Thursday, December 28, 2023

Jell-O, My Name is...

[Note: I don't ever participate in the various end of the year blog voting things, but after coming up with today's title, I'm now wondering if it's too late/too early to write myself in for worst post title of the year 😆]


Posts about 1960's Post cards don't seem to be overly popular with the blog crowd, so I'm guessing that a post featuring a couple of 1963 Jell-O's won't be floating too many boats either.

From what I've been able to gather, in terms of price and scarcity, the 1963 Jell-O set seems to be on par with the 1963 Post set. For the most part, it appears that they shared similar production numbers, and prices in 2023 for commons and short prints are very comparable. Going by available lots on eBay, one might be inclined to say that the Jell-O set was a bit rarer, as lots don't come up as often, but I don't know if that would be a fair assessment as it's not uncommon at all to find '63 Jell-O's mixed in with lots that are advertised as '63 Post's.

Despite the similarities in price, and availability, I've had even less luck acquiring new '63 Jell-O's than I've had with '63 Post's. Maybe the Jell-O's are more popular at the moment, thus making them harder for someone like myself to get. I don't know. Or maybe I just haven't been looking for them with the same fervor as the Post's. That being said, a few have trickled down into the land of Sleeve's in recent months.

Card #1 doesn't carry the same premium with the Jell-O and Post sets like it does with some of their counterparts from Topps. I still think it's kind of neat to get #1 out of the way though. I enjoy being able to open a binder and see a card sitting in the first slot of set's first page. To me at least, it legitimizes the set build just a little bit more.

As mentioned above, you'll often find 1963 Jell-O's mixed in with lots of '63 Post. Such was the case with Vada here. I can understand how a person with just one Jell-O might confuse it for a Post, especially if they don't know about the shorter red line after the stats, but with their smaller size as well, one should be able to tell them apart from Post's if you have one of each side-by-side. Of course, I'm sure some sellers just don't care enough to list them separately either. I spotted this one in a small lot of six Post's a few months ago, and since I needed the other five Post's, this was just an extra bit of icing on the cake that was that purchase.

[Note #2: Apparently my scanner can't tell the Jell-O's and Post's apart either. Both scan just as shittily.]

It's always fun to get one of the players from the Telstar broadcast. I kind of started a mini collection a few years ago that focused on things that appeared in that broadcast, but gave up before I got too far with it.

Obviously Duke is the biggie amongst this quartet. I don't know the date of Duke's sale to the Mets, but it must've occurred after this card was produced; as he's clearly not a Met here, nor is there any mention of his leaving L.A. for green-less pastures.

With these four, I'm down to needing just 187 more to complete the set. Sigh...

25 comments:

  1. The Duke was acquired by the Mets on April 1, 1963, so it's not surprising that the cards would already have been in production--maybe even on the shelves.

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    1. I was hoping that a more knowledgeable soul would come along and impart that information. Thanks for being said more knowledgeable soul :)

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  2. I've recently decided to passively collect the Jell-o cards. I am a team collector (Cleveland) and recently completed the 1961-1963 Post sets. I was the victim of receiving a Jell-o card when I had ordered a Post and with that discovery I went down the rabbit hole and decided why not go for both. The 1962 Jell-o set has a Ken Aspromonte that is not found in the 1962 Post set, so that was kind of the deciding factor in me opting to go for both sets.

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    1. Are you passively collecting the two Jell-O sets in their entirety, or just the Cleveland team sets?

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    2. Just the Cleveland team sets.

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  3. I have that Snider. Not sure if it's a Jello or Post.

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    1. Well, if you ever end up caring to know which one it is, you shouldn't have much trouble figuring it out.

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  4. Love the Vada Pinson card!!! This is such a cool project.

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    1. I like it too. Unfortunately, the scan for it is probably the worst of this bunch.

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  5. As a team collector who has often depended on others sending me vintage oddballs, I can vouch for '63 Jell-O's being in shorter supply judging one what I've received: 1 Jell-O card and about 20-to-30-something Post cards.

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    1. If you're comparing the '63 Jell-O set to the '61 and '62 Post sets, than yes, it's a quite a bit more scarce. Of course too, compared to the the first two years, the '63 Post set would be considered more rare as well.

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  6. Now I have to go through my Post cards and check to see if any are Jell-O.

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  7. Nice Wrigley background on the Altman card.

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    1. As usual, I would've never known that had you not mentioned it!

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  8. Yepper, I like the Jell-o cards as much as the Post and Hostess, and even though I know the jellys are a tad bit smaller I sometimes get them mixed up.

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    1. I always use the line at the end of the stats to tell them apart.

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  9. I could see why these get mixed up in dealer lots. If I sold these, I'm sure I would have made that mistake. I have a handful of Post cards... but now I wondering if any of them are Jell-o.

    P.S. Your title is creative.

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    1. Well, there's only one way to find out...

      P.S. I still think it's cheesy.

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  10. guessing your next related post title will include a play on a certain lionel richie song

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    1. I suppose that there'd be a lot of options for follow-up titles. I can honestly say though that I hadn't given any thought to any of the possibilities yet. That would require much more forethought than I am in possession of.

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  11. Is intersting. I was looking for Post Chuck Essegian cards for my alumni PC and at the time his 1963 Post was much more expensive compared to his 1963 Jello (over $10 compared to ~$2) but in the past few years the Jello has caught up to the Post in price. I decided I didn't care about the distinctions and would just search both in case one was cheaper than the other.

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    1. That is interesting. I suspect that maybe the '63 Jell-O's were less popular at one time, but most of the folks who like these kinds of cards probably finished their Post sets, and then needed something else to collect; thus the demand for the Jell-O set started to rise.

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  12. I didn't know that there was a Jell-O set out there from the 1960s. Pretty cool! Did your mom or grandma make Jell-O with pieces of fruit inside? Mine sure did ;-)

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    1. You're mind will really be blown then when you find out that there were two Jell-O baseball sets produced during the 60's.

      My grandma died when I was still fairly young, and I don't remember anything food-related about her, but my mom certainly did the Jell-O with fruit. My favorite part of the Jell-O making process was always getting to drink a cup of it right after it was all mixed together -- and still a bit warm. It's funny too because maybe 2-3 years ago I got a sudden hankering for a cup of strawberry Jell-O, bought some, made it, had my cup (which was still really good), and then added a sliced banana to the remaining liquid. By the next morning, the banana slices were all black and gross looking, and it didn't taste all that great either. I asked my mom what I did wrong because they never did that when she used to make it, but she couldn't figure out why they would've done that, as she had never done anything differently. Whatever the cause was, I don't think I'll ever be trying that again.

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