Mistakes Were Made - 1960 Doyusha Fusa 7: Type 2 (BC603-2)

Mistakes on Japanese cards are fairly rare.  Mistakes on vintage Japanese cards are even more rare with only a handful of known examples.  With the wild west of production from the 1930s to the 1960s, I am surprised there wasn't a ton more.  And with hundreds of sets and hundreds of thousands of menko and cards being produced, this is quite the astounding feat.  However, one set that got it wrong was the BC603-2: 1960 Doyusha Fusa -Type 2 Set.  The front of the menko look normal, but upon turning them over it quickly becomes apparent that someone at the Doyusha factory had a bad day.  They got the wrong backs...meaning the name and statistics for another wrestler accidently appear on the menko.  Instead of redoing the layout and reprinting, Doyusha overlaid a fan with the wrestler's correct name.  The Type 2 set is printed on grey paper stock and is the set that contains the error.  The Type 1s all appear correct and were printed on tan paper stock leading me to believe that either A) the Type 1s were printed later after they were all corrected, or B) the Type 2s were printed at another factory and corrected locally.  Either way, it makes for an interesting piece of Japanese menko history.

I hope every one has a great weekend and sayonara!

Eye Candy: A601 - 1960 Kabaya Caramel Sumo Wrestling Cards

Japanese candy/gum cards were quite popular back in the 1950s and 1960s and were used as marketing ploys to help entice the young ones to spend their hard-earned yen on the treats and prizes.  Sumo was at a peak in popularity during this time, but there were few types of cards to market the wrestlers.  Menko was past its heyday and bromides were quickly becoming a thing of the past.  Candy and gum cards had a short burst of energy in the late 1950s and early 1960s which happend to capture these current wrestlers of the day.  These paper-thin cards are extremely hard to find and very rarely come up for auction.  I can't imagine there are many still out there as the thin paper is easily damaged and many were likely thrown out by uninspired collectors.  I have seen less than 10 of these in about 20 years lending some credence to their rarity.  These three happen to be of some of the lower-ranked wrestlers, but I can imagine any of the top wrestlers of the day would command a premium.

 

Here is a metal box that distributors would have sold to candy shops which would have contained the smaller candy boxes.

I hope everyone has a wonder Christmas!  Cheers!

60-Year Old Sumo Wrestling Card Goodness - 1960 Marumatsu Kimarite Bromide 6: Type 2

Changing of the guard in sumo wrestling happens when the new, younger generation of wrestlers out performs the older generation and the yokozuna realize it is time to hang up the mawashi.  Sometimes this is noticeable, other times it is so subtle that you don't realize it happened.  The last major changing of the guard occurred in 2002/2003 when Asashoryu stormed onto the scene and pushed the older Musashimaru and Takanohana out.  Before that it was in 1991 when Takanohana upset the dominate Chiyonofuji and he realized it was time to retire.  Taiho, arguable the best Yokozuna in history (we'll see where Hakuho lands though), was an up-and-comer in 1960 and was getting ready to dethrone the great Yokozuna of their time, Wakanohana and Tochinishiki.  His rival, Kashiwado, was right beside him and they went on to dominate sumo throughout the 1960s until they too got dethroned in the 1970s.  Such is the life in a King of the Hill type sport.  Perform or retire.

This scarce 1960 Marumatsu Black and White Bromide (BB-Series) set captures this dynamic time in sumo.  I recently picked up the rarer of the two different versions: Type 2 Blue Backs.  In them you can see an aging Wakanohana and Asashio.  I don't own any of Taiho or Kashiwado in the Blue Backs, but they all exist in this set.....the young getting ready to dethrone the old.