UPDATED MARCH 01, 2017
VINTAGE G I JOE SALESMAN SAMPLE ACTION SOLDIER PONCHO CARD
The full description is at the bottom of the page after all of the photos.
I have been collecting a lot of different things most of my life and Vintage G I Joe for 20 years. I have sold hundreds of vintage GIJoe items in that time. I have sold items on my website, on eBay and on other for sale sites. I have been buying and selling on eBay since the beginning of eBay. My dmckee63 screen name was originally registered in January of 1997 and I have had great success making people happy with what I sold to them.
The time has come for me to pare down my collection and this will be the main place I will do so. I will be working on several pages and groupings of items for sale and linking them all to the main front page. I will also be selling items on eBay to get rid of a few harder to sell items. Please come back regularly to see what I have available. Some of these items will be things you have never seen before and will probably never have a chance to buy again once they are gone. Thank you for your time!
A QUICK EXPLANATION ABOUT THE TERM SALESMAN SAMPLE.
A lot of people have misused the term salesman sample over the years. When I use the term, I mean this piece was originally used or intended to be used by a Hasbro Salesman, or an independent salesman representing Hasbro's products. This salesman was given the samples of the products coming to the market to take out and show toy buyers at toy or department stores so they could envision what the item would look like. Many of these salesman samples have shown up over the years but for the most part there has only been either one or two of any particular item ever found. I honestly believe that the items I have chased, the salesman sample small accessory cards and window boxes, there have probably been less than 3 dozen total found in the whole world, EVER! I have actually seen less than 20 of these pieces change hands over the 15 years of looking for them including all of the items I have in my collection.
Most of the known sample cards in are the hands of less than a half dozen collectors, including myself. They are the true definition of RARE. 3 or 4 pieces have shown up on eBay over the years and a few pieces showed up in the big Don Levine auction around 1999. I have actually helped identify 2 small batches of these salesman sample packages when they were unearthed. Both batches were found around the Pawtucket, RI area. One big find was literally found at the Salvation Army, a few miles away from the original Hasbro factory. Regardless of where they come from, they are truly unusual pieces and have very distinctive markings that only a few people in the world can identify. I am photographing and posting these items on my website to sell for the first time. I have owned many of these pieces for a long time and have always been reluctant to post photos of them for fear of people trying to duplicate them and fake out other unsuspecting collectors.
PLEASE note that after I have posted these items that most people will think I have faked them and that I am totally full of crap. Believe what you will but I do know a few honest collectors who have seen my whole collection in person and can verify my claims and where many of the items have come from. This first issue type of stuff has ALWAYS been my specialty in the vintage GIJoe hobby. Please also note that this stuff will never show up for sale again unless someone buys it from me and then tries to resell it.
ITEM #153 - VINTAGE GIJOE T M - T M SOLDIER SEALED SALESMAN SAMPLE PONCHO CARD
This is not the most exciting card but it is clearly a salesman sample package. It is a true first issue poncho with the bright white stitching and the poncho is still perfect soft and flexible. The blank tab helmet sticker on the front is also consistent with a salesman sample package.
Here is the back of the same card with again some BIG differences than a normal card. That tag on the back tells a story as well as the fact that the card says Printed in USA which you will not find on anything other than a salesman sample made in Pawtucket, RI. The brochure is missing on the back but there are no markings that there ever was one either. I have great evidence below about this special paper tag.
I CAN GUARANTEE you have NEVER seen this type of a tag on the back of a card. One other card showed up like this and it was in the personal collection of Don Levine when he auctioned off some of his hoard back in 1999. I believe he only had one piece with this tag so this may be one of only two tags in existence! By the way, that ASSORTMENT TAG refers to #7551 which is quickly referenced in the original Hasbro catalogs for the whole product line that the salesmen used to show customers.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE BACK OF THE CARD WITH THE SPECIAL PRINTING.
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE FRONT BOTTOM CORNER OF THE CARD
You can see the blank tab, salesman sample helmet sticker and you can also see the only damage to the card's cello. The cut in the cello actually looks like it was done by Hasbro when they applied the helmet sticker since the shape of the missing cello mirrors the edge of the sticker; like they put it on wrong and then really quickly pulled it up, tearing the cello and then put it back down again in the right place. By the way, a quick peek under the edge of the poncho (I couldn't resist doing this while I was taking pictures) revealed some double coated tape holding the poncho in place, just like my salesman sample loose Soldier shirt has on it's sleeves. I love how the little pieces of this big puzzle fit together.
HERE IS A PHOTO OF A SALESMAN SAMPLE PILOT BOX FROM THE LEVINE AUCTION
You can see the same sample tag on a major item that belonged to Don Levine, the alleged father of GIJoe. I found my salesman sample poncho card with the exact same tag as this one from the Levine auction several years later. This poncho card was found along with my other salesman sample cards; the M-1 Rifle card with cloth cartridge belt, the Sailor Sea Bag card and the Dress Pilot window box insert. The tape is aged exactly the same way on my card tag as the tag on the Pilot box. I know a lot of people think I am crazy but there is no way to fake this stuff!
HERE IS A CLOSE UP OF THE SAMPLE TAG
You can see the tag on the Levine Pilot box is taped exactly the same way as on my salesman sample poncho card. This is not a coincidence, it was the way things were done in the beginning to help get GIJoe into the stores.
ITEM #156 - VINTAGE GIJOE ACTION SOLDIER SALESMAN SAMPLE SEALED PONCHO CARD
To me, this is an amazing piece of history, linking the original Hasbro factory and the process of getting vintage GIJoe to the store AND the actual hobby of collecting vintage GIJoe with the Levine auction. It also helps that my sample piece is so closely related to something Don Levine sold for over $10,000. The one original tear on the cello, no other flaws to be seen, perfect helmet sticker and seal all around the edge and grommet, taped in place sample ID tag AND this piece came from the same lot as my other two salesman sample cards, the M-1 rifle card with cloth cartridge belt and the sea bag card. Great provenance, amazing history and exactly like a piece sold by Don Levine himself. Hard to price this but I think $1200 is fair.
Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. I stand behind everything I sell 100% and all of my descriptions are guaranteed to be extremely accurate.
There will be NO HIDDEN DAMAGE, NOTHING WRONG that is not described, there will be NO HIDDEN SURPRISES.
I promise that I will treat your transaction the same as if I were the one doing the buying and making sure that you are satisfied with your purchase.
I accept credit card payments through PayPal (my user ID is the same as my email address, dmckee63@aol.com)
If you still like to do things the old fashioned way I can accept postal money orders in the mail as well.
Make sure to send me an email (dmckee63@aol.com) BEFORE SENDING a PayPal payment if you want to purchase something.
I am including the price of INSURED PRIORITY MAIL in all sales over $50.
Let me know if you prefer shipping via UPS or Fed Ex.
EMAIL DAN MCKEE TO ORDER ANYTHING BY CLICKING HERE!
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UPDATED MARCH 01, 2017