War News Pictures (R165)
Gum Inc., United States
- Series Title: War News Pictures
- ACC No.: R165
- Manufactured by: Gum, Inc.
- Country: United States
- Number of Cards: 144
- Numbering: 1 to 144
- Card Dimensions: 2½×3⅛ inches
- Circa: 1939-1940
Background
This World War II set from Gum, Inc. is not as confusing as it looks. The set is divided into seven distinct subsets which have their own characteristic look. The subsets are as follows:
- Cards 1-48 — These cards feature black-and-white photos and black and gray drawings with white borders. The reverse contains a 1939 copyright with a code B-1--14.
- Cards 49-72 — These cards feature multi-color artwork with white borders. The reverse contains a 1939 copyright with a C-49-72 code.
- Cards 73-84 — These cards feature artwork with green and orange tones with orange borders. The reverse side contains a 1939 copyright with a D-73-84 code.
- Cards 85-96 — These cards feature artwork with blue and orange tones with white borders. The reverse side contains a 1939 copyright with a E-85-96 code.
- Cards 97-108 — These cards feature artwork with black and orange tones with white borders. The reverse side contains a 1939 copyright with the code F-97-108.
- Cards 109-120 — These cards feature artwork with blue and orange tones with white borders. The reverse side contains a 1939 copyright with the code G-109-120. This series is the key to collection and are very difficult to obtain.
- Cards 121-144 — These cards feature artwork with blue and orange tones with white borders. Reverse side contains a 1940 copyright with no code number. F-L-A-S-H appears at the top center on the back.
Fortunately, the words War News are somewhere on every card, which is the one common detail that makes cards of this series easy to identify.
Gum, Inc. began distributing War News Pictures in 1939 and continued into 1940. The initial wrapper was semi clear wax with the word the WAR SET on a red center, and the advertising copy Onto Tried to Tie the War News Pictures with the extremely successful"Horrors of War" series which preceded it:"START IMMEDIATELY TO SAVE THIS COMPLETE SERIES. Complete sets of the first 240 Horrors of War cards, published in 1938, are now very valuable. Don’t miss the opportunity to get all of this new series of picture cards." If that wasn’t enough, another advertising panel on the wrapper described the current set as"news pictures and illustrations of the current HORRORS OF WAR in Europe." This wrapper bears a 1939 copyright date.
The second wrapper associated with the set carries a 1940 copyright date and has a white and black newspaper design set on a yellow center. By that time, the public had already come to the conclusion that War News Pictures could not match Horrors of War in style and quality, so the attempt to link to the two sets by advertising propaganda was abandoned in favor of passing off the cards as"valuable classroom material." J. Warren Bowman, the owner of Gum, Inc., was a man always in search of the promotional gimmick: convincing teachers to allow bubble gum cards in the schoolhouse was a kind of challenge he enjoyed!
There are three additional features of the set that are fascinating to collectors. First, the sub-series numbered 49 -- 72 carries the identical color artwork of 24 cards of Gum, Inc.’s"The World in Arms" set, which was also issued in 1939. This is the only run of full-color cards in War News Pictures, and only Bowman would dare to make two sets out of one. Secondly, advertising on the last run of War News Pictures cards (121-144) suggests that more cards of both number 144 were planned -- but none were ever released to the public. Finally the set contains 12 of the rarest of all 1930s cards: numbers 109-120. Over the years, collectors have constructed several series to account for the scarcity of these cards, but no reliable information about them has been confirmed. Very few sets of War News Pictures are known to exist because these 12 cards are simply not available. The American card catalog reference number for the set is R165.
Image-Guide
Cards 1 to 48 Black and white photos and black and gray drawings.
White borders, 1939 copyright, B-1-14 code
Cards 49 to 72 Multi-color artwork.
White borders, 1939 copyright, C-49-72 code
Cards 73 to 84 Artwork with green and orange tones.
Orange borders, 1939 copyright, D-73-84 code
Cards 85 to 96 Artwork with blue and orange tones.
White borders, 1939 copyright, E-85-96 code
Cards 97 to 108 Artwork with black and orange tones.
White borders, 1939 copyright, F-97-108 code
Cards 109 to 120 Artwork with blue and orange tones.
White borders, 1939 copyright, G-109-120 code
Cards 121 to 144 Artwork with blue and orange tones.
White borders, 1940 copyright, no code number, F-L-A-S-H at top center on back.
Partial Checklist
- British Anti-Tank Rifle
- Polish Cavalry
- French Reservists Called to Colors
- British Secret Anti-Aircraft Gun
- German Air Student
- Gdynia Bombarded
- Polish Big Bertha
- Newest British Motor Torpedo Boat
- Inside the Siegfried Line
- British Transport Plane
- British Tank Crew
- Polish Troops on the March
- Lowering a Depth Charge
- England’s General Ironsides
- Decontamination Squad, England
- Back Door of the Siegfried Line
- Searchlights in London
- French Motorcycle Unit
- German Torpedo Boat
- Guns on German Cruiser in Action
- Exploding Depth Charge
- Preview of London Evacuation
- Polish War Tanks
- Siegfried Line’s Bristling Face
- Living Quarters on the Siegfried Line
- President Moscicki of Poland
- Signing Soviet-German Pact
- Poles Attack German Radio Station
- Poland’s Smigly-Rydz
- British Bombers Rain Leaflets on Reich
- Hitler Congratulates Von Ribbentrop
- Avro Anson Bomber Over Rams Gate
- King George VI and Neville Chamberlain
- Danzig Harbor
- German Submarine Base at Kiel
- War Map
- Controlling London’s Defense Machinery
- Polish Bombing Planes
- France’s General Gamelin
- Aerial View of Warsaw
- Admiral Raeder
- The Siege of Wesferplaffe
- The Maginot Line
- Polish Massed Military Might
- General Viscount Gorf
- Franco’s Daladier
- Germany’s Von Brauchitsch
- Sinking of the Athenia
- French Battleship Dunkerque
- German Submarine
- British Fifteen-Ton Hornet
- Guns of the Maginot line In Action
- British Balloon Barrage
- German-Manned Avia Fighters
- British Mayo Composite Plane
- German Junkers Bomber
- French Tank in Action
- British Armed Cars
- Air Infantry
- Flame-Throwers
- German Schnellboote
- British Battleship Rodney
- British Destroyer Straddling Torpedoes
- Australian Wirraway
- French Torpedo Planes as Air Escort
- Germany’s Heligoland
- The Mereth Line of France
- British Portable Air Raid Shelter
- Gas Raid Rescue Squad
- Flame-Throwing Tanks
- French 75 mm. Howitzer
- Martin-Barlow Aerial Bomb
- British Flying Boats Rescue Crew of Steamer
- British bombed German ships at Wilhelmshaven
- Air Raid Sirens Send Parisians to Cellars
- Destroyers Sinks Strangely Disguised U-Boat
- Nazi Machine Gunners Slay Polish Cavalry
- British Troops Are Welcomed in France
- Polish Franctreur Fires Into Germans
- French Use Pigs To Touch off Mines
- Plane Bombs U-Boat after Freighter Is Sunk
- Aircraft Carrier Courageous Torpedoed
- Russia’s Red Army Moves into Poland
- Warsaw’s Last Stand
- Nazi’s Use Parachute — Jumpers as Spies
- French Flyers Raid Nazi Airplane Plants
- Poles Capture Tanks with Flaming Hand Grenades
- Polish Soldiers and Refugees Leave Warsaw
- Sub Crew Saved after Ocean-Bed Vigil
- Hela Peninsula Finally Surrenders
- U-Boat Lands Shipwrecked Crew in Ireland
- Largest Submarine Captures Nazi Merchant Ship
- British Flyers Down Nazi in Dog Fight at Sea
- British Destroyer Fights of Nazi Planes
- Nazi U-Boat Torpedoes Royal Oak at Anchor
- Nazi Bombers Raid Scotland
- Terror in the Carpathians
- German Cannonade Rocks Neutral Country
- Ghost Plane Lands with the Goods
- French Suicide Squads Hold Outposts
- Russians Dump Propaganda in Poland
- War on Land Is Bogged Down by Rain
- British Freighter Fights Submarine
- Nazi Bombers Attack Merchant Convoy
- City of Flint Is Seized by Nazi Raider
- Sub Taxis Streamer’s Crew to Rescue Ship
- Peasants Quit Dynamited Bridge Area
- Warsaw’s Sorrow
- Independence Hall Rescues Sub-Marine Victims
- Undersea Horrors
- Freighter Disables U-Boat for Warship to Capture
- Downed Nazi Fliers Use Rubber Boat to Escape
- Nazi Robot Pamphleteer
- Cruiser Lands Captured Germans in Scotland
- British Divers Take Dead Nazis from U-Boat
- Mortars Scatter Nazis Digging Earth Works
- Nazi U-Boat Sinks English Fishermen
- Germans Attack French Frontier Village
- City of Flint Sales Under Norwegian Escort
- France Mobilized Pigeons at Front
- Nazis Use Pocket Subs
- U-Boat Shells Mercy Ship
- Swimmer Captures Mine
- French Win Big Air Fight
- Nazi River Patrol Is Hit
- Dutch Flood Defense Line
- Torpedo Cuts Ship in Two
- Bomb Rocks Hitler Hall
- Mine Blasts Indian Liner
- Scheer Sinks Tanker
- Nazi Flies to London
- S.S. Pilsudski Is Sunk
- Reds Attack Finns by Air
- British Defeat Graf Spee
- Finns Lick Reds at River
- Graf Spee Goes to Doom
- Crew Scuttles Columbus
- Reds Make Costly Gains
- Reds Shot Crossing Ice
- Skiers Prey on Russians
- Division Trapped on Ice
- Russians Freeze at Posts
- Turku Castle Is Bombed
- Ski Patrol Derails Train
References
- John A. Shupek: Card images via the Skytamer Archive Digital Image Database.
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