Lot # 2894: 1937 R23 "Big Little Book Series" Collection (30) Including Two Uncut Partial Strips

Collection of 25 different medium- to lower-grade 1937 R23 "Big Little Book Series" trading cards accompanied by two unperforated panels (one 2-card and one 3-card). Two cards have been professionally graded and encapsulated by SGC. Seven different characters are featured in 32-card subsets in this rare 1930s issue. The collection consists of the following cards organized by character subsets: 1) Buck Jones (6 cards): #162 (Pr-fr), 163 (Gd+), 166 (EX+ 70), 168 (Vg), 174 (Gd), and 190 (trimmed through perforations, otherwise Fr-Gd). 2) Dan Dunn (3 cards): #202 (Gd), 211 (Gd), and 224 (Pr). 3) Dick Tracy (1 card): #56 (Pr-Fr due to marks). 4) Flash Gordon (5 cards and two panels): #4 (Gd+), 10 (Pr), 12 (Pr-Fr), 19 (Pr-Fr), 20 (Pr), panel #21/22/23 (Vg due to crease of #21 only), and panel #17/18 (Pr due to small spots of paper loss). 5) G-Man (3 cards): #140 (Gd), 145 (Vg+), and 153 (Vg). 6) Popeye (1 card): #66 (Vg). 7) Tom Mix (6 cards): #99 (EX/NM 80), 103 (Ex), 114 (Ex), 116 (Gd+), 118 (Vg), and 125 (Vg). The corners of Big Little Book Series cards are notoriously susceptible to wear. Corner wear is a common characteristic of surviving cards, both due to the stock on which the cards are printed, and their original method of issue in perforated uncut strips that had to be separated by hand. The reverse of each card features an elaborate "chapter" of the story each card subset tells. While it is certain that there are a total of 224 cards in the set, we have never seen or heard of the assembly of a complete set, and it is possible that a complete set has never been assembled. When The Sport Americana Price Guide to Non-Sports Cards was last published in 1993, many cards in the set had still not been located in order to list the captions for each card in the set checklist. The "Big Little Book Series" cards are among the rarest and most desirable of all 1930s trading cards. Total: 30 cards (25 individual cards, one three-card strip, and one two-card strip).