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The 1947 Homogenized Bond Bread inserts and Cards and Photos with like and similar pictures.

It seems we have come to an impasse in this thread that many readers would like to get resolved. In an effort to do so, I am going to simply list the cards at issue that have been called “Bond Bread” cards regardless of whether Bond Bread issued them or not. I am listing cards that are known to actually exist regardless of when they were issued. I am not asking the question of why anyone would have made them, only if anyone disputes that any of them have not been in existence for at least thirty years (time in which many of them have been mislabeled by grading services).

The list also does not differentiate in the quality of the printing processes used between the sets listed, particularly as to the intensity of the inking, centering or individual printing flaws that may appear on cards with the same picture in one set but not in another.

My more than 10 years of publishing a newspaper and other involvement in the printing business has taught me that printing is neither a precise nor instantaneous process. A press run takes some time to complete the transfer of the images from a printing plate to quantity of paper stock being used. One function of a pressman is to add ink as it is used up and to continually adjust the ink flow to keep the printed images within a tolerable range of appearance. Two images printed one after the other may look alike, but images from other parts of the press run could appear very different with over or under inking.

Likewise, with centering, the trimming of uncut sheets is not a precise process. We know that these cards vary a little bit in size, particularly as to their widths. The cards were printed on uncut sheets one card next to another without any borders in between. That was to be able to print more cards on a single sheet (and thus save money) – just like airlines do when moving seats closer together so they can squeeze an extra row into an airplane. Without a border between cards, no “float” is available to allow the entire image of a single picture to always appear. Many of these cards have a small part of another card at one or two adjoining sides. Attempting to distinguish a card of one set from another by whether the placement of an image is closer to one edge of the card than on another card with the same picture is not fruitful. That's merely a question of centering – one that card grading services love to address. And in so doing, prices for “pack fresh” cards dramatically differ. PSA may grade an off-center “pack fresh” card with perfect corners as PSA 8 (OC), while give a higher grade to a card that is not so pristine. And of course, the marketplace buys by the grade given, and not for the actual condition of the card.

As to printing flaws, these can be temporary, like when a foreign object (such as a tiny bit of paper that came off the cardstock) lodges on the printing plate. It will leave a “spot” on the next few images until it is dislodged (by the press or “wiped away” by the pressman). If a press is stopped, ink can run onto the plate and partially dry. That would be pickup up as lines of ink until all that ink was transferred or removed by the pressman. Printing flaws can be more permanent. As the die cuts in a printing plate wear, flaws unique to the individual die cut begin to appear. As the press run continues, the wear may continue to degrade the cut until it may have to be replaced.

The sets that have been called “Bond Bread” card sets are:

1. Set of 48 Homogenized Bond Bread cards inserted individually into bread packages in 1947-1948, single sided, printed on white cardstock with “rounded” corners.

2. Set of 48 issued in four boxes of 12 (Series 1-4) labeled “Sport Star Subjects,” single sided, printed on white cardstock with “rounded” corners. While not the same set as the 48 Homogenized Bond Bread package inserts, the cards appear identical.

3. Set of 48 issued in four boxes of 12 (Series 1-4) labeled “Sport Star Subjects,” single sided, printed on white cardstock with “square” corners. While not the 48 Homogenized Bond Bread package inserts, except for the square corners, the cards appear identical.

4. Set of 48 issued in four boxes of 12 (Series 1-4) labeled “Screen Star Subjects,” single sided, printed on white cardstock with “rounded” corners.

5. Set of 48 issued in four boxes of 12 (Series 1-4) labeled “Screen Star Subjects,” single sided, printed on white cardstock with “square” corners.

6. Set of 48 Page's Pittsburgh Milk Co. cards. These are identical to the Bond Bread package inserts, with “rounded” corners, but are rubberstamped on the back in either purple or black ink: “PAGE'S / PITTSBURGH MILK CO. / The Sweetest Milk Ever Sold”.

7. Set of unknown size London Dry Beverages cards. These are identical pictures to Bond Bread package inserts, except have “square” corners. They are rubberstamped on the back: “Compliments of / LONDON DRY / TRADE MARK REGISTERED / The Topper of all Drinks (with logo in between) / BEVERAGES.”

8. The “Festberg” find, with the same pictures as 24 of the 48 Bond Bread package insert cards, printed on one side of a card stock with at least the other side uniformly toned in brown, the degree of toning can vary from card to card. On some cards, there is a trace of a much darker brown mold running up an edge from the back towards the front of the card. The cards have “square” corners, and though the same approximate size as the Bond Bread package insert and “Sport Star Subjects” sets, they have a much greater variance in width.

9. Set of 13 Bond Bread special Jackie Robinson cards, issued from 1947 to at least 1949. The first was distributed directly by Bond Bread in 1947 to some neighborhoods along with two slices of bread and by stores that sold Bond Bread. Subsequent issues were available from stores selling bond bread, including some from special displays with cards available.

10. Set of 48 perforated, dual-sided cards issued in Two Sheets of 24. Twenty-two of the cards on each sheet have pictures on front and back, including some of the pictures of baseball players on Homogenized Bond Bread package inserts. Each sheet also has two adjoining printed backs that when read together say: “46 / TRADING CARDS / ASSORTED SUBJECTS / SPORTS . HOLLYWOOD. COWBOYS / AN ELGEE PRODUCT No. 4575.” The "46" refers to the combined number of pictures (subjects) on both sides of each sheet, not the number of cards. In fact, there are 92 pictures (subjects) plus four backs (total 96 printed sides) that make up the 48 cards in the set. [I have adjoining backs each with a picture of one cowboy on the other side, but would appreciate scans of the other two cards with printed backs, one pictures two cowboys and the other pictures three cowboys.] At least 6 of the same baseball player pictures appear on the front of each sheet, but the backs are different. Of special note is that both the Jackie Robinson and Johnny Mize cards appear twice: Jackie Robinson with James Cagney and another Jackie Robinson with Western Back (SCG graded one of these); and Johnny Mize with Bob Hope and another Johnny Mize with Western Back (SCG graded one of these). I would appreciate a scan of either of the Robinson or Mize cards that have a Western back.

11. Set of unknown quantity of Cowboy (Western) Cards, including the cowboys pictured in the 48 perforated, dual-sided card set, printed on one side of white cardstock with “square” corners, the same size as the “square” corner versions of the “Sport Star Subjects” and “Screen Star Subjects” sets. The set has more Cowboy cards than the perforated dual-sided set pictures. While still unknown, this Cowboy set could have also been issued in boxes like the “Sport Star Subjects” and “Screen Star Subjects” sets, and may exist with “rounded” corners.

12. The so-called “Bond Bread Exhibits” as named by various grading services. These are slightly shorter than regular Exhibits issued by ESCO. Other than a similarity of pictures with the Bond Bread package inserts, these cards have nothing to do with Bond Bread. As is obvious from the many different sets with the same pictures, none of these set manufacturers had an exclusive license for use of the pictures. Rather, like the pictures used in the Team Photo Packs sold in the ballparks, they were just one of many manufacturers licensing some of the same pictures. The PSA Registry says these “Bond Bread Exhibits” come in two different sizes, 3-3/8” by 5-3/8” and 3” by 5”.

13. Exhibits (Exhibit Supply Co., ESCO). Exhibits picturing the same images of baseball players, movie stars and cowboys were issued by ESCO for sale in vending machines. In some cases, a variety of the same pictures were issued over the years, including in a variety of colors. These cards often have “PRINTED IN U.S.A.” or “MADE IN U.S.A.” at the bottom and though occasionally mislabeled as “Bond Bread” cards, they have no association with Bond Bread.

14. Pictures printed on one side of 6 5/8 x 9 inch thin paper stock (sometimes identified as from 6½ to 7 x 8½ to 9¼ inches). These are often mislabeled as “Bond Bread Premiums.” The paper can be found folded. More white space appears at top and bottom of a picture than at its sides. These may be from Printed Team or Multisport Packs. Pictures of baseball players and other sport activists than those in the 48 of the Bond Bread package insert set are also part of this set, which is of unknown size.

15. 1975 Sports Hobbyist Collector's Edition of 80 cards, contains three cards with the same player pictures as the Bond Bread package insert set. The three Sports Hobbyist cards have numbers printed on their fronts: #SH137 Ralph Kiner, #SH144 Vern Stephens and #SH145 Bobby Doerr.. The three are usually found with blank backs, but some may have an advertisement for The Sports Hobbyist printed on the back. The cards are 3x5, though some say 3 x 5½.

I have not addressed clearly distinguishable sets that have cards with the same pictures -- like the 1947 W602 Sports Exchange Miniatures Series 3 Andy Pafko card (a cropped picture of the one shown in the Bond Bread package insert set) and the various 1948 Blue Tint R346s -- as others do not have seem to have any difficulty distinguishing them from Bond Bread cards. However, if I missed a card or set that gets misattributed as Bond Bread, let us all know so it can be added to the list.

Thank you,

Mike

P.S. Is there an on-line catalog out there that will actually start distinguishing these sets?


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