Marathon bar wrapper - M&M Mars - 1973-1974

Marathon bar wrapper - M&M Mars - 1973-1974, originally uploaded by JasonLiebig.

This is a great treasure for me!

For the longest time, I'd wanted to get a Marathon bar wrapper for my collection. Early last year, I was fortunate and found a collector willing to part with a intact sample of one - yes, with the candy bar still inside. Tragically, my post office lost it, or delivered it to the wrong address, and I was never able to recover it.

Fortunes turned when later last year, Dan Goodsell found a wrapper for me and I finally was able to have one in my collection. A great piece, but in admittedly less-than-perfect shape.

Late last month, I happened upon another collector who had a near-flawless example, and he sold it to me. That is what you see here.

This is an early Marathon wrapper, from late 1973 or early 1974 -- it lacks a bar code, and has a 15 cent price printed on the wrapper. [Freshness date is June 1974].

The wrapper is in impressive condition, as the glue seals appear to have been meticulously detached allowing the wrapper to be flattened quite nicely.