1923 V100 Willards Chocolates: Unappreciated?

Prewar Canadian sets sure are cool aren't they?

Well, most are. I can't stand the C46's because I think the woodgrain design is ugly. But recently a buddy of mine started collecting the V100 Willards, and I have to admit that they have caught my eye as well. Lots unique poses in the set, tons of great players, and a simple clean design. It's also one of the largest sets of the 20's (if not the largest?) I'd like them even more if they had a front team/player caption or a bio on the back, but oh well, you can't have it all. They sorta have the look of the 1928 Star Player Candies but can be had much more affordably.

A bunch of V100's went off on ebay last night for what I thought was pretty strong prices. The Canadian seller Cap sports always seems to have a TON of great cards. What do you think of this set? Do you have any in your collection? If so, please share

Here's a neat looking Evers from last night's batch.

Ben, I don't own one myself, but I have always loved the Ruth card from this set.
He was so thin in the early years. Classic pose.........

I had all the cards of players that made their lone card appearance in this set. I traded away the last one I had for a couple of t205s. They were all grade AUTH even though they were oversized because they were handcut from a sheet. I got $75 for each of mine. What did these recent ones goe for?

Jay

I watched all of those sell yesterday...and all of my bids/snipes eclipsed!!! I really like them and would like tleast 1 type for my collection someday! They sold for what I thought were very strong prices...nice conditioned cards...many with writing on the back. And did y'all see those 36' WWG's...talk about strong prices...but beautiful conditioned cards as well.

pete

i suspect others like me are not interested in cards made outside the US...like canada, japan, germany etc. i like the fact cards are apart of US history and a piece of americana.

i also have no interest in cuban cards but can see why they're popular with the limited #s and the cuban stars and the only source for the negro greats etc.

I picked up 37 of the Willards offered last night; I have decided to give this set a try (although after looking at some of the prices they got, I am questioning the logic of that one!). Most of the ones that sold last night were right up my alley - nice fronts that sold cheap becuase of back damage - in this case writing. The backs are blank and I am what you could call a "front collector" anyway, so I could care less about some writing. Although the commons with back writing went for fairly low prices, I felt that clean examples and HOFers of all conditions sold at very strong prices.

I think they are greatly underappreciated as a set - to my knowledge they are the largest set of the 1920's at 180 cards and many of the poses are not used in any other sets. The imagery is somewhat crude but I am drawn to them - they remind me of Star Player Candy cards, which is another one of my favorite sets. As noted, I think the fact that they are Canadian cards hurts their popularity - I also wonder if they were categorized as "E" cards (they are Willards Chocolates technically, so they could be!) if they wouldnt be much more popular.

sabrjay wrote:What did these recent ones go for?

The hofers went for big money. Most in the 3-400 dollar range...and that was for lesser HOFers like Wheat, Roush, etc. Some were in very nice condition. You used to find those for cheap! Commons went much more reasonably, most in the 20-40 range but many even less. Those seemed like great deals in comparison!

Agreed. Great set, underappreciated. I have one or two of no particular note.

I have collected these for a long time, mostly the HOFers. Those were the strongest prices I have ever seen. I especially love the WaJo with the bat slung over his shoulder. I had a snipe @ twice what I wanted to pay that didn't even go off.

Agree Jeff - the HOFers went very high (Ed Rousch for $450!) considering their previous selling prices. I hope it is an anomaly; I won't be able to make much headway on this set if those are the kind of prices they are going to command.

That Baker is a beauty! Awesome card you have...

Crazy prices for those HOFers! I picked up a decent Roush and Baker a year or two ago fo $70-80 each. Sometimes when someone has an enire set people go crazy for the cards thinking this is their only chance to get them. The V100's are tough but certainly not impossible.

Also at 180 cards the V100's aren't the largest of the 1920's sets. That honor belongs to the E120 set (how'd you all forget that one?).

-Rhett

I love this set and managed to pick up a couple of Red Sox cards the other night. The Pennock is a pose that is rarely seen of him on a Red Sox card so I was happy to pick it up. Prices were strong on HOFers and you gotta love that Wa Jo with the bat pose. I was way down the list of bidders on that one.

I think this set is underrated as it has some great images but being a Canadian issue it doesn't get a lot of attention.