I recently picked up this set which I never heard of before (anyone else have this set?). There are 12 cards from the 1937 serial "Wild West Days" starring John Mack Brown.



It is printed on heavy paper.

My question is - is it real? I can't quite tell. The cards themselves are in super condition and the dot size on the front is quite large (this is the thing that concerns me most). I have seen this large pattern before which is a red flag for reproduction (but also implies cheap production). The backs look similar to other printing of the era. The set also came with a glassine envelope which is old.

Here is a "super sized" image of the front so you can see the dot pattern....





Since I was not familiar with the set I wondered if anyone else has the set and if theirs is similar in appearance?

Todd
They are real and there are other sets from Universal. The one you show is by far the most common. The Flash Gordon is very hard to find, and the Ace Drummond is almost impossible to find.

Thanks Jim!

Jim,
Do you have examples of those other sets you can share?

I'll try to find them Todd. There is also a "Stanley in Africa" Universal button set which is much sought after by button collectors. It is an alphabet based animal set.

The dot looks like typical offset halftone dot to me, fwiw.

Todd - You beat me on this one the other day, on eBay.  Appears we were both bidding on something that looked cool but was unfamiliar. 

But since my loss, I've researched these . . . . and feel much better now.

They are being run off by the thousands, evidently by some kook in the backwoods, on a basement printer.  He buys his 'genuine' envelopes over at Hallmark. Gonna be hundreds of sets on ebay shortly . . . And Jim, Flash Gordon comes out next week . . .  . . . . . . .

. . . . . . NOT!

Congrats on a cool little set -- but next one is mine, okay?

Thanks for the info Laura!

It's all yours Ralph!

Todd
I know of one complete set of Flash Gordon and no complete sets of Ace Drummond.

Todd I have this set and often wondered if it was legit. Mine had the envelope also.I collect Johhny Mack Brown items and have only seen a few of these sets over the years. This is a scan of the set in the April 2001 the Ron Oser Auction. Very cool set!