Despite not being traditional baseball cards, the 1962 Salada-Junket coins are heavily desired by vintage collectors. Here’s a closer look at this unique set from the 1960s.
1962 Salada-Junket Coins Basics
The 1962 Salada-Junket Coins were available in packages of Salada Tea and Junket Dessert products. These co-branded plastic coins featured baseball players from the major leagues. The fronts included a particular player with his team information and a coin number while the backs included the sponsor names. The pictures on the fronts were actually paper inserts of players.
The coins were produced with six different colored borders and collectors could send away for green plastic “shields” designed to hold ten coins each.
The set is not a small one and, as a result, not terribly easy to assemble. Many are not too difficult to find but the issue includes a total of 221 coins for a basic set and more than 260 in the master set, including all variations.
With so many players, the set is littered with Hall of Famers and big names. There’s Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Roberto 
Clemente, and Willie Mays. But others include Frank Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Brooks Robinson, Al Kaline, Ernie Banks, Eddie Mathews, and many more. If 1960s stars are your thing, this set is a worthwhile pursuit.
In addition to the baseball set, it’s also worth noting that a large football set of coins was also created in 1962.
Variations and Errors
With 221 coins, a basic set can be a handful. But a big part of the Salada set for many collectors are the numerous errors and variations found in the set. While not collected by everyone that is pursuing this set, all sorts of little variants are found in it.
Some of those are as minor as the color of buttons on player jerseys. Others reflect different positions or teams for certain players. Others still include spelling errors and corrections. While there are only 221 in a basic set, these dozens of variations (some of which are very tough to find) make completing the master set a difficult, and costly, proposition.
1962 Salada-Junket Coins Prices
If this issue intrigues you, the good news is that most of these coins are relatively inexpensive. Commons can be scooped up for as little as a few dollars on eBay. Even the stars won’t break the bank with most able to be found in decent shape under $100.
The real budget-busters are some of the ultra tough variations. If you’re pursuing a master set, that is where the most trouble will be had. A few of those can cost more than $1,000.
Aside from the crazy expensive variations, though, this is a pretty affordable set. You don’t see complete ones offered too much but they do occasionally surface. This high-grade one offered by Heritage for the 221-coin basic set and most of the variations sold for just over $3,000.
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