Kashin Motion Picture Stars Variations

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I received an email from a customer today asking about different versions of Kashin Motion Picture Stars cards that he’s seen. Specifically he mentioned the cards of Colleen Moore, Mary Ann Jackson and Charles “Buddy” Rogers.

I replied that I suspected something of the sort because the last batch of Kashin’s I had acquired actually did contain the two different Buddy Rogers cards. I hadn’t had a chance to follow-up on this but he asked another question that really made me curious and I wanted to share.

The Kashin Motion Picture Stars cards were originally issued, probably at the tail end of the 1920’s, in four different colored boxes containing 24 cards each. Jefferson Burdick designated them W618 in his American Card Catalog.

This customer noticed a discrepancy in the checklist on back of one of the boxes I show in my Photo ID Guide of Kashins and asked if the name I had matched what he had. I took a look and lo and behold, no match:

Yes, I know that’s too small for you to read, but we’ll blow it up in a second.

First thing though, notice that the text at the bottom of one box reads “Kashin Publishing Company” and the other reads “Kashin Publications.” The “Kashin Publications” box also has the text “Made in USA” at the bottom right, whereas the other box does not.

The “Kashin Publishing” box also has a couple of crude star graphics on the front of the box with the number 24 (the size of the set), which the “Kashin Publications” box doesn’t have.

Interesting, looks like there were multiple runs of these boxed sets. I also have the same variations of the Canary Colored Box, though all my remaining boxes are of the “Kashin Publications” variety–the more common of the two varieties in the small sample size I own.

Here’s the big difference though, first the “Kashin Publishing Company” box, which I suspect is the earlier issue:

And the same section of the “Kashin Publications” coral box:

I haven’t studied the boxes for any further discrepancies as of yet, but upon quick check I didn’t notice any. I suspect the “Kashin Publications” box, with Harold Lloyd, is the later issue because Lloyd’s name is in a different typeface and almost looks edited into place.

Another interesting twist is that I haven’t actually seen the Ruth Patterson card leaving me to wonder if it was ever issued. I do not have a “Kashin Publishing Company” version of the Orange Colored Box which the Patterson would have been included in, so I can’t say for sure. I have also bought a lot of these loose over the years and do not have an image of the Patterson card on file. It could just be an error on the box, but I’ll definitely be looking for the Patterson going forward!

I’ll also be giving a better look at the boxes I do have and checking the individual cards on hand for any variations I may have besides Buddy Rogers:

I’ll likely be updating my current series of Kashin Motion Picture Stars Photo ID Guides into the new format on this part of the site once I find out as much as I can. I love a good mystery, especially card variations like this, so I’m hoping to discover more!

Related:

• W618 Kashin Publications Motion Picture Stars Photo ID Guide and Checklist