I've been chasing this little gem for awhile. Most were just a bit pricey for my taste, north of $50 and frequently close to $100. But this one came along and I grabbed it at a very reasonable price. I'm not sure why the Pierce is among the higher priced coins in the set. I haven't seen anything to indicate why it carries a premium other than vague references to some being more scarce than others. But there it is.
The back is pretty impossible to decipher even to the naked eye, never-mind in a scan. But there is Junket Rennet Custard logo there and apparently these were issued in boxes of the dessert mix as well as Salada Tea in 1962. They are plastic with paper inserts depicting the player. 221 coins made up the set with some players appearing on two teams due to trades and some other coloring variations. The next year the 63 issued coins were made of metal and were painted.
There is a parallel set called Shirriff Coins that were issued in Canada. There is a checklist with known variations that can be found here. I have a handful of these things, all Orioles and I picked them up a long time ago. So long ago that I can't remember where or when. I posted the Brooks Robinson from the 1962 set over a year ago.
But even today most of them can be had for very little. Except the Billy Pierce, of course.
Late addition:
Mark Hoyle sent me a shot of his Red Sox '62 Salada set in the original display 'shield'. It's a terrific item. But now I have something else on my wantlist!
Cool coin. Maybe a relative of Pierce is going out, buying up all of his vintage oddballs, and driving up the values. Whatever the situation... just glad you were able to find one at a reasonable price.
ReplyDeleteI have a Redsox set displayed on a plastic shield. Pretty cool piece. I like all the coin sets from the 60's.
ReplyDeleteThose are just awesome display items. I don't think I've seen more than one or two in person. I search for the Orioles shield regularly on eBay and it never shows up.
DeleteThere are another 4 coins for the Redsox that year from the second series. These were a little more pricey. Don't understand why the Pierce is so expensive. He's coin #2.
DeleteNow I am jealous. That's a hell of a pickup.
ReplyDeleteAnd Fuji, these Salada's are just hard to find. I have only ever seen one on Ebay in the past 18 months. I must have missed this one.
JJ, I hadn't seen one for less than $60 on eBay in ages. When this one showed up for $29 I thought there was something wrong with it. It took me about two seconds to pull the trigger.
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