WIREPHOTO: Karrem Abdul Jabbar - LOT of (10) - 1976 thru 1988

When I was a kid, I loved grocery shopping with my mom in the hope that I would find my next favorite food - you know the one, of course the one that came with baseball cards !!! Well thanks to Armour, back in 1955 kids were able to enjoy hot dogs along with their baseball collectibles.

1955 was the first of 3 years that Armour released near exactly similar coins, 1955, 1959 & 1960. The 1-1/2 inch plastic coins came in a large variety of colors including several rare with perhaps even some 1-of-1's !!!

Six "common" colors (aqua,navy,pale green,orange,red & yellow) along with the "scarce" colors (black,dark green,lime green,pale blue,tan, gold,silver,pale orange & pink (some call peach)) made collecting a "master" set nearly impossible. Add in the many variations (some found 50 years after release) and you can imagine the task.

For a detailed article on the 1955, 1959 and 1960 Armour baseball coins be sure to check out sportscollectorsdaily.

Gateway Stamp Company has provided collectors over 1 MILLION authenticated certified autographs over the last 30+ years. Though a "stamp company", Gateway rarely dealt in stamps, going down a new creative road becoming one of the world's unique secrets in autograph collecting. They combined the best in art, color photographs, historical events and autographs with their full-color silk cachet envelopes. Gateway's first client was Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock and hundreds followed.

WHAT ARE FULL-COLOR SILK CACHETS?
A "cachet" is a design on an envelope marking an event. "Full-color silk" refers to the delicate material into which the art and photography are printed. After the silk artwork is applied it's signed by the player and then officially post-marked by the U.S. Post Office IN THE CITY OF THE EVENT !!!

WHY POSTMARKS?
The key to EVERY Gateway cachet is the postmark. A postmark is a great way to mark historical events. The rules governing the granting of postmarks GUARANTEE that NO Gateway issue can EVER be re-issued protecting the value of the autographed cachets !!!