Description

Celebrate America's 250th birthday with this 1932 U.S. Caramel card of William Henry Harrison, the 9th President of the United States. Please see photos for condition as there is staining on the front and back - graded SGC 2 (Good). In the landscape of non-sports cards, the 1932 U.S. Caramel Presidents set merges American history with early 20th-century marketing. This set not only captures the historical importance of our former Presidents, but also tells a fascinating story of scarcity and ingenuity in the trading card world. The 1932 U.S. Caramel Presidents set was issued by the United States Caramel Company, which was known for its confectionery products. During the 1930s, candy companies often included trading cards with their products as a marketing strategy to increase sales, something that was particularly popular with children. This set in particular consisted of cards featuring U.S. Presidents, spanning from George Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt, with the intention of educating young children about American leadership while simultaneously promoting their own product. The cards were distributed alongside caramel candy, offering a tangible piece of history to anyone willing to buy the sweets. Each card displayed a portrait of a president, with information such as a nickname and a biography of their Presidency on the back. They were produced in three colors: red, orange, and blue. While the company never released the official rarity of all three colors, based on decades of collecting, collectors have discovered that red and orange are approximately equally as common, while blue is unquestionably the rarest color to find. On the bottom of each card back is a promotional campaign for their company, where collectors were encouraged to send in a complete set of 31 cards to receive a one-pound box of assorted chocolates. This, however, introduced the element of scarcity that would define the collectability and significance of this set. The U.S. Caramel Company intentionally made one card, William McKinley, extremely rare by limiting its distribution. This scarcity was not accidental, but instead was a calculated move to both limit the company's financial liability in giving away chocolates, and to drive the consumer to continuously purchase their product, eager to complete the set. This practice of short-printing a card within a set to drive sales was not unique to the U.S. Caramel set, but is famously noted in this particular set due to the McKinley card's extreme rarity. The card was so scarce that for decades, it was believed to not even exist at all. It was only in the early 1990s that examples publicly surfaced, confirming the elusive card’s existence. William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States from March to April 1841. He died 31 days into his term, making him the shortest serving president and the first president to die in office. Immediately after his death, Vice President John Tyler took over, ending the constitutional crisis that had been triggered by the question of presidential succession in the U.S. Constitution. Harrison was born in Charles City County, Virginia. He was the last president to be born before the U.S. Declaration of Independence, making him a British subject. A member of the Harrison family of Virginia, he was a son of Benjamin Harrison V, a Founding Father, and the father of John Scott Harrison, the only son and father of two presidents of the United States. His grandson, Benjamin Harrison, became the 23rd president of the United States. In 1794, he participated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers, an American military victory that ended the Northwest Indian War. In 1811, he led a military force against Tecumseh's confederacy at the Battle of Tippecanoe, for which he earned the nickname "Old Tippecanoe". He was promoted to major general in the Army during the War of 1812, and led American infantry and cavalry to victory at the Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada. Harrison's political career began in 1798, with an appointment as secretary of the Northwest Territory. In 1799, he was elected as the territory's non-voting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. He became governor of the newly established Indiana Territory in 1801 and, through multiple treaties with American Indian tribes, he acquired millions of acres for the nation. After the War of 1812, he moved to Ohio where, in 1816, he was elected to represent the state's 1st district in the House. In 1824, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, though his Senate term was cut short by his appointment as minister plenipotentiary to Gran Colombia in 1828. Harrison returned to private life in Ohio until he was one of four Whig Party nominees in the 1836 U.S. presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Martin Van Buren. In the 1840 presidential election, the party nominated him again, with John Tyler as his running mate, under the campaign slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too", and Harrison defeated Van Buren. Just three weeks after his inauguration, Harrison fell ill and died days later. After resolution of an ambiguity in the constitution regarding succession, Tyler became president. Harrison is remembered for his Indian treaties, and also his inventive election campaign tactics. He is often omitted in historical presidential rankings due to the brevity of his tenure.