Monday, October 15, 2018

Lone Sole: c1955 Sumo Wrestling Playing Card

As a set completionist, I dislike having single, uncatalogued cards/menko in my collection.  It pains me to see these lone cards without any other companion cards because it prevents me from cataloguing them in my book.  This lone sole of Yokozuna Chiyonoyama has sat in the lone sole section in my to-be-catalogued binder for many years now...probably on the order of a decade or more.  By all accounts, it is a rather ordinary menko/playing card.  The edges are smooth indicating it was likely issued in packs or in a magazine as a give away.  On the back there appears small glue spots which indicate it could have been used as a prize card for a menko set, or it was stuck in a album.  It is off-centered which is not uncommon for menko/cards of this era and could elude to it being more of a give away in children's magazine.  Chiyonoyama was ranked as Yokozuna from 1952-1958 and was the stablemaster for the great Chiyonofuji so he definitely is no slouch.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and have an amazing week!



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5 comments:

  1. FujiOctober 15, 2018 at 8:47 PM

    Love the detective work. I'd love to hang out one day... grab dinner... and pick your brain about how the heck you figure out the year on something like this.

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    1. SumoMenkoManOctober 16, 2018 at 1:37 PM

      Any time. Hopefully we make it back out to California and we have the opportunity to catch some of your favorite flea markets.

      Delete
  2. FujiOctober 16, 2018 at 5:35 PM

    Definitely. Hit me up and I'll take you on the grand tour.

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  3. NPB Card GuyOctober 18, 2018 at 1:41 PM

    The uncatalogued cards in my collection drive me nuts too. It must be an OCD thing.

    I'm with Fuji though - how do you figure out the year on these? I at least have some uniform references that I can use to narrow down the possible dates.

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    1. SumoMenkoManOctober 19, 2018 at 11:26 PM

      I think you are right. My binder of these lone soles is a constant reminder the keep searching. With sumo menko, main production was from two eras: 1932-1945 and 1952-1962. The quality of the menko, Chiyonofuji’s history, and similar menko lead me to believe it is mid 1950s. At the end of 1950s and early 1960s production was a lot better so this more crude style had me guess mid 1950s.

      Delete

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