TPGs might have gotten the Bond Bread idea from this SCD story in 1993?
https://www.net54baseball.com/showpo...4&postcount=40
Part of an epic Ted Z (et al) thread from 2009 through 2020:
https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=92743
what a confusing set!
Here's a whole undetached sheet from a Leland's sale in 2021:
https://auction.lelands.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=103985
Adding:
Elgee seems to have been a (short-lived?) renaming or offshoot of Louis Greenberg & Sons, a New York company that made cheap toy and novelty products. (Get it, L-G for Louis Greenberg?) Inflatable toys, cheap harmonicas, marbles, etc., made in Japan and Taiwan. Seemed to have existed at least into the 1980s. Really low-end merchandise.
My theory, after like 8 minutes of research, is that Elgee bought the plates from Bond or whoever was printing for Bond. No permissions, no royalties, etc., in keeping with the schlocky nature of the business. Which would explain why the issue date may be 1949, later than Bond. And why the print quality is so crappy. (I didn't read all that 2009 thread to see if the plate flaws from Bond are present in the Elgee cards.)
David