Helmar Brewing Company of Detroit sold its
beer and line of snacks on a very limited regional basis. The founder
is a huge sports fan and combined that love into producing exemplary art
collectibles to distribute with those products. While this method of
distribution may be no more, Helmar is still producing fine sports
collectibles and has attracted an avid following of collectors.
Their first products were baseball cards patterned after the early tobacco cards. They were an instant hit. The
company name, in fact, is the same as the Helmar brand of Turkish
cigarettes marketed in the first decade of the 20th century by the S.
Anargyros subsidiary of the giant American Tobacco Co. In 2007, they
produced their own version of the 1912 S81 Baseball Silks, which were
premiums offered to buyers of Turkish Trophies and Helmar cigarettes.
Those originals are very valuable today.
The 2007 versions are more accessible, not by by a great margin.
Only 40 examples of each player were produced. Helmar itself says on
its website that most were distributed at the 2007 National card show
that summer. Other sources claim they were distributed, one at a time,
as toppers in cases of chips, pretzels etc. At any rate, if any complete
sets were ever sold, most have been broken up. Assembling singles into
a full set will be a challenge, and made more costly by any shipping
charges on an individual basis.
Here, the hard part is done for you. As for the silks themselves...
These
are the small versions, 24 in all make up the set. A large version was
also produced in 2007, of 16 subjects. (and a second series of large
was issued in 2008, numbering 17).
The
silks themselves measure 2" by 3" and each is stitched to a thicker
black velvet 'blanket' measuring 4 1/2" by 3 1/2" with an extra 1"
'tassel' at the bottom.
Each
silk features a baseball player in an original art pose with Helmar
advertising (for beer). The lineup is spectacular. 17 of the 24 are
Hall of Famers (Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson are reprsented twice,
in 'portratit' and 'action' poses for each). The 7 non-HOFers are
famous (notorious) for their own reasons. One of the endearing feature
of Helmar art, to collectors, is that they are true to the long history
of the game, including lesser to downright obscure names in their sets.
Some of those obscure players are highly-sought, as they were
overlooked in the card sets when they were active.
I
am listing them in the order shown in the images (fronts only, backs
all look the same), not in the order in which they appear in online
checklists.
* Hall of Fame
1. Babe Ruth* action
2.
Joe Jackson action - kept out of Cooperstown by his connection to the
1919 'Black Sox' scandal, though his play in that series was stellar.
3. Christy Mathewson* portrait
4. Christy Mathewson* action
5. Honus Wagner* portrait
6. Honus Wagner* action
7. Hughie Jennings* action
8. Mordecai Brown* portrait
9. Harry Heilmann* action
10. Elmer Flick* portrait
11. Buck Weaver action - one of the 'Eight Men Out'
12. Chick Gandil action - ringleader of the 'Black Sox'
13.
Pete Gray - known as 'The One-Armed Wonder', played one season in MLB
and many in the minors (league MVP in 1944), lost right arm at age 6.
14. Ray Chapman portrait - only MLB player to die from an in-game injury, beaned by the Yankees Carl Mays.
15. Frank Frisch* portrait
16. Rogers Hornsby* portrait
17. Kiki Cuyler* portrait
18. Martin Dihigo* portrait
19. Moe Berg portrait - World War II spy
20. Jimmy Foxx* portrait
21. Paul 'Daffy' Dean portrait - brother and teammate of Dizzy Dean
22. Gabby Hartnett* portrait
23. Charlie Gehringer* portrait
24. Hack Wilson* portrait
Condition on all are like-new. Just a gorgeous set.
Tracked and insured shipping included.
I
also have (and am considering listing) a near complete set of the
2007-2008 large silks. Missing only Buck Weaver from 2007, I have 15/16
(includes boxers Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey and Harry Greb, the rest
are ballplayers). 2008 I have all 16 ballplayers plus the bonus
American Indian 'Low Dog'.