Amazing Zeenuts Find

 A collector recently obtained an amazing find of 126 Zeenuts.

What makes this an amazing fine is not the number of cards, but the fact that every single one of them still retains the original coupon at the bottom of the card.  

Now, it's not unheard of to find a Zeenut with the coupon attached, but it is not common in the very least my collecting friends.  Most all Zeenut cards have had the coupon torn or cut off.  Only about 1% of the cards have a coupon attached.

Collector Rhett Yeakley was contacted by a gentleman outside the hobby and posted about it on the vintage baseball card message board Net54.  Rhett explained in his post that the gentleman...

...inherited [the cards] from his great uncle (I believe) whose parents had operated a corner grocery store in Northern California for many years in the early part of the 20th Century. His great uncle was a young boy and he imagined he would get these cards from his parents or possibly from classmates (like most young kids in the S.F.-Oakland area would). 

There were 126 cards in this collection that ranged from 1929 to 1932.  Zeenuts were distributed starting in 1911 and continued every year until 1938.  Issued on the west coast, they only include players of the Pacific Coast League.  They were issued with Zeenuts candy, hence the name.

Here is an ad from a period paper that mentions the 1912 series.  One photo in every package.

Here's another image of a period ad showing the packaging for the candy.  

The coupons could be used to redeem prizes from a small catalog of items.  Here is an example of some of the prizes that kids would be looking to get with the coupons.

Now, lets see the collection right?  Here's the pic of the cards all laid out for display.

But wait, there's more!  Rhett has a YouTube channel where he shows off cards and talks about them.  If you're into vintage/prewar cards you should check it out.  

Here's a link to Rhett's YouTube channel:  Stars of the Diamond

Please subscribe to his channel if you have an account.  The more subscribers the more cool videos he'll likely put out for us collectors.

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.