The 1939 Goudey R303 sets are among the most interesting of the 1930s gum issues.  In addition to being noted for its popular Big League Gum baseball cards, the Goudey Gum Company was an aggressive and innovative marketer.  From the gimmicky exclusion of the Nap Lajoie card in 1933 to their Thumb Movies and Knot Hole League games of the later 1930s, the company consistently invented (or borrowed)  marketing ideas that were designed to sell more product. One of their more successful ventures involved the development of premiums - large-sized photos of popular ballplayers intended to be supplements to their mainstream baseball card sets.  Premiums were issued beginning in 1934, effectively a "reward" for buying lots of Goudey gum and cards.  The promotions were a hit, setting the stage for sports premium redemption offers throughout the decade, not only from Goudey but from many other companies as well.  As the Great Depression began to take its toll on the country, sportscard manufacturers began feeling the heat, and in 1937 the Goudey Gum Company was able to purchase the assets of the bankrupt National Chicle Company, which included the "Diamond Stars" brand.  During that year, Goudey did not release a mainstream baseball set - it was not until 1938's "Head's Up" set that Goudey re-entered the baseball card arena.  In 1939, Goudey re-entered the premium game, with the set that is perhaps the crowning achievement of 1930s premium collections: the "Diamond Stars" premiums.  Finally using the Diamond Stars brand that was purchased in 1937, Goudey issued three distinct premium sets in the US.  The sets featured oversized cards printed in three different tones (brown, black and white, and sepia), featuring a small assortment of baseball stars of the day.  The images were produced from photographs, using a photo-lithograph process, and include beautiful representations of both action and portrait shots.  The reverse repeat the design of National Chicle's R344 Rabbit Maranville "How To" booklets that were issued in high-number series backs of Batter-Up cards, each including illustrated baseball tips.

Presented here is an outstanding complete set, consisting primarily of black and white but with a few sepiatone examples mixed in (some collectors consider the two to be separate sets, though the Standard Catalog lists both colors as R303-B). A condition breakdown of the set would be 8% EX, 18% VG/EX, 37% VG, 29% GOOD and 8% FAIR, but it should be noted that each of these cards present extremely well, and the overwhelming reason for the slight lesser technical grade relates to general waviness of the thin card stock.  Key cards grade as follows: Dickey VG, Cronin F, Foxx G, Greenberg VG, and Ott G, with three cards graded by SGC: Herman and Feller each at EX 5, and DiMaggio at GOOD 2.  Of the cards, just three - Case, DiMaggio and Higgins - are of the sepia tone variety.

An outstanding set, one of the most attractive of all the premium issues from the era.  24 cards total.