Lot # 644: 1921 Exhibit Supply Co. Machine-Front Card Advertising Display Featuring Babe Ruth

Scarce Exhibit Supply Company vending-machine card window display of the 1921 Exhibits series, featuring Babe Ruth. Ruth is the key card from the set and it is one of Ruth's earliest cards featuring him with the Yankees. 1921 was the first year the legendary Exhibit Supply Company of Chicago issued cards. It would go on to issue sets for the next 50 years. These cards were sold by Exhibit card machines at amusement parks and penny arcades, one penny per card. The vending machine display consists of the actual issued card mounted on a thicker stock perfectly sized for use in large Exhibits card dispensing machines. The cost of a card (1 cent) and the directions on how to access it are printed along the base. The display was inserted within the glass-enclosed front panel of a vending machine to entice youngsters to purchase cards. It is a virtual certainty that this item originates from the dispersal of The Exhibit Supply Company archives. Long ago, when the company was no longer in business, many of the photos, uncut sheets, and various advertising materials from the archives of the company were scattered throughout the collecting world. The display (7-1/8 x 6-1/2 inches) has handling wear commensurate with its age and fragile nature, including creasing and a small edge tear along the bottom. In Good condition overall. This is an attractive and rare original advertising display relating to The Exhibit Supply Company, one of the greatest and most prolific issuers of cards in hobby history.