easy to identify.

1961 - Players or new poses who appeared in 1960-61 but not continued thereafter include: Richie Ashburn as a Cub, the real Frank Thomas (C on cap), Bud Daley, Jackie Brandt, Hank Bauer (plain cap) Don Blasingame (plain cap), Rocky Colavito (portrait to chest), Joe Cuningham (batting), Ted Kluszewski (plain cap), Harvey Kuenn (plain cap portrait), Carl Sawatski (plain cap), Herb Score (plain cap) and Roy Sievers (plain cap).

1962 and 1963 - Stats on the back

1963 "Printed in USA" on the back - The set was expanded to 64 cards and the additional 32 new cards had the instead of the front.

1964 - The company just reissued the (64) 1963 cards with blank backs. It is hard to tell some of the older poses from previous cards; Spahn for example, still having his one and only pose.

fkw

Most of the info above was broken down from a longer article in SCD in the early 1990s. One day I will try to rewrite it as I see a couple typos now, but its fairly accurate at determining within a year or two what year your 1939-66 Exhibits are from.


1952 B&W

divecchia

I was curious also about dating these cards. Great info...

Thanks...Donato

wrestlingcardking

There was a lot of arcade/exhibit cards that I lost the other day....a lot of 20 went for $616.

WinPitcher

Someone should mention to the OP that fakes are around and what color the backs generally are.

I forgot but I think the real ones are tan?


Steve

HoofHearted

smtjoy,

Thanks for the pics and the dating summary. Question for you: would the dating variations apply to other sports/varieties of Exhibits? I've got the lot of boxing Exhibits I bought earlier this year and would like to narrow down the dates-of-printing if I could.

Thanks again!

smtjoy

Hi MikeB,

Glad to help, on the boxing exhibits they also have many ways to tell the year and issue. I purchased a boxing card book by Adam Warshaw on them that helps me a ton. He's an expert in boxing cards and esp exhibits. His site is -

http://www.americasgreatboxingcards.com/

You can purchase the book from his site, its a huge help and nothing else really compares to it for boxing exhibits.

hookem

Well I just won 3 exhibits listed as 1947 on eBay for Mays, Banks, & Aaron. The auction did not have any photos posted so this ought to be interesting. Got them for $10 delivered so who knows. Kind of like buying a scratch off at the gas station

smtjoy

Ok here are some things you need to know about the 1947-66 exhibits. A small group of them were reprinted.

Here are 2 examples of fake exhibits, one the dark gray version the other the white version. The white back were done with a lot more detail than the dark gray and can be hard to tell without seeing the back. The middle card is a real one but trimmed. The best question to ask anyone selling them is "What color are the backs? White or Cream/Tan or Dark Gray?" This works well because most people have no idea what the back color should be, the answer is Tan/Cream.




here is the list of reprinted exhibits-

Dark Grey-

Aaron
Berra (Yogi version)
Campanella
Ford (pitching version)
Fox
Hodges (B on Cap)
Mantle (No White outline version)
Mays (Batting)
Musial (Kneeling)
Newcombe (Dodgers on Jacket)
Reese (ball visable version)
Snider (B on Cap)
Spahn (B on Cap)
Williams (#9 not showing)

White cardstock, all of the above plus-
1956 Dodgers
1956 Yankees

cpettimd

So I guess this is a fake / reprint? the back looks like the left one

smtjoy

Yes sorry the Mays looks like a reprint

hookem

Well I got the Exhibits that I bought on eBay in. From the info posted above (thanks again!) it looks like I got originals and they are from 57-61. Very happy considering the seller did not have photo's listed so they went very cheap. The packing was suspect and the corners are bent as the seller did not use holders that covered the entire card so the top corners were exposed.

EDITING THIS POST AS I DELETED THE PHOTOS FROM PHOTOBUCKET A WHILE BACK ON ACCIDENT.

wrestlingcardking

those look great

BigDaddyBowman

What no love for the football exhibits?












Great Bargains for Great Looking Vintage cards..

smtjoy

Hey Hooken, those are good exhibits so congrats nice looking.

Ok BDB here are a couple Football to add to the sweet ones you posted-

effe

Any idea why PSA grades baseball and not football exhibits?

twiley

<< <i>Any idea why PSA grades baseball and not football exhibits? >>



+1

swartz1

bringing this thread to the top for some help from the experts...read quite a bit here but looking for more info...

picked up this lot of 4 items Sunday at the flea market in Columbus NJ for a whopping $10...

was camping in LBI and met my brother on Sunday, but I digress...

is the brown a 1951? and the B&W a 1952?..

and are they authentic?.. thanks in advance...

thanks
Mike

DanBessette

This is the thread that first introduced me to the CU boards, and I have referred back to it somewhat frequently over the last year as I pick up Exhibits cards here and there. I like to try to narrow the year of printing as much as possible. This week I bought 9 Exhibits from a dealer. I have no doubt to their authenticity, but in narrowing the years I found a discrepancy I hope the board can help me with.

Vern Stephens, Red Sox




Everything I've read says that "PRINTED IN U.S.A." (all caps) appeared on cards printed from 1954-56. Stephens' name is printed in "a distinctive typescript" in the bottom left corner that is also consistent with this 3 year period. Here's the conundrum: Stephens' last year with the Red Sox was 1952. Were they still printing this card 2 years later?

wrestlingcardking

I could see them releasing the card in 1953 if he played for the Sox in 1952. Not sure about 1954 though although I think that is a small thing to worry about.

DanBessette

<< <i>I could see them releasing the card in 1953 if he played for the Sox in 1952. Not sure about 1954 though although I think that is a small thing to worry about. >>



"I like to try to narrow the year as much as possible." Let's make a deal: I'll decide what's important to me in my collecting and you decide what's important to you in yours. Can anybody answer this question for me, which is important TO ME?

lostdart58

<< <i>

<< <i>I could see them releasing the card in 1953 if he played for the Sox in 1952. Not sure about 1954 though although I think that is a small thing to worry about. >>



"I like to try to narrow the year as much as possible." Let's make a deal: I'll decide what's important to me in my collecting and you decide what's important to you in yours. Personally I think wrestling is for booger eaters, but I've never expressed that opinion until now. Can anybody answer this question for me, which is important TO ME? >>



This kind of badgering is why I spend little time in these forums.

DM23HOF

Some great responses in this thread.

There are some very serious exhibits cards out there, chief among them the 1925 Gehrig, which is his rookie/first appearance (and is not to be confused with the later year tint version, which is often mistakenly labeled as the 1925 by the TPGs). That Gehrig is one of my favorite pieces in the hobby.

Edit to add, regarding the unnecessary negativity above in what is a nice thread: In Wrestling's defense, he said "I THINK," so the man wasn't trying to proselytize or tell anyone how to collect. When on the internet, best to slow one's roll and take a breath before typing invective. Let's keep it positive and collegial, gentlemen.

wrestlingcardking

I don't know how it came across through my message but since he played for the Sox in 1952 and cards can come out a year later AND knowing that exhibits typically have a range, I find it hard to accurately nail it down to a single year. These are not traditional cards and the presses may have been in operation for a few years. I wasn't trying to come across as smart....... sorry that you felt that way. I just don't know if you will be able to get it as precise as you want (apparently).

DanBessette

I don't want an argument. I tried to take it back but had unfortunately already been quoted. Sorry.

wrestlingcardking

<< <i>I don't want an argument. I tried to take it back but had unfortunately already been quoted. Sorry. >>



It's all good. Having it down to three years is a lot better than 1947-66.

DanBessette

Having it down to 3 years isn't the problem. If I was sure it was 1954-56 I'd be more than happy (I have a 1954-56 Kaline). The problem is that it doesn't match his Red Sox years, so that leaves me unsure whether that 3 year period is correct. I used this thread to narrow years and then cross referenced them with playing years according to Baseball Reference. Out of the 13 I own, this is the only one with a discrepancy. Hence my question.

ashabby

Great info I am collecting these and did not know most of this

psychump

I knew I had one laying around!

Stooge

I noticed that Krukcards on eBay has some Exhibits from 1980, who makes those? Anyone have any info on those, because they look alright to me.

Paul.

DanBessette

I know many were reprinted. I don't have any additional info about any 1980 issues.

Guru

I know that the Hall of Fame reprinted some of these in red and blue in the 80's. Also, something I've learned in the last 10 years collecting these, there are a TON of fakes and reprints out there. Make sure you're educated on these before purchasing and as always, if you don't know...walk away.

vintageinvestments

I just broke some high grade master sets on ebay and running at auction this week. These are tough to find in high grade like EXMT and up. It took me 15+ years to build a master 1947 set with ALL variations and tints. I also have the only Powell PSA 10 which was purchased raw from Lew Lipset. The 39s are undervalued IMO. Some SPs are next to impossible to find.

Jason