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Dixie Premiums Update
We highly recomment this Checklist as an accurate and valuable resource for anyone interested in finding out more about the Dixie lids-to-photos exchange system. And as an added bonus, you'll get Popelka's endearing commentary in the Introduction and Brief Notes sections. For instance, Popelka confesses in the first pages of the Checklist, "I will own up to something that I did not write anything about in the prototype of this booklet. It was only after some other collectors had confronted me with their culpability that I will acknowledge mine. There were times I wanted to get a B-Western star on a lid. "So at the chest freezer where the Dixie's were, I would watch to see if a clerk was watching. I would take out a Dixie cup, gently pull the lid off and lick the ice cream off. If I liked the star on the lid, I would keep it. If I didn't want that star, I would place the lid back on. I kept repeating the process until I found a star to my liking." He wasn't the only one with an enthusiastic blemish on his collecting habit. Actor Walter Koenig, best known as Checkov on Star Trek, once joked that he almost ended up in a life of crime because he couldn't stand to eat the Pep cereal that contained the buttons he was trying to collect. After making sure no one could see him, he would slice open the bottom of the box and extract the prize. "I did that successfully thirty or forty times and then I was caught. I was hauled into the back of the store. They threatened to put me up one of the hooks with the meat, and I was definitely going to go to prison. Bare in mind, it was 1946 and I was all of 10 years old. I was terrified, so I never again stole the buttons," Koenig said. John K. Snyder of Diamond International Galleries attests to similar childhood frustrations. "Any kid from that era remembers checking for lids. And at first, kids didn't realize that it was just Dixie putting out the premiums. They were often disappointed after purchasing another brand of ice cream and finding a blank lid back. We caught on pretty quickly that the brand to buy was Dixie. But there were other disappointments to contend with--like getting a character you didn't recognize. The worst part about that was trying to convince the next kid to take the unfamiliar star's lid off your hands. That was my first proving ground as a salesman." It is noteworthy to mention that Dixie lids had a thin layer of cellophane protecting the image of the lid back from the ice cream (or from kids' tongues, as it were). This cellophane turned out to be an ingenious inclusion on the part of the manufacturers, as collectors had little to no mess or smudging upon removing the thin layer of plastic from the lid. Noted collector Don Phelps, who at one time amassed 85% of the Dixie premiums explains that 12 lids equaled one picture. "When I was a child, I thought it would be better to keep the 12 lids than trade them for just one picture. This could account for why many of the photos are more difficult to find than lids." Snyder states, "More people are interested in this category of collectibles because of the incredible history and variety of the first rate photos Dixie offered. Currently, high-grade examples of Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers Dixie premiums sell between $100 and $150. Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon ones usually go for $200 to $250. And the more esoteric cowboys have the potential to sell for more. A Gabby Hayes premium recently sold for over $300. As time goes by and interest in the Dixie premiums continues to rise, we'll really be able to see just what sales heights this memorabilia can generate." Phelps adds, "Lash Larue was tougher to find, and later issues also seemed tougher to locate. While war material didn't generate much interest when I was collecting, its value has increased over time." Tom Popelka's Checklist explains that a cover set was issued every year between 1935 and 1953. The cover set served as an album cover so the collector could have a bound album for each year. To find out which stars were including in each cover set, you can contact Popelka for more information on ordering the Dixie Premiums Checklist at 254.774.9856 or TPEA1@aol.com. Also, be on the lookout for next month's issue of Non Sport Update. The magazine will include a four-page feature, Whistling Dixie," penned by staff writer Arnold Bailey, with contributions from Dixie enthusiast Bob Gray. An excerpt reads as follows, "Today, more than 80 years after they were conceived, Dixie lids and their matching Dixie pictures are among the most popular of collectibles, earning a place right along with more traditional non-sport cards on collectors' checklists."
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