Vintage Card Of The Month: 1933 Goudey Sport Kings Duke Kahanamoku

 

This month’s VCoM comes from one of the most amazing sports sets ever, the 1933 Goudey Sport Kings Gum set. The 48-card set was released throughout 1933 and 1934 in packs of Sport Kings gum by Goudey.

Goudey did an amazing job with an awesome checklist, which was a complete necessity to get children to part with their pennies in the midst of the Great Depression and included athletes from a large variety of sports. Along with baseball, basketball, football and hockey there are also summer and winter Olympians as well as a number of outdoor athletes. Some of the big names are Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, Walter Hagen, Gene Tunney, Johnny Weissmuller and Bobby Jones.

Now you may remember a couple of years ago where I posted about purchasing a fake version of this card as part of a collection, last year I finally added a real one to my collection and I can tell you that visually the cards are night and day and you can tell which is real. I am very excited about adding this to my collection.

Do You Know Anything About 1933 Sport Kings?

If you have a card that you are uncertain of its origin or even if it is authentic is it ok to sell as long as you list the card as a reprint?

 

I ask because I purchased some vintage cards earlier this year with the intent of going through and adding some to my collection while others were to be sold or traded. When I received the cards they went in to a binder without scanning them or even taking a second look. The binder was packed away to get ready for my move and now that I am settled I am pulling cards out to scan them in and once I saw a close up scan of this vintage card I have begun to have questions. Sadly, I purchase these cards over 6 months ago so contacting the seller and asking for a refund is well out the window.

 

I have been sitting on the edge between just accepting my screw up and holding on to the card so it does not return in to anyone else’s hands who might purchase it believing it to be real (like me) or re-selling it but listing it specifically as a reprint.

 

I know I can submit it to PSA or Beckett for verification but I have a strong belief that it is fake and I find it hard to spend more money on top of what I spent to purchase the card just to back up my belief of a fake.

 

I have since listed the card stating that I do believe it to be a reprint but to leave the decision up to the potential buyer but I am feeling stressed over it because I am worried that someone may turn around and sell as real. I considered marking the card as reprint but if for some reason the card is real that would damage it and ruin any future potential sale but if I don’t it may be misrepresented.

 

If there is someone out there that can help in any way it would mean a lot to me and help me make a decision on the cards future.

 

I own other 1933 Goudey baseball cards but this is the only Sport Kings that I have so can not compare it straight across but base it versus a baseball card. It appears to be the right size and paper type, similar weight, aging and expected damage. The ink seems to be consistent too. The back also seems legit, besides the copyright logo.

 

Now, here are my concerns:

1. The front has a sort of coating over it that is reflective where none of my baseball cards between 1933-35 do not have that kind of coating.
2. While it is not visible to the eye, when the card is scanned there are lines that appear on the face and arm which in other Sport Kings I have viewed online this should be a smooth and creamy coloring.
3. The marks on the chest are visible to the naked eye and to me seem like printer lines, again it should be creamy in color.
4. The black border around the Sport Kings Gum logo is almost a perfect stroke, something you wouldn't expect in 1933.
5. The copyright on both the front (Bottom right) and back (Bottom right) is blurred and should be clear

 

 

Happy Birthday Duke... No Not That Duke This Duke

Today would have been Duke Kahanamoku’s 125^th birthday had the father of modern surfing been eternal. Born in 1890 in the Kingdom of Hawaii Duke went on to do some amazing things in his life.

As an Olympic swimmer he appeared in 3 straight Olympics (1912-1924) winning 3 Gold Medals and 2 Silver Medals, plus at the age of 42 he was an alternate on the 1932 US Water Polo Olympic team that won the Bronze Medal but as an alternate he did not receive a medal. In 1965 he was enshrined in the Swimming Hall of Fame and in 1984 he was enshrined in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

He used his popularity as an Olympic Swimmer to travel around the world and popularized the ancient tradition of surfing. Even though surfing has been around for 3,000 years in Polynesian and Hawaiian culture it almost disappeared in the 1820s when British law enforced locals to wear more clothing and to put limitations on “play” time. It did not return until 1905 when the Hui Nalu club revived the sport.

In June of 1925 while surfing with friends in Newport Beach a fishing boat went down in the heavy surf out of the 29 men on the boat Duke personally rescued 8 men. In the following 4 decades he went on to be the Sheriff of Honolulu, serving 13 consecutive terms, and he appeared in 20 television and movie roles. He died on January 22, 1968 of a heart attack at the age of 77 and he was buried at sea. He was first person to be enshrined in the Surfing Hall of Fame in 1966.

If that was not enough for one lifetime he has been immortalized as the Official Hawaii Greeter, the U.S. released a Duke Kahanamoku stamp in 2002, there is a statue of him at Waikiki Beach on Oahu with him standing with his arms open and another statue at New Brighton Beach in New Zealand depicting him surfing.

Do collectors have an opportunity to add Duke to their collection? Yes, but very few options and all of them are connected to swimming or the Olympics. The most common two are the 1983 Topps Greatest Olympians #20 and 1991 Impel U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame #20

More recently Topps included him in the 2006 Allen & Ginter release which offers a couple of options. There is the base card #320 plus the mini version, then there is the Black Border mini parallel plus one released for the Hawaii Trade Conference and let’s not forget the 2015 Buyback version.

You can go for the big with the 1933 Goudey Sport Kings #20

There are a couple of options out of Europe

There are some generic surfing cards where people claim the image is Duke but there is no listing for him and he is not mentioned on the card.

I am looking to add the 1933 Goudey Sport King and 1931 Garmann to my collection eventually, I don’t know if I would say they are White Whales or Gray Whales just yet but they are definitely whales. I would also like to add the 2006 A&G Hawaii Conference card eventually too, this one is probably the most reasonably priced card on my Kahanamoku want list. I hope someday Upper Deck can get him in to a Goodwin Champions release as a surfer.