Looking for some input from the 30's era experts. I haven't really dipped my toes into this era of collecting much to date and am considering starting a set in the future. What would be the toughest set to complete of all the Goudey sets?...or to just find single type examples? Probably interested in a historical/military themed set from the 1930's/40's which doesn't feature a whole lot of airplanes. Maybe this has been discussed before, but I would like to revisit the debate.

If you're talking about a "master set", I vote for the Goudey Indian Gum set. Several of those cards are near impossible. (I say "near" in deference to Dan C.)

Majik Fold Pictures

Radio Rascals, set of just six cards
...may not be as tough as Jim's pick,
....but certainly just a step behind
......if at all.

Benjamin's Guide mentions that it wasn't even listed in
..the early reference guides. (as were many sets)

Rainbow Gum was one of Goudey's other interests, but definately
..a Goudey promotion.

Actually, I think this would be the toughest Goudey set to complete
Our Gang Puzzle Set, R198

http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~dan/z-ns-start/gog/go.html

And thanks to modern day photo imaging, the edges were removed, to show
how Goudey wanted the set to be displayed.

http://www1.coe.neu.edu/~dan/z-ns-start/gog/go-nob.html

Dan--just how tough is the "no title" variant? I have seen a few thru the years, but never kept track---thanks---

They were issued with edges on the card.
..Kids removed the edges to make the "puzzle"

The ultimate set would be one that had all 25 card's edges intact.

(similar to the rare "tab-attached Fleer Cops and Robbers
and other "tabbed" sets)

Is there any sort of unofficial ranking of the top 5-10 toughest Goudey sets?

I think the three sets Dan and Jim have mentioned are very tough, though I was lucky enough to get a full set of the Our Gang cards still in the original wrapper. Of the more mainstream sets here was my experience in completing them:

Indian Gum: The basic 216 card set is a little tough (thanks for the help at the end Ralph!) but with persistence it's a nice do-able challenge. I never attempted the full blown 432-card variation set but I think that would be extremely difficult. Only a couple people I know have ever completed it.

First Column Defenders, Action Gum, Soldier Boys, Sky Birds, World War Gum, Jungle Gum: I think these are all pretty reasonable to complete and nice sets to work on. Not too easy, not too hard.

Boy Scouts: This takes some doing because of all the Boy Scout collectors you have to compete with. Tough to complete in nice condition.

Sea Raiders: One of the toughest sets if you consider the Canadian cards to be high numbers in a 48-card set. If you consider Sea Raiders just to consist of the first 24 cards (as Burdick did) then not too bad.

Impossible set; we don't even know how many are in it. A lot of 30 cards sold some years ago in a Lipset auction. Since then, perhaps another 30 have surfaced. The key is Jack Dempsey. Below is a link to some images. Ken Goudey also has some on his web site.

http://imageevent.com/exhibitman/ohboygumgoudeycards

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