Chaos and Kanji is the blog where I write about my adventures through Japan!

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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Help me identify this card!

This weekend was the Serramonte Mall card show, held three times per year. This is how a mall show should be, in terms of size - the entire center of the mall walkway was filled with tables. As is apparently common with shows out here, there were plenty of non-card dealers with tables full of toys, action figures, jewelry, and fancy silverware. But I found a few dealers with good stuff in their boxes, and walked away with a very nice stack of cards.

I added 52 cards to the Cardboard Zoo. At least six of those were pre-war vintage, including a 1911 gem (and by gem I mean barely gradable as a 1) and a quad relic. I picked up several needs for my set collections, a few cards for the Awards/Leaders, some cards for the player collections (including a relic), a nice stack of well-loved vintage Topps, and plenty of cards that will be offered up for trade. You'll see most of my card show pick-ups this week, but first, I need your help.


I grabbed this card as part of that group of pre-war vintage. Yes, I realize this isn't pre-war. In fact, Del's first cards with the Phillies appear around 1949. It's blank-backed, on very thin stock (not paper, though), and appears to be slightly miscut, as the right edge seems to be a part of another card. It's approximately 3-1/2" tall, but around 2-1/4" wide (a bit narrower than standard cards). All my research turned up nothing. If you know anything, please let me know!

3 comments:

  1. It's a 1947 bond bread card. The hobby isn't quite sure about the square corner cards- like the one you have. Some believe they are later reprints of the set- date unknown. See info here: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=92743&page=2

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  2. or it might be a set called 1949 Sports Star Subjects that came from a warehouse find in the 80's. I dunno. It's tough to figure it out as the hobby really hasn't figured out if they are truly vintage or reprints.

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  3. Ernest, thanks for your help. Based on that thread and another one through Net54, I believe you helped me figure it out. It appears that I have one of the recent reprints, with the yellowed back on inferior stock. As I mentioned, it's on pretty thin stock, so it's most likely the reprint. The back doesn't look "antique white" but it's not as yellowed as the provided scans.

    I looked the set up in the SC guide and Beckett's listing, and they both acknowledge the reprints. It appears that both guides have accepted the square cards as "legitimate" issues (SC has a picture of one). Beckett doesn't even mention whether the corners are rounded, or that there were illegal reprints; SC mentions the find and another reprinting.

    I missed this set while doing my research because I didn't look at the multisport listings (oops!). I didn't pay much for the card, so I'm not heartbroken that it's a reprint - it's better than the "card" cut from a poster, magazine, or something similar.

    I figured I'd end up with reprints in my collection eventually (there is no way I'll have copies of all those $1000 or more per common sets). I just figured I'd do it knowingly.

    I'll add this to my collection as a placeholder until I find an affordable original '47 Bond card.

    Again, thanks Ernest!

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