I wanted to share a recent mistake I made and maybe prevent someone else from doing the same thing. I recently purchased a small lot of what I thought was "SGT Preston of the Yukon" cards. When the cards arrived I notice that the card back was significantly more yellow than the cards I already had in my collection. The differance was so significant that I thought there might be a variation based on differennt card stock. After a little research, I realized...
Quaker Oats issued to nearly identical sets of cards depicting images from the radio and later TV show called "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon". The first set was based off the radio broadcast and was released in 1950. The set title is "Challenge of the Yukon" and the ACC# is (279-4). The second set was released in1956 when the radio show moved to TV. The set title was changed to "SGT. Preston of the Yukon" and the ACC# is (279-15).
Both sets contain the same checklist, front images and back design. There are three differences that I noticed; the first being the difference in card stock (the 1950 set is cream colored and the '56 set is white), the second being the text "SEE 'SGT. PRESTON OF THE YUKON' ON TELEVISION EVERY WEEK" on the back of the '56 set, and the third being the copyright line (the 1950 set reads, " © CHALLENGE OF THE YUKON, INC" the '56 set reads, "Copyright, 1956, by Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, Inc.")
Here's a side-by-side of two card backs to show the differance:
I thought I was making progress on the '56 set, but nope. Now I have two sets of nearly identical cards to chase....aargh!
My two-cents is worth slightly more than a penny.
-- Chad --
