1939 Wizard of Oz Card Game Photo ID Guide

One side of The Wizard of Oz Card Game box

I'd been after a deck of these cards for almost four years before I finally managed to purchase one, so I'm pretty excited about this page! I have only seen them offered by one dealer in all of this time, Hakes Americana and Collectibles, leading me to assume that they are pretty rare but that possibly Hake's had a case of them that they split up for sale in individual decks. Makes sense as I'll be splitting my deck into individual cards for sale.

As with most unusual items, people often wonder about value. Well, in auction format Hake's listed their estimated value for this game deck at $200-$400, which is pretty wide. Beyond that I have bid as much as $400 for a set of these in the past...and not won! Thankfully I was able to secure these at a price below high estimate, so I'll be able to offer singles at a lower rate than I had previously ever imagined. That's pretty good for all of us!

The 1939 date also comes from Hakes as there is no copyright date to be found anywhere on these cards, their box, or even the instruction booklet. The manufacturer of this game is not even made clear anywhere within the game. The rule booklet does mention that the Copyright was "Entered at Stationers' Hall" and the side panels of the box include "British Manufacture" on bottom, but that's it. The other side panels try to sell the game with the phrases "Full of Adventure", "Endless Amusement" and "Mirth & Magic".

I'm going to take the 1939 date as fact however as these cards were no doubt manufactured by the same makers of the 1939 Film Fantasy Card Game which does include a 1939 copyright notation. The Film Fantasy cards I have seen offered by different sources, so while I consider them somewhat rare I sincerely believe that this Wizard of Oz deck could actually be considered scarce.

Cards measure approximately 2-1/4" X 3-1/2" with rounded corners and all having the same image on the reverse side which is included first in the slide show below. There are 44 different cards in the deck with four each being numbered one through eleven. Every card in the deck is like a miniature work of art, check out some of the detail on these!

At the end of the Slide Show you'll find views of both sides of the original The Wizard of Oz card game box (one side of which is shown above at the left) and all pages of the game instruction booklet. Enjoy: