Set Review: 1933 E285 Rittenhouse Candy Co

They was a very interesting set produced in 1933 but the Rittenhouse Candy Co designated E285 in the ACC.

This set has 52 cards in it and each card has a playing card style front with the photo of the player in the center.  The back of the cards have a letter printed on them.  The letters that are supposed to be on the backs are R, I, T, E, N, H, O, U, S, C, A, D & Y.  This makes it possible to spell out RITTENHOUSE CANDY CO which was a candy company out of Philadelphia.  If a kid was able to spell that out they could redeem a prize.

Well, as was the case with several sets from the era, some of the letters were harder to come by thereby making it very difficult to redeem cards for prizes.  To this day, I don't believe anyone has spelled out the entire thing.  

Below is a look at an almost complete spelling courtesy of OldCardboard.com.

Image Courtesy OldCardboard.com

As you can see the H and O are missing.  Those should be very tough letters to find.  I can only image kids in 1933 going crazy trying to get those letters and buying more and more candy in an effort to complete the words.  They must have been so frustrated.

There was also an instuctions back that listed the prizes (show here).

The prizes were as follows:

Fielder's Glove
First Base Mitt
Big League Ball
Skates
Air Rifle
Pearl Knife

This back is harder to find than a letter back.  Apparently there are also some backs with numbers on them and these are extremely difficult to find.  Some people believe the cards with numbers were a separate issue of these cards.

I have one example from this set. it is Dib Williams and he is picture below.  You can see how the cards were designed here with the playing card and center photo.  

These are small cards measuring only 1 7/16 by 2 1/4 inches.  They are made of cardboard stock that is fairly strong but could bend or crease easily.  There is only a small white border at the top and bottom of the card with the right and left sides cut right to image.  You will see examples that are trimmed to have the top and bottom borders missing. These ones are less desirable and can be had for much lower prices than non-trimmed versions.  

The cards can come in three colors: Red, Green and Blue.  There are two Babe Ruths in the set those being the Ace of Spades and the King of Clubs.  There are several other HOFers in the set as well.

Here is an image of three cards showing the three different colors.

Image courtesy OldCardboard.Com

These cards a scarce but completing a set is doable.  There have been several collectors who have done it.  I have no intentions of going for the set, I'm perfectly content with my one type card from this set.  I may pick up more, but only if the price is right and I just happen upon it.  I had two of the trimmed versions but gave them away to other collector friends of mine and kept my untrimmed version.

I highly recommend pick one up even as just a type card as they are really cool little cards.  I think you will like it if you do.

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