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Recently, a vintage toy flipper here in Portland, OR heard of a deceased local woman who was such a magnificent hoarder during her lifetime, that her family required five (!) separate Estate Sales to liquidate her belongings. Among countless items sold was an Unpunched Mego ©1977b Joker, Mint-On-Card.
When I first saw this tiny thumbnail photo, I was attracted to the mysterious markings above the character logo:
Enlarging the photo, I could see it was a number, imprinted with an ink stamp. At first blush, the stamped number might look like a random defacing, perhaps done by an after-market seller or even a kid.
But it isn’t random.
I instantly recognized the first two digits, “48” as the prefix code for items sold through Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalogs throughout the 1970s. But such toys were always sold in plain, brown “Mailer” Boxes, right? Surely our late, Oregon-based hoarder didn’t acquire this graphical, retail-only 2nd Issue card through the Montgomery Ward catalog, did she? Well I went and met with the current owner, to judge for myself, and take some better photos.
Knowing Mego didn’t manufacture this particular 2nd Issue Card design until Fall 1977, I hoped to confirm that Ward did, in fact, offer Joker during (or later than) Christmas 1977. I hurriedly ran downstairs to rifle through my vintage Ward catalogs. Sure enough, Ward did offer Joker consistently (every year from 1974-1978, in fact).
But the Item Code? Does it match?! Here’s a scan from the 1977 Ward Catalog:
Incidentally, this Item Code was specific to Ward CATALOGS only, and was not even used in their own stores, which featured a different nomenclature.
OK, so: CONFIRMED. This gorgeous 2nd Issue carded Mego Joker was purchased via the Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog in either 1977 or 1978 (Remember, it couldn’t have been earlier, because Mego didn’t manufacture this card design until Fall 1977).
But WHY does this exist? The Ward catalog had been offering Mego World’s Greatest Super-Heroes action figures for years — including "Catalog Exclusives" such as the "Holy Grail" Secret Identities outfits in 1974 and Isis in 1976 — so this process should have been a well-oiled machine. In fact, Ward catalogs offered Joker for five consecutive years… one would think Ward would have had a pretty good handle on their Joker inventory requirements!
So just how did Ward exhaust their supply of plain brown Joker boxes, necessitating that they pull this 2nd Issue card from their "Retail" inventory, and stamp it with a Christmas Catalog item number? I love the fact that this specimen is Unpunched — the stamp directly covering the punch-hole — suggesting that this card was pulled directly from a shipping case. (Or at least before it actually hit the store’s toy aisle!)
Man! As if Mailer Boxes weren’t already difficult enough to find, Collectors now need to be on the look-out for 2nd Issue Cards, too?
It’s fun to speculate what happened here, and I have a couple possible explanations, but I'd like to hear your thoughts. What say you, my Mailer Box Lovin' Mego Sleuths?
- Benjamin
When I first saw this tiny thumbnail photo, I was attracted to the mysterious markings above the character logo:
Enlarging the photo, I could see it was a number, imprinted with an ink stamp. At first blush, the stamped number might look like a random defacing, perhaps done by an after-market seller or even a kid.
But it isn’t random.
I instantly recognized the first two digits, “48” as the prefix code for items sold through Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalogs throughout the 1970s. But such toys were always sold in plain, brown “Mailer” Boxes, right? Surely our late, Oregon-based hoarder didn’t acquire this graphical, retail-only 2nd Issue card through the Montgomery Ward catalog, did she? Well I went and met with the current owner, to judge for myself, and take some better photos.
Knowing Mego didn’t manufacture this particular 2nd Issue Card design until Fall 1977, I hoped to confirm that Ward did, in fact, offer Joker during (or later than) Christmas 1977. I hurriedly ran downstairs to rifle through my vintage Ward catalogs. Sure enough, Ward did offer Joker consistently (every year from 1974-1978, in fact).
But the Item Code? Does it match?! Here’s a scan from the 1977 Ward Catalog:
Incidentally, this Item Code was specific to Ward CATALOGS only, and was not even used in their own stores, which featured a different nomenclature.
OK, so: CONFIRMED. This gorgeous 2nd Issue carded Mego Joker was purchased via the Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog in either 1977 or 1978 (Remember, it couldn’t have been earlier, because Mego didn’t manufacture this card design until Fall 1977).
But WHY does this exist? The Ward catalog had been offering Mego World’s Greatest Super-Heroes action figures for years — including "Catalog Exclusives" such as the "Holy Grail" Secret Identities outfits in 1974 and Isis in 1976 — so this process should have been a well-oiled machine. In fact, Ward catalogs offered Joker for five consecutive years… one would think Ward would have had a pretty good handle on their Joker inventory requirements!
So just how did Ward exhaust their supply of plain brown Joker boxes, necessitating that they pull this 2nd Issue card from their "Retail" inventory, and stamp it with a Christmas Catalog item number? I love the fact that this specimen is Unpunched — the stamp directly covering the punch-hole — suggesting that this card was pulled directly from a shipping case. (Or at least before it actually hit the store’s toy aisle!)
Man! As if Mailer Boxes weren’t already difficult enough to find, Collectors now need to be on the look-out for 2nd Issue Cards, too?
It’s fun to speculate what happened here, and I have a couple possible explanations, but I'd like to hear your thoughts. What say you, my Mailer Box Lovin' Mego Sleuths?
- Benjamin
WANTED: Removable Mask ROBIN on Kresge style card
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