Briesch-Williams and The American Caramel Company

 Two distributors of caramel cards at the beginning of the 20th Century were The Briesch-Williams Co. and the American Caramel Co.

Breisch-Williams put out what we now call the E107 set from 1903-04.  This was the first major caramel set of the time and is a historical set that contains many of the first cards of the players depicted on the cards.  These cards are quite rare and finding examples from the set can be a challenge to even advanced collectors.

The American Caramel Co. put out several different sets circa 1910 including the very popular E90 set.  There are three types of E90s, but the type one set is one of the most collected of all caramel sets of the period.  

What do these two companies have in common?  It would appear the Briesch and Williams of the former company later became part of the latter company.  

I was very generously gifted this American Caramel Co. stock certificate a while back by a good friend of mine and I noticed something interesting one day while looking at it more closely.

The person receiving these shares is one Frederick G. W. Briesch and the secretary of the American Caramel Co. at the time of issuance was George W. Williams.  

Click to Enlarge

Frederick is named as the Briesch part of the company in the snippet below so we know that he is, in fact, the correct person of the Breisch-Willaims company.  I haven't been able to find definitive record that George W. Williams is the person for the Williams part however.  

Interestingly, also noted in the snippet above is mention of the Williams Caramel Co. which distributed the E103 set and the Oxford Confectionary Co. which distributed the E253 set.

It's not surprising that all of these companies are somehow related to one another as companies were bought out by one another to form larger companies of the day.  

Here are several examples of E107 cards for those not familiar with them.  There are three different types of backs for this set as well.  Advertised on some backs is the fact that there should be 150 different cards to be found.  To date, only 148 different players have been confirmed, however when team changes are taken into account there are actually more than 150 different cards.

Image courtesy OldCardboard.com

As you can see there is no print on the backs that name The Breisch-Williams Co. as the issuer of the cards, however the very rare overprint back has a stamp identifying them.  

Even with the images being black and white, these are striking cards.  All in portrait format, they use real photos instead of lithographs like so many other caramel cards.  Many of the images are also used again in later issues like T206.  

E90-1 did use colorful lithographs in contrast as well as a mix of action shots and portraits.

There are 122 checklisted cards in this set including variations.  Several short prints keep this set fairly tough to complete however as well as the inclusion of the Joe Jackson card which is quite expensive.  

Many consider this set as being the best looking of all the caramel sets of the time as well.  Personally, I love this set for the colorful images, variety and the players included.  

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