The story of - a David Festberg warehouse find of Bond Bread cards in the 1980 may be a made up story:
David Festberg, a very noted (and colorful!) collector and dealer of Baseball cards from Brooklyn, New York, who was extremely active in the hobby for several decades. In the 1980 he muddy the waters around the Bond Bread cards.
But to tell you the truth there is not much known about David Festberg. There is as much controversy around him as the Bond Bread cards.
I did find this article: UPI Archives March 5, 1981-By ED LION. This article talked about David Festberg.
“And By The Way ...High-stakes baseball card dealing: 'Like the stockmarket”
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03...7114352616400/
The article starts out, “Thousands of baseball card collectors of all ages, from as far away as California and Canada, spent a recent weekend feverishly trading cards at the Creation Baseball Convention.”
It then must have interviewed David Festberg, It says that David Festberg was 29, a Brooklyn postman and one of the thousands of avid card trader at the convention.
“I collect them for fun, but for many it's a business with big bucks,” said David Festberg, 29, a Brooklyn postman and one of the thousands of avid card trader at the convention. Festberg, who in his free time runs 'The Baseball Hobby Shop,' a store featuring baseball cards and other such memorabilia. Festberg is only one of an estimated 250,000 avid baseball card collectors in the nation.
Many people said he was a character and hard to deal with. But he did put his mark on the Bond Bread cards. And maybe not in a good way.
The threads below are before the Net54 baseball.com: forum we have now. This is two years before Ted Z posted in Net54baseball.com in 2009, his now famous thread: 1947 BOND BREAD and its "imposters"....show us your cards ?
Oct 30, 2007#31- Tapatalk Net54VintageBaseballCardForum. Ted Z.
“One of the earliest available Post-WWII baseball card sets is the 1947 Homogenized Bond Bread issue. The 48 black and white cards in this set were found inserted in loaves of Bond Bread. And, in order to
package these cards inside the bread loaves, their four corners were die-cut beveled (or ROUNDED). This set includes major rookie (or 1st) cards of Yogi Berra, Gil Hodges, Ralph Kiner, Stan Musial, Jackie
Robinson and Bobby Thomson. Major Stars include Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, and Ted Williams. Since 33 players (of the 44 BB cards) in this set are from NYC and Boston teams, this set is thought of as
a regional issue; however, Bond Bread was marketed nationwide and these cards were available as far west as St Louis.
A controversy has existed in the hobby regarding the very available SQUARE corner versions of these original cards. My findings are....The ROUNDED cards are the real originals printed and issued in 1947....and they are tough to find. The SQUARE cards fall into two categories...... (1) A second printing of only 24 of these BB cards was done when the manufacturer issued a Movie Star set sometime in the 1950's.
(2) These same 24 BB players were again REPRINTED on inferior cardboard stock (date unknown, but before their big FIND in the early 1980's). In any event, the SQUARE cards are not to be regarded as the original 1947 issue. However, Grading Cos. are grading them and erroneously labeling them as "1947 Homogenized Bond Bread".
Buyers beware....these SQUARE cards are not the real "rookies".
TED Z”
From Tapatalk - Net54VintageBaseballCardForum- Mar 23, 2009#8:
“At some point a quarter-century or more ago Festberg either acquired or decided to sell something he was holding onto for a long time: a set of black-and-white Homogenized Bread cards that featured Brooklyn Dodgers for the most part, as I recall. He sold either the whole set (24 cards or something) or the Jackie Robinson individually, as I recall. Festberg was a major player in the early days of the modern collecting (post-Topps monopoly) era, but when I hear David Festberg, I think” "Homogenized Bread."
Did you notice no mention of a warehouse find of cards. What does it say: “either acquired or decided to sell something he was holding onto for a long time: a set of black-and-white Homogenized Bread cards.”
Then there is this, posted From Tapatalk - Net54VintageBaseballCardForum Oct 30, 2007#33- by Ted Z.
“I asked David this back in the early 1980's (when he was involved with the warehouse find of these cards); but, I don't think he had a clue. The last time I saw David was several years ago at the Ft Washington Show. Does any one know where he is, lately?” TED Z
I wonder what the heck Ted Z was talking about when he said, “I don't think he had a clue.” It sounds like Ted Z was saying David Festberg did not know anything about a warehouse find. What did Ted Z know about the Festberg cards that he never posted in his now famous thread.
There is this theory that David Festberg never found a warehouse find of Bond Bread cards, it was just his stash of cards he had acquired in some unscrupulous manner. The warehouse find story was made up to cover up the truth. The story goes like this: in the 1980, David Festherg discovered Bond Bread cards in a warehouse in New Jersey. But there are now many questions about how and when David Festherg discovered the cards, if he did discover the cards at all.
There is no evidence of a warehouse find, but talk. Many people now believe that story is a myth to cover up where David Festherg did get the cards. We are to believe that the cards were put up in a New Jersey warehouse until David found them. We are to believe that the square Bond Breads cards were from the handouts Aarco printed. Do you believe that Aarco would pick a warehouse in New Jersey to hold the cards when they were in Chicago. What sense would it make for Aarco to hold their stock of cards in New Jersey and sell them to retailers out of that location.
Think about this: It is believed they were stored away, and Aarco would sell sets of cards to the companies who would purchase handouts from their stock of cards, all that stopped circa 1960s. Then somehow this stock of cards found there way to a warehouse in New Jersey only to be discovered in 1980 by David Festherg:
None of this passes the smell test: What does the above article say? Net54 baseball.com: From Tapatalk - Net54VintageBaseballCardForum- Mar 23, 2009#8: “At some point a quarter-century or more ago Festberg either acquired or decided to sell something he was holding onto for a long time: a set of black-and-white Homogenized Bread cards.
There was no talk about a warehouse find in 1984. In fact by Ted Z there was talk about a warehouse find in 2007. So when did the warehouse find become talk…It appears around 2007, the time of Ted Z post:
What does this mean for collectors, that the waters are muddied around David Festberg. The muddied waters suggest all kinds of theories. None more annoying than a 1947 or later printing of the squared corner cards.
But we have proof that both the squared corners Bond Bread cards and The David Festberg cards were printed in 1947. As for the rest we will just have to wait and see if any new information comes forward. What story do you believe? The warehouse find, or, that he acquired or decided to sell something he was holding onto…viva acquired in some unscrupulous manner.
But wait… you know who else was selling square corner cards around the same time as David Festherg? The Baseball card society and thanks to butchie_t we know what they were offering. Butch was kind enough to provide scans of his cards and the letters he received from BCS. There might be a clue as to where and how David Festherg was selling his cards. My theory is he did not find them in a warehouse or acquired them in an unscrupulous manner, he purchased them from a widow's dealer who had a big collection- no colossal collection of square corner cards we call Bond Bread. More to come, John.