Collecting The Cubs: Helmar Cards & Collectibles

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Helmar Cards & Collectibles - Part 1

Some of you may be familiar with the cards and collectibles produced by Helmar Brewing Company, but I thought I would put together a listing for the blog since they aren't checklisted by any of the major catalogs. I'm going to do this in two parts because Helmar has recently started selling 'vintage-style artwork' cards which deserve their own writeup. I'll post that one tomorrow or the next day.

Helmar is a regional brewer in the midwest who is probably better known for their collectibles than for their beer. It appears they started producing collectibles with a card set back in 2005. They added a couple of additional series of cards up through 2008. These cards are fairly nice and make for a nice oddball addition to my collection. They are tobacco card sized and Johnny Evers, Hack Wilson, Jimmy Sheckard, Billy Sunday, and Gabby Hartnett represent the Cubs;

In addition to the cards, they have also produced a variety of non-cards items, and some 'artwork' cards. These non-card items are all neat little niche collectibles, but they typically sell for more than I am will to pay for them. So the cards will likely be the only thing I will ever end up with in my collection. But I've listed a checklist of the non-card Cubs items from Helmar below along with photos;

Small Silks (3.25" x 5.5") - Gabby Hartnett & Hack Wilson