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1953 Antique Autos
(R701-1)
Bowman Gum Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Series Title: Antique Autos
American Card Catalog No.: R701-1
Manufactured by: Bowman Gum Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Country: United States
Number of Cards: 48
Card Dimensions: 2½ × 3¾ inches
Circa: 1953
Checklist: Download
Antique AutosCard Front
Background
In 1953 Bowman gum issued this 48-card set of Antique Autos.
The color drawings depict early car models from the Golden Age
of the automobile industry. However, the drawings featured on the fronts of the cards are not new to card collectors. It turns out that the majority of … if not all of the drawings were copied from an American Tobacco Co. set circa 1911 in Turkey Red Cigarettes. The automobiles are named on the front of the card, but the title often appears in abbreviated form on the reverse side. Card numbers are located on the back only. The card’s measure 2½ × 3¾ inches and are numbered sequentially from 1 to 48. The American Card Catalog reference number is R701-1.
As you probably remember, during the early 1950s, the 3-D movie craze was hitting the silver screens at your local theaters. Not to be outdone, the backs of these cards all featured 3-D drawings of the automobiles shown on the fronts. Of course to view the 3-D images required special 3-D glasses. The glasses were obtained from the local retailer … free with every four packages of gum cards purchased.
Antique AutosCard Back
Image-Guide
Wax-Pack Wrapper
There appears to be only one wrapper associated with the series. The Antique Autos
wrapper features two different antique automobiles driving by a billboard announcing Antique Autos
. The primary color of the wrapper is red with green and yellow accent colors.
Retailer’s Display Box
The Antique Autos
display box is shown below. The following statement on the display box was addressed to Mr. Retailer: there are six pairs of 3-D (third dimensional) glasses in this box at no extra cost to you. Please give one pair free with each sale of four packages …
the yellow and blue display box held 24 packs; each pack contained five cards and a slant of gum.
Special Thanks
We thank Vladislav Kuchta, Prague, Czech Republic for sending us a scans of the display box and wrappers. Vladislav is a long-time collector of chewing gum wrappers. He has over 100,000 items in his collection.
We also thank Walter Biskupski for sending us high resolution scans of the 3-D glasses.
References
