Dixie Premiums Checklist by Tom Popelka

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Dixie Premiums are one of the more popular, and thus higher priced, type movie collectibles you can hunt down.  I picked up a few recently and decided it made for a good time to share one of my more niche, though still highly used, resources with you.

Dixie Premiums Checklist by Tom Popelka

The Dixie Premiums Checklist is a wire-bound reference book by collector Tom Popelka.  The guide includes year by year checklists of all Dixie Premium issues from 1933-1953, plus checklists for the non-movie issues including the earliest, 1930 Zoo Animals set, the 1952 and 53 Baseball Stars set and the various World War II era war-themed sets.

Beyond the checklist itself, which shows you everything that is available, the most valuable point of reference for each issue comes at the top of the page.  For instance, I was able to identify the Clark Gable premium shown above and below this paragraph as 1936 through this information:

1936 Dixie Premiums
Lid – Wine or Black
Prem. 8×10 Deep Blue Border on left side
Set 24 in set – 2 poses each, 48 in set
Reverse Side: Stars name & studio on 1″ wide black band across top – 4 small b&w photos down left side – Black star on lower right side – Bio of each star on right side.

While mostly composed of the Checklists, Tom does include some interesting articles about the History of Dixie Lids and Premiums as well as his own experiences collecting them.

The back of the book includes and index of Dixie appearances by star, so, for instance, if you only collect Clark Gable besides the 1936 premium shown above you’re going to have to hunt down premiums (and lids!) from 1933-1935, 1937, 1947, and 1952.

Outside of collecting them all, now quite an expensive hunt (see prices realized at bottom of page), Tom Popelka’s Dixie Premiums Checklist is a collecting tool which will pay for itself by answering any questions you may have about Dixie Premiums.

The only bad part: it’s nearly impossible to find.  I picked up my signed edition directly from Tom through an eBay auction a few years ago.  When I wrote him asking if there were still copies available he was a little vague but indicated that they were available for $14.50 + Priority Shipping.  So I’m assuming if you send Tom 20 bucks you’ll be all set:

Tom Popelka
P.O. Box 3130
Temple, TX 76505-3130

I have a few pages of Dixie Premium Photo ID Guides over on things-and-other-stuff.com, though truthfully they are in need of revision.  This page for the 2-piece black & white 1934 set is pretty good, but this 1935 Guide could stand to be split into a few pages as it has some later Premiums on the bottom half of the page.

I’ve listed my most recent Dixie acquisitions, including the Gable shown above on Bonanzle:
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