Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1933 National Chicle Sky Birds Quentin Roosevelt


 
This month’s VCoM comes from the 1933 National Chicle Sky Birds (R136) release. The Sky Birds set is one of my favorite vintage sets because many of the pilots included are from WWI, one of my historical interests. Some of the pilots on the list; Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron), Eddie Rickenbacker (America’s first Ace), Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart. 

This specific card was one of my Grey Whale wants because it is Quentin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt’s son. After the U.S. entered WWI in 1917 all four of Teddy Roosevelt’s sons joined the military with all four seeing combat. Quentin was a pilot in the 95th Aero Squadron and on July 14, 1918 he was shot down over German held territory.

He was so highly regarded by the Germans that he was buried with full military honors. Following WWII when the Normandy American Cemetery was established in France Quentin’s remains were moved to the cemetery and reinterred next to his brother Teddy Roosevelt III, who died in France in 1944.

The card is in nice condition, besides the rounded corners with some paper separation it is a nice specimen. For some reason the illustrator shows Quentin as a gunner but he was in fact a pilot.

2 comments:

  1. At first glance I thought it was a guitar he was holding. I thought maybe it was some kind of retro rock card. LOL.

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  2. Two things I love about this post: first, I had no idea that TR's sons enlisted in the military for WWI; and second, I love how he is portrayed in this card, holding the machine gun almost as if it's a guitar. This is just an incredible card. Thanks for sharing!

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