This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/24/2020
At just about the same time that Goudey was leading a resurgence into the baseball card market, the National Chicle Company was countering with a baseball card set of their own called Diamond Stars. But the company ventured well beyond the diamond, producing a National Chicle football series and several non-sports collections, including the popular Sky Birds series devoted to famous pilots, aviation pioneers and various early 20th Century aircraft with a focus on World War I flying machines. Aviation had become an intriguing field to Americans ever since the end of World War I with various regional sets of airplanes and pilots being produced. Even the '33 Sport Kings series devoted some space to the subject. But instead of Ruth, Cobb, and Hubbell, subjects in the Sky Bird series include Manfred von Richthofen (A. K. A. "The Red Baron"), Charles Lindburgh, Ameria Earheart, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Orville Wright. Presented as a "series of 144" on the back of the cards, the collection only made it to 108 cards and most are difficult to find in top-grade. The set is lauded for the bold colors, artistic detail, and art deco design, making it one of the most coveted non-sports collections produced during the Depression-era. To say that the offered near-complete unopened wax box is a rarity doesn't quite do it justice as it ranges closer to the impossible, yet here it is! Originally hitting the five and dime shelves as a box of 100 one-cent packs, there are 91 perfectly sealed and intact pieces remaining, each tightly sealed within their equally appealing wrappers. Lined up row by row, the bright red and blue coloring of the wax paper gives the appearance of a squadron of fighters launching from an aircraft carrier, a post World War I invention. The box that houses the packs, truly scarce in its own right, has definitely seen better days with missing pieces and seams that are split at the corners but has admirably served its purpose of keeping the packs close to the condition they originally came in almost 90 years ago. On top of the box is written "Rec 1933" that further confirms the year it was distributed. Also included is the original Sky Birds Escadrille Official Handbook and a letter from the National Chickle Company, both in their original envelopes, along with a Sky Birds wrapper. Unopened material dating this far back is virtually unheard of and the featured offering would undoubtedly serve as a centerpiece of any world-class collection!