1929 W553 Strip Card Set - All Vintage Cards

w553-ruth Front

w553-back Back

Fast Facts

Year(s) Issued: 1929

Set Designation: W553

Number Cards: 10

Card Size: 1-3/4″ x 2-3/4″

Common Card Value (Good Condition): $300

Scarcity Rating: (1 to 10, 10 scarcest): 9

Full W553 Checklist

This ten-card strip card issue was released by Marble Gum Inc. of Philadelphia in 1929.
The card fronts are either black and white or rarer blue or red tints and have a facsimile autograph for the player. The backs are blank.
The cards’ images are identical to those of the R316 Kashin Publications set and the W554 Strip Card Set.
Of the ten cards in the set, nine are Hall Of Famers, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Rogers Hornsby.
The baseball cards were issued via uncut strips however some non-sport pack discoveries from the set show that the non-sport (movie star) cards were issued in packs with a stick of gum.
The non-sports version of the set is known as the ‘Marble Gum Film Stars’ set.
The cards are hard to find; PSA has graded only 61 cards from the baseball set.

Not much is known about Marble Gum, aside from the fact that it was based in Philadelphia. Thus, the W553 set has confused collectors for quite some time. The baseball set was once believed to have 15 cards, but some shrewd collectors determined that the extra five cards once believed to be a part of the W553 set were actually Leader Novelty issues.

To confuse the matter further, the W553 cards utilize the same images from the R316 Kashin Publications set and the W554 Strip Card set.