The 1947 Homogenized Bond Bread inserts and Cards and Photos from the era with like and similar pictures.
APPENDIX A – Part One (Working)
The “1947 BOND BREAD and its "imposters"....show us your cards ? “ title of the net54ball thread started in 2009 by Ted Zanidakas got right to the point. At that time, numerous cards with pictures similar to the 48 cards of the 1947-48 Homogenized Bond Bread package insert card set had been misidentified as belonging to that set. The size of these other cards did not matter, nor did questions about whether they had rounded or square corners, nor did the fact that some had printed or rubber-stamped text or pictures on the back, nor did the thickness or toning of the paperstock on which they were printed. Now after a dozen years, we find that the convenience to the card marketplace for an easy identifications of can have value has fully distorted proper attribution of many of these cards. Many of them, including the cards of 1947-48 Homogenized Bond Bread package insert set, come from sets that are quite scarce, if not downright rare.
The purpose of this Appendix is not to put names on these sets. That will be done in the body of this article as its parts are posted. Rather, this Appendix is an attempt to identify all of the issues that have been attributed in someway or another as a “1947 Bond Bread “ card or set. YOUR HELP IS NEEDED! Whether you agree or disagree with what is written in this appendix, please participate by posting in the thread your comments, criticisms and especially scans of any cards not already pictured that come from any set that could be misdescribed as “Bond Bread.” You will be helping us all. Even just the posting of a scan of one of these missing cards adds to the pool of knowledge. While the quantities issued of some of these various sets may be high, few cards have survived. Please, if you can just post any picture of one of these cards (front and back) by itself, you will create a record so that others years from now won't have to start all over again when perhaps the specific card you have is no longer available.
The magnitude of the 1947-1948 Homogenized Bond Bread package insert issue demonstrates that General Baking with its Bond Bread (first baked in 1915) product promotion was no new comer to advertising. How many cards were issued can be be derived from a pre-War Bond Bread blotter promotion, which included the following blotter:
A million loafs of bread baked daily by 1940. If all loafs had one of the 48 cards of the 1947-48 Homogenized Bond Bread packet insert card, that's 1,000,000 cards used each day. At least, thirty million a month could have been inserted from about April 1947 into perhaps March 1948, with the promotion increasing the month volume of Bond Bread sales. That could be over a billion cards! Where they are? We do not know. Very few have turned up in over 70 years. Most of the known cards that can be accurately attributed are in the hands of those who took them out of the bread packages. When WWII started, the Bond Bread blotter promotion was shifted to picturing Navy Airplanes, a theme that was carried over into its then ongoing matchbook issues. Post-War, the blotter program shifted to picturing “Modern Miracles” and related topics. The 1947-1948 Homogenized Bond Bread package insert set appears to have been its next major promotion. What it did between 1948 and 1950 is not fully clear. We do know that beginning in 1947 Bond Bread began giving away the 12-13 (or more?) cards of its special Jackie Robinson set and that promotion continued to at least 1949. The Jackie Robinson 1947-48 Homogenized Bond Bread packet insert card would have been issued in 1947 to capitalize on the other Jackie Robinson giveaways and would be missed if not immediately available to fans. In 1950-1951 Bond Bread sponsored Hopalong Cassidy on the radio and issued 2x3 inch Hopalong Cassidy cards, one to each bread package like it had done with its 48 sports card set in 1947-48. Note that the bread package seal pictures Hopalong Cassidy. Over 30 bread package seals were issue, each with an individual number starting with the number "1."
To not overload an individual post, this Appendix is being split into parts, and will continue with the posting of Part Two.
Please respond with anything you might want to say or show. Such contributions will be welcomed by all of us. Posting pictures is even better.
Copyright 2020, by Michael Fried, P.O. Box 27521, Oakland, California 94602-0521