1947 BOND BREAD and its "imposters"....show us your cards ?

[abctoo]

Originally Posted by Gobucsmagic74

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=171169

Everything that was interesting about this topic can be found in the thread above. Staying away from round/cropped corners is everyone's safest bet

The referenced thread and those threads cited in it provide the extensive detailed work of net54 member CharleyBrown and others into understanding and dating the 13 Bond Bread Jackie Robinson giveaway cards going back for several years.

In fact, Charley Brown still has not stopped his continuing research. Last week I received a message from a member asking about those 13 cards, and naturally I responded by referring him to CharleyBrown's thread. The recipient replied by identifying himself as CharleyBrown -- still looking for more information. He will go to no end to date those 13 cards and is unafraid of the consequences.

For at least 30 years prior to his efforts, the entire 13 card set was believed to have been issued in 1947, Robinson's rookie year in Major league Baseball. It had been discovered that one of the cards in the set came from an ACME Newservices Photo taken in 1949, thus opening up the question when each of the 13 cards was issued.

In looking at CharleyBrown's thread again since his message, I found an outdated link to Robert Edwards Spring 2012 auction with Lot 497, six of the first card from the set (the Jackie Robinson, Portrait, Facsimile Autograph card). Here is an updated weblink to that auction listing: https://robertedwardauctions.com/auc...psa-collection and a scan of the lot.



That auction lot is important because it provides the story of how the original owner of those cards, a nine year old back in 1947, obtained a quantity of this first card from a Bond Bread driver delivering them to a store for the giveaway that Bond Bread's 1947 newspaper advertising promised. That and the newspaper advertising establish that at least one card of the set was issued in 1947.

What has caused many people confusion about the dating of those cards is that several cards are enhanced or modified versions of the original pictures on which they are based. For example:



This is the so-called “Bat Follow, White Sleeves” card. The original photo, from International News Photos, was taken after Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson in August 1946 and pictures Robinson in his Montreal Royals minor league team jersey. The picture printed on the card was modified to change the team name on the jersey from Montreal to Dodgers, to remove the minor league team colors from the jersey to conform with Dodger jersey colors, and to make Robinson's face more distinguishable. The “Portrait, Glove in Air” card is likewise a modified photograph of Robinson in his Montreal jersey. Other pictures shown on some of the cards in the set also have minor modifications.

Since the discovery that a 1949 photo was used on one of the cards in the set, the question has remained about several of these cards as to the dates of issue (i.e., are they a rookie card or not?). Most cards of this set have been selling for four figures for years and are now approaching five figures.

Original work Copyright 2020, by Michael Fried, P.O. Box 27521, Oakland, California 94602-0521. No claim to the original work of others.