1907 Coca-Cola High Balls Trade Card

I have one of these trade cards. According to an auction that I found in 2018, this card is in Petretti's Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide, 12th Edition, on page 404, valued at $1000. That said, prices at worthpoint are all over the place.

July 2019 $29 ebay
May 2018 $26 ebay
April 2018 $449 ebay
Dec 2013 $850 ebay
June 2013 $240 ebay
Jan 2013 $23 ebay
Feb 2012 $200 ebay
Jan 2012 $301
Dec 2011 $299
Nov 2011 $23.38
June 2011 $750
Mar 2011 $267

While looking around for info on these cards I noticed something very interesting. Some of them that have sold over the years have the EXACT same stains on the back and front.

You can seen them all right here. All of the cards that sold for $200 and under were these stained versions.

Are these fakes? Recognized copies? Souvenirs?

 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-coca-cola-blotter-card-1978-220616259 first thing I saw when looking at your link...

 

Plenty of info out there about it. First page of a google search for "1907 coca cola trade card" has two links about the repo.

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/46692-1907-trade-card-repro--public-service-a

https://www.earlycoke.com/bathtub-trade-card-side-by-side

 

None of those tells the stories of the reproductions. I've had reproductions of 17th century tokens that were made in the 18th century that were still incredibly valuable.

 

Your question was "Are these fakes? Recognized copies? Souvenirs?" and the answer is obviously yes to being fake/reproductions. The first link I posted says that one is from an event in 1978...

 

Those 1978's are, I think, something else entirely. They have an embossed stamp on them declaring them 1978. This auction is the one that actually led me down the path of discovery...

 

I wouldn't be surprised if some made it out of that convention without the embossing. You can be sure that any of them with that distinct stain pattern are not 1907 and were almost certainly made at the same time. (well, there was probably one original that the duplicates were patterned from)

 

You mentioned that you have one of these cards. I hope it doesn't have the stains? -- Actually, if you did have the stained one you would have been able to tell that it wasn't an original stain by looking at it under magnification. I assume yours does not have the stains. So, sounds like you have a card with some good value!

 

OMG. You should know that I have a plethora of loupes, from 3x to 30x, plus two usb microscopes AND a microscope attachment for my phone's camera. It never occured to me to use any of them. Here's a pic I just took by simply holding a 10x loupe directly onto my phone's camera.

 

Sorry -- Those stains were printed, looks like a modern repro.

Generally Coca-Cola items are very heavily reproduced.

 

That took a very good photo!

Now you have a new activity to do with the rest of your collection.