Lot # 856: Circa 1947 Bond Bread Jackie Robinson Portrait PSA EX-MT+ 6.5 - True Rookie Card!

Graded EX-MT+ 6.5 by PSA. Superb mid-grade example of one of the truly great Jackie Robinson cards. Dating from 1947, this card represents Robinson's true rookie card. This card has a unique design in the 13-card 1947 Jackie Robinson Bond Bread set, as it is the only one that has a biography along with advertising on the reverse. (Please note we are offering each card from the set individually in this current auction.) In the 1970s, a legendary find of about 75 high-grade examples of this card "walked in" at a New York convention. The gentleman in possession of the cards received them as a youngster directly from a Bond Bread delivery-truck driver in 1947. All cards from the find were just the one special biography card, and despite pleas from the youngster for the additional cards in the set, the driver was never able to fulfill his requests. Because of this find and its accompanying story, we have always thought this uniquely designed card might have been produced to be given out at stores directly by grocers at the checkout counter as a special advertising promotion when the set was announced. This is in contrast to the cards being issued one card per loaf, as was the case with the other 12 cards in the set, each of which has advertising-only reverses. Research by two card scholars and presented on Net54baseball.com conclusively proves the set was actually issued over a period of several years (1947-1950), with the portrait card among the first issued in 1947. The offered card has superb image clarity, bright white borders, and light corner wear. Clean, boldly printed reverse. This is an extremely historic card, Jackie Robinson's true rookie card, dating from his earliest days in the Major Leagues.