Redemption Program: 2016-2017

The 2016-2017 Redemption Series: 1922 Pea-Nut Gallery series of art cards commemorating the 1919 Black Sox Scandal

• The 1919 Black Sox Scandal theme of the 2016-2017 Redemption Series was an original idea suggested by longtime Ars Longa Art Cards’ customer R.L. from Kansas City, MO. Many thanks, R.L.!
• The 1922 Pea-Nut Gallery cards measure 2″ x 4.75″
• The design for the 1922 Pea-Nuts was inspired by the 1922 Zeenuts for two reasons:
  • Although the scandal happened in 1919 and the players were formally acquitted in 1920, Judge Landis banned the players from baseball for life in August of 1921. It therefore seemed that, had a contemporaneous card set been issued to commemorate the event, such a set would have been produced and sold in 1922.
  • Although there are a few attractive card issues from 1922, I thought the size & format of the Zeenuts best suited this particular exercise.

• There are 17 cards in the series, divided into five categories:

Cards from the 2016-2017 Ars Longa Art Cards Redemption Series were never sold. They were created specifically for the Ars Longa mail-in Redemption Offer and were given free to customers who redeemed Ars Longa Thank You Coupons. I did not reveal the size, scope or theme or publish images of the cards on this website until December, 2017 so that I might preserve the element of surprise when folks received them.

• Twelve complete sets were created, one card at a time as needed, and issued from 2016-2017
• A thirteenth set was created and archived for preservation in the Ars Longa Vault
• More than 1,200 Thank You Coupons were redeemed by customers
• Some cards were gifted as Holiday Bonus Cards each December, from 2016 to 2017
• Holiday Bonus Cards are determined by formula and are awarded to the top customers, by dollars spent, each calendar year
• Five customers were able to collect the entire Redemption Series through the mail-in offer
• Future complete collections of the 2016-2017 Redemption Series may require purchases from the secondary market. If you should complete the series on your own after 12/31/2017, please let me know!

The Zeenuts:

• Zeenut cards featured Pacific Coast League players and were produced annually for 28 years, from 1911 to 1938
• Zeenut cards were issued by the Collins-McCarthy Candy Co. of San Francisco (later known as the Collins-Hencke Candy Co. and then the Collins Candy Co.)
• Zeenut cards were distributed in boxes of the company’s snack and candy products: Zeenuts, Ruf-Neks and Home Run Kisses
• From 1913 to 1937, all Zeenut cards featured a half-inch coupon at the bottom of the card that could be redeemed for prizes
• Only a small percentage of Zeenut cards survive today with the coupon intact
• More than 3,700 Zeenut cards have been documented and previously uncatalogued cards are still being discovered

1922 Zeenut Pacific Coast League:

• The 1922 Zeenut Pacific Coast League series contains 162 known cards
• Subjects are featured in isolated black-and-white cutout photos with sepia highlights
• The blank-backed cards are dated on the front and measure 1-13/16″ x 3-9/16″
• The series is well-known for containing Tony Lazzeri’s rookie card with the Salt Lake City Bees
• The series is best known, however, for containing the most highly prized Zeenut card ever produced: The 1922 Zeenut Jim Thorpe of the Portland Beavers. This is Thorpe’s most coveted and valuable baseball card and it marks his final appearance on a contemporaneous sportscard

Here are some of the more interesting original Zeenut cards:

Remarkably, six of the ten players banned in the Black Sox Scandal were featured on original Zeenut cards: Buck Weaver, Fred McMullin, Claude “Lefty” Williams, Swede Risberg, Hap Felsch & Joe Gedeon. Here are a couple before & afters:

The 2013-2015 Redemption Series Reverse: