The History of Fleer and SkyBox



Frank H. Fleer's Guru-Kola Gum (c. 1905)

The O. Holstein business was established in 1849 by Otto Paul Holstein, a spice and extract merchant in Prussia. The Holstein family arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May 1885. On August 6, 1885, daughter Pauline married Franz Heinrich Fleer, an immigrant from Westphalia.

O. Holstein, Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter (August 1889)

Frank Fleer partnered with Otto Holstein and formed the Frank H. Fleer & Co. Inc. as a confectionary company. In 1886, Frank and his younger brother Robert found early success selling Guru-Kola Gum and Pepsin Gum as digestive aids. Early advertising campaigns and labels featured a portrait photograph of Frank.

Frank H. Fleer Guru-Kola Gum, American Cycling, October 9, 1896

In 1888, Otto Holstein travelled through Europe to procure supplies of almonds, gelatins, and lemon oils. Inspired by Jordan almonds, Robert experimented with adding a thin candy coating to pieces of chicle gum. The name "little chiclets" was first used on October 1, 1899, and a patent was registered on February 23, 1904 . Fleer introduced the Chiclets brand in the spring of 1904 and the crunchy peppermint combination was a nationwide hit. The factory on Hamilton Street was expanded after the first 60 days of sales.

Chiclets by Frank H. Fleer & Co. (1909)

In 1906, Fleer developed an unsuccessful bubble gum called Blibber-Blubber. The product was abandoned due to the concoction being too sticky. The bubbles splattered and sometimes required a solvent to remove.

Chiclets sales continued to rise. In 1908, an additional Fleer factory was constructed in Toronto. On June 19, 1909, Frank Fleer and four other gum manufacturers formed a $6.7 million trust called Sen-Sen Chiclet Company.

Frank H. Fleer Corp. Oven Room (December 1918)

In December 1913, Fleer left the Sen-Sen board and established the Frank H. Fleer Corporation with $150,000 in capital. In 1914, Sen-Sen Chiclet Company and the Chiclets brand were absorbed by the American Chicle Company. Frank H. Fleer died of a stroke on October 31, 1921. Fleer business operations were led by son-in-law Gilbert Mustin.

Frank H. Fleer Corp. Pan Room (December 1918)

Cigarette insert cards were introduced in April 1877 by New York manufacturer Thomas H. Hall. Baseball cards were first sold with chewing gum in 1888 by G&B Gum in New York and H.D. Smith & Co. in Cincinnati. In 1923, Fleer advertised a set of 120 "famous person" strip cards. One card was included with every five-cent pack of peppermint flavor Bobs and Fruit Hearts chewing gum. The heart-shaped gums were similar to Chiclets.

Bobs - Frank H. Fleer Co., 1915

The 1923 Fleer cards are listed as E241 in The American Card Catalog. The set is comprised of five different strip card series including the W515 baseball set. Each card panel is printed with a Frank H. Fleer advertisement on the back. A complete set of 120 Fleer cards has not been documented. Based on observations of uncut sheets, it is estimated that only 110 different Fleer cards were actually distributed. Several cards feature illustrations based on photographs copyrighted by Underwood & Underwood.

1923 W515-1 - Babe Ruth


In August 1928, Fleer accountant Walter E. Diemer successfully refined a bubble gum formula using latex and pink food coloring. Pink was the only abundant color available and Diemer did not patent the recipe. According to Diemer, ''I was doing something else and ended up with something with bubbles.'' Pink remains a common color used for bubble gum products to this day.

Market testing for the new invention began on December 26, 1928. Diemer personally taught shopkeepers and salesmen how to blow bubbles. Dubble Bubble Gum debuted in 1930 and sales for the one-cent chew exceeded $1.5 million in the first year. A series of six comic strip wrappers featuring "Dub and Bub –The Dubble Bubble Twins" were copyrighted on September 20, 1930.
Dubble Bubble - Frank H. Fleer Co., 1930
The first bubble gum trading cards began appearing soon after the introduction of Dubble Bubble. One of the earliest known releases is the baseball and film star series from Marble Bubble Gum Novelties of Philadelphia (W553). In 1930, Fleer released a series of 16 die-cut discs as premium prizes with Whiz Bang gum. The "Taka-Flyer" disc set features film actors and three Hall of Fame baseball players: Goose Goslin, Lefty Grove, and Gabby Hartnett.

In 1935, Fleer released Cops and Robbers Gum (R35), a 35-card set that included a stick of Dubble Bubble with each pack. The cards feature perforated "Evidence" tabs that could be exchanged for a premium detective badge.

By 1937, Blony bubble gum from Warren Bowman's Gum, Inc. dominated the market. Bowman claimed more than 60% of penny gum sales in America, a figure disputed by Fleer sales manager William B. Hunt.

During World War II, latex and chicle supplies were diverted to the defense effort, sugar was being rationed to households, and paper scrap drives were held to salvage pulp. American Chicle, Beech-Nut, Leaf, Walla Walla, and Wrigley were contracted by the government to supply gum for military rations. After D-Day, gum from American and Canadian soldiers became widely popular throughout the Netherlands.

Oral Hygiene (April 1943) p 541

The Japanese occupation of the Malay peninsula cut off the crucial supply of jelutong latex. Fleer was forced to temporarily suspend production of Dubble Bubble from April 1943 until 1950. Limited shipments were sent to dentists and drug stores. Legends of street prices reaching $1 per piece have been reported. In 1946, Fleer purchased a larger factory from the War Assets Corporation located on North 10th Street in Olney, Philadelphia.

A new comic strip character named Pud was introduced in 1950. In 1968, Dubble Bubble printed the one-thousandth comic wrapper.

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Bazooka bubble gum was introduced by Topps Chewing Gum in July 1947. Bowman Gum, Leaf, Topps, and Swell released baseball card sets in 1948. An aggressive competition arose over the image rights for professional athletes. In 1956, Topps acquired the Bowman brand and player contracts for $200,000.

In 1959, Fleer released an 80-card series showcasing Ted Williams. The exclusive deal removed the popular slugger from Topps sets. Fleer followed with an Indian series and a 96-card set for The Three Stooges. In 1960, Fleer released cards for the American Football League and a throwback series of retired Baseball Greats.

1959 Fleer - The 3 Stooges 1960 Fleer Baseball Greats

Topps held exclusive rights to the National Football League and about 400 Major League Baseball players. In order to compete, Fleer offered athletes $125 for a non-exclusive contract. In June 1961, Newsweek reported the bubble gum business was worth an estimated $30 million per year and Topps sales accounted for nearly half.

By 1964, Topps had signed nearly every active baseball player with around 6,500 exclusive contracts. In 1966, Topps forced the Exhibit Supply Co. (ESCO) to stop printing contracted players. In April 1975, Fleer filed antitrust charges after being refused a license for baseball stickers.

On June 30, 1980, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that Topps had unfairly restrained trade in the baseball card market. The U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the decision in August 1981.

The Topps contracts contained exclusive rights to baseball cards sold with gum or candy, so Fleer simply packaged cards with team logo stickers. Donruss released a 1981 series that included a cardboard puzzle of Babe Ruth.

Topps filed unsuccessful lawsuits against Fleer in 1982 and 1986 before capitulating. The end of the two-decade baseball card monopoly allowed new companies like Score and Upper Deck to enter the market. Topps stopped including sticks of gum with baseball cards after 1991.

1986 Fleer - 57 - Michael Jordan

Fleer included a stick of Dubble Bubble inside each pack of basketball cards from 1986–1989. Initially a sales flop, the 1986–87 Fleer NBA Basketball series is now sought after for containing the Michael Jordan rookie card and other hall of fame inductees.

In 1989, Gilbert Mustin Jr. sold the Fleer Corporation to Charterhouse Equity Partners for $75 million. The Charterhouse deal was led by former Donruss executive Paul Mullan.


Impel Marketing Inc
Impel Marketing Inc. was formed as a subsidiary of Brooke Group Ltd. on June 21, 1990. In October 1990, Impel released Marvel Universe Trading Cards, a popular series featuring hologram chase inserts. Similar sets followed for Walt Disney and DC Comics characters. Impel licensed various non-sport properties including A Nightmare on Elm Street, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The first sports release from Impel was the 1990–91 Inaugural Edition of SkyBox NBA Basketball Cards.

1990-91 SkyBox NBA Basketball Cards

Impel CEO Frank O'Connell was the former president of Reebok and former CEO of HBO Video. In an interview with Wizard magazine, O'Connell explained that the name Impel was not relevant to sports or entertainment. Testing favored "skybox" as a recognizable term for the best seats in an arena. On April 15, 1992, Impel Marketing rebranded as SkyBox International Inc. Basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson was signed as the first celebrity spokesperson.

SkyBox International Inc

On July 24, 1992, Marvel Entertainment Group purchased Fleer from Charterhouse for $265 million. In 1994, Fleer reported $38 million in gum sales and $245 million from trading cards. The combined sales from all retail trading card companies in 1994 was more than $2 billion. Investor speculation and hype led to larger print runs of cards, comic books, and POGs.

On March 9, 1995, Marvel purchased SkyBox for $150 million. The card companies were merged to form Fleer/SkyBox International, now holding major licenses with the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and NASCAR. Card sales began to drastically decline following the MLB strike of 1994–1995 and the NBA lockout of 1995–1996. On December 27, 1996, Marvel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Fleer/SkyBox International

The Dubble Bubble plant in Olney, Philadelphia, was used to cut and collate Fleer cards. Vice President of the Hobby Division Ted Taylor reported that, "a lot of cards walked out the doors in lunch pails, briefcases and other such carriers." Collectors commonly refer to stolen factory cards as "backdoored." Entire cases had been stolen from the plant through inside sources. Although Fleer did not distribute to hobby dealers, complete sets would appear in local card shops before the official release dates.

Production at the first bubble gum plant stopped on November 26, 1995. Employees arrived after Thanksgiving weekend to find the gate locked. The Onley factory was officially shut down on January 26, 1996. The closure was featured in the April 9, 1996, broadcast of ABC News Nightline. According to Fleer/SkyBox CEO Jeff Kaplan, "It was largely confectionary driven and had little to do with the baseball strike." Dubble Bubble production continued at a Fleer factory in Byhalia, Mississippi.

In 1998, the Dubble Bubble brand was purchased for $13 million by Concord Confections in Canada. Concord was acquired by Tootsie Roll Industries in August 2004 and the Dubble Bubble recipe was changed. Tootsie Roll introduced the "Original 1928 Flavor" in 2015. The new Dubble Bubble wrappers featured 60 classic Pud comic strips.

Fleer/SkyBox International Inc

By 1999, the entire trading card industry had crashed. Marvel sold Fleer/Skybox for $26 million to Rite Aid founder Alex Grass. The SkyBox branding stopped appearing after 2000. The Upper Deck Company made an offer of $25 million in 2003, but the Grass family declined. In 2005, Fleer/SkyBox filed for bankruptcy with debt nearing $40 million. On July 15, 2005, the Fleer/Skybox brand was auctioned to Upper Deck for only $6.1 million. The last set issued by Fleer in 2005 was American Idol Season 4, featuring Carrie Underwood.

On September 9, 2005, Fleer/SkyBox held a bankruptcy auction at the Radisson Hotel in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. Millions of cards and other memorabilia from the Fleer and SkyBox archives were sold to the public. The massive sale included autographs, errors, test proofs, uncut sheets, and unstamped parallels. A PDF catalog of items listed by the Continental Auction Group, Inc. can be viewed here.

1994 SkyBox DC Master Series - DS3 - Superman & Doomsday Test Proof 1994 SkyBox DC Master Series - DS3 - Superman & Doomsday Test Proof

Since the auction, multiple examples of aftermarket serial number alterations and counterfeits of rare sports cards have been identified. Collectors are advised to conduct proper research on products produced by Fleer and SkyBox from 1986–2005. Hobby experts at the Blowout Cards Forums have experience detecting trimmed cards and forgeries.

2024 Fleer Upper Deck

Chiclets are currently produced by Mondelez International, formerly Kraft Foods. Dubble Bubble from Tootsie Roll is commonly seen in Major League Baseball dugouts. The Marvel trading card license was acquired by Fanatics, Inc. and the Topps brand in 2024.

The last baseball card series containing the Fleer branding was issued by Upper Deck Entertainment in 2007. Fleer and SkyBox basketball releases temporarily stopped after 2008–09. The Fleer name returned in 2011, followed by SkyBox in 2015. On June 13, 2024, Upper Deck announced a partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products. The Fleer and Skybox brands will feature DC Comics characters beginning in winter 2024.



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