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

[CharleyBrown]

Hey Michael. I appreciate the shout out. Will send you a private message response later tonight. I'm going to post this in my original thread, but as Michael mentioned, I've been doing more research on the set of 13 Bond Bread series. I'm not sure if this will post properly, but here's a newspaper article from July 1947. This article shows that the original Facsimile card was distributed for free to the majority of Black families in Harlem, NY prior to July 1947. In July 1947, it was distributed in promo packages with 2 slices of bread. ANYBODY that wrote to General Baking / Bond Bread was given for free a copy of the card. While I am still researching, this article also indicates that other "picture cards", which I now believe to be the other six attributed to 1947 were distributed at newsstands, candy stores, ice cream stands, etc. At the end of the article, it states clearly that this issue was not limited to NY, but rather distributed in other cities with large Black communities, including but not limited to Philadelphia, Washington DC, Baltimore and Detroit. This covers essentially all the MLB cities in 1947, indicating that this issue was not regional as it was once believed to be.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by CharleyBrown

Hey Michael. I appreciate the shout out. Will send you a private message response later tonight. I'm going to post this in my original thread, but as Michael mentioned, I've been doing more research on the set of 13 Bond Bread series. I'm not sure if this will post properly, but here's a newspaper article from July 1947. This article shows that the original Facsimile card was distributed for free to the majority of Black families in Harlem, NY prior to July 1947. In July 1947, it was distributed in promo packages with 2 slices of bread. ANYBODY that wrote to General Baking / Bond Bread was given for free a copy of the card. While I am still researching, this article also indicates that other "picture cards", which I now believe to be the other six attributed to 1947 were distributed at newsstands, candy stores, ice cream stands, etc. At the end of the article, it states clearly that this issue was not limited to NY, but rather distributed in other cities with large Black communities, including but not limited to Philadelphia, Washington DC, Baltimore and Detroit. This covers essentially all the MLB cities in 1947, indicating that this issue was not regional as it was once believed to be.

Great info, thanks for sharing it. (and the others up the thread too)

[abctoo]

I will soon be posting detailed information about the die-cutting of the 1947 Bond Bread package insert cards, the Sports Star Subjects and Screen Star Subjects cards.

These sets were manufactured by the Meyercord Company of Chicago, well known for decades by that time as a major producer of decals and specialty signs. Meyercord is known to sports collectors for its 1952 Star-Cal Baseball decals in red packages of various sizes, though it concurrently issued similar Star-Cal Movie Star decals in blue packages.

Copyright 2020, by Michael Fried, P.O. Box 27521, Oakland, California 94602-0521

[abctoo]

This thread started in 2009 showing the backs of a Bond Bread package insert card next to a Festberg remainder showing original Bond Bread package inserts had "white" backs while Festberg remainders had "brown toned" backs. That was a very easy way to distinguish those cards one from another.

However, a simple "white" back and "rounded" corner definition for a Bond Bread insert is insufficient to distinguish Bond Bread inserts from the look-alike cards in the Sport Star Subjects set. Both can appear to have the same "white" backs and "rounded" corners (die-cut corners).

Many selling cards as "1947 Bond Bread" inserts don't care about the difference between genuine Bond Bread package insert cards and the "look-alike" Sport Star Subjects cards. Sport Star Subjects cards were issued in little boxes and are often found in better condition than Bond Bread package insert cards. These better condition Sport Star Subjects cards command significantly higher prices when called "Bond Bread" insert cards instead of Sport Star Subjects cards. In actuality, Bond Bread inserts are not readily available in the higher grades that Sport Star Subjects cards are more often found.

The issue of the difference between the 1947 Bond Bread package inserts and Sport Star Subjects cards is a current plague that has impacted many, including those who don't specifically collect "Bond Bread" cards but collect cards of Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams, Stan Musial and many others who have cards in both sets.

It's been over a decade since Ted Zanidakis started this thread to clear up the mislabeling of many cards as "Bond Bread" ones when they were not. Even he often does not like what I write. But if you are serious about cards and ending scams on collectors, let's get the job done. Each of you who may have a 1947 Bond Bread insert and a Sport Star Subject card - - and it does not matter if it is of the same player or not - - post a quality scan of the "white" backs of both cards side-by-side so that distinctions can be made between them. Please don't be apathetic about posting or not post because you don't like the personalities involved. Make a posting and help all of your fellow collectors out.

Again, each of you who can post a scan of the backs of a 1947 Bond Bread package insert pictured along side that of a Sport Star Subjects card, please do so. Many, many readers would truly like to see the difference.

Thank you,
Mike

[clydepepper]

My only:

1947 Bond Bread - Jackie Robinson.jpg

[abctoo]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

My only:

Attachment 413519

Thanks for so quickly posting your Jackie Robinson card. Your heart is in the right place as it expresses the issues with these cards that have caused so many problems. There are several different sets with cards that have the same picture of Robinson as your card. That goes to the heart of the matter many want to resolve. If it's his "rookie" card, just how high does its value go? If it's not, then what's it worth? Perhaps, you're just like me and say it's an early Jackie Robinson card and I'm just glad I have one.

As you know, the card has "square" corners. Cards actually inserted into Bond Bread packages have die-cut (rounded) corners and "white" backs. While all of the Sport Star Subject sets were printed on white cardstock (have "white" backs), not all sets were issued with "round" corners. A few sets had only "square" cornered cards (no die-cut corners).

And then, there's the 1970s-1980s Festberg find of over 3,000 sets of 24 different (including a Jackie Robinson card) with "square" corners, all of which have a "brown tone" back, not a "white" back.

By not showing the back, you've made the point better than i could about the need to see scans of the backs of Bond Bread and Sport Star Subjects cards to help tell them apart.

Please, each of you who has a Bond Bread package insert card and a Sport Star Subjects card, post a scan of the backs side-by-side so that we can see the difference between those two sets. The cards do not have to be of the same player, just from the different sets. The more people who post, the better we all can see the difference.

Robbie, I really do appreciate you posting your card and hope someday you get your Jackie Robinson rookie.

Mike

[abctoo]

On 03-30-2007, a new thread was started on net54 baseball. It is called "WTD 1947 Bond Bread Cards" and has only one posting, which reads:
"Posted By: TONY
Buying 1947 Bond bread Cards
Need Most cards if Graded
Raw cards, need all single prints
prefer NM or better"

People were not thinking about the Sport Star Subjects set as having cards that looked like 1947 Bond Bread cards. I hope the past 13 years since that posting have been lucky for many. During that time, the card grading services have mislabeled many cards as "Bond Bread" ones. Many of the Sport Star Subjects cards in better grades have also been sold as "1947 Bond Bread" cards.

The identification and grading problems still exist.

If anyone has the ability to post a picture of the backs of a 1947 Bond Bread package card and a Sport Star Subjects card along side each other, please do so. Perhaps we can eliminate the misidentification of Bond Bread cards in "NM or better" condition?

Thanks,

Mike