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1947 Bond Bread Jackie Robinson Rookie Card Discovered in New Jersey

Just Collect Purchased this Rare Card Found by the Original Owner

July 06, 2023

A rare 1947 Jackie Robinson rookie card has been discovered and purchased from the original owner, right here at the Just Collect store in Milburn, NJ. These rarely-seen cards were distributed in loaves of bread 75 years ago! Just Collect has proudly purchased The Bond Bread Jackie Robinson Rookie.

This 1947 Jackie Robinson rookie card was brought into our Just Collect store by the original owner of the card who did not contact us before making their visit. A "walk-in" Jackie Robinson rookie card! Pulled from a loaf of Bond Bread 75 years ago when he was a kid, the owner forgot about the history he held until finding the baseball card of the Dodgers icon sitting in a desk drawer.

1947 BOND BREAD JACKIE ROBINSON CARDS

1947 Bond Bread Jackie Robinson

In 1947, Bond Bread created a 13-card set featuring Jackie Robinson, and distributed the set over a three-year span. Each card measures 2-1/4" by 3-1/12" making it slightly smaller than the average trading card size you see today (2-1/2" by 3-1/2"). On the front of the cards you'll find Robinson in various poses and action shots while the back of the cards has advertisements for Bond Bread.

Finding sports cards in food products was standard practice before the days of the gum-filled wax packs or modern packs you see today. In 1953, Stahl-Meyer Franks included cards of Mickey Mantle in their packages of hot dogs, and you could find a Sandy Koufax card while eating potato chips in 1962 from Bell Potato Chips. From the back of Hostess snack boxes to inside your Post Cereal boxes, companies have found unique ways combine two things you love into one: good food and baseball cards.

Perhaps you've never heard of Bond Bread. That's what makes these Jackie Robinson cards rare and intriguing! Bond Bread came to us back in 1915 and was owned by General Host. The recipe for Bond Bread came via a national contest, and soon Bond became one of the top-selling breads in the US. However, In 1972, General Host sold Bond Bread and by 1979 the bread was shut down.

Choosing Jackie Robinson as their main focus for this 13-card set offers you a "true" Jackie Robinson rookie card. Jackie made his MLB debut on April 15th, 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color barrier. Enduring things we could never imagine both on and off the field, Robinson persevered and was named Rookie of the Year that historic season. The more well-known "rookie" card of Jackie Robinson is from the 1948 Leaf set. The age-old debate in the hobby: determining the player's "true" rookie card. Some collectors may consider the 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle to be Micks' true rookie card while others consider the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle to be THE rookie card. Perhaps the 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson dubbed the rookie card given it was released on a much larger scale than the Bond Bread cards, but before there was Leaf, there was Bond Bread.

ORIGINAL OWNER

When the gentleman came through our doors here at the Just Collect store in Milburn, NJ. with a 1947 Jackie Robinson Bond Bread rookie card, without calling ahead, we were both shocked and curious! While inquiring about the provenance of the card, we were stunned to learn that the owner pulled this 1947 Jackie Robinson rookie card from a loaf of bread himself 75 years ago! When you look at the card above, you see Jackie leaping to make a catch and is full extension. There is a scoreboard behind Jackie, but we can't make out the numbers. Was Jackie in a photo shoot? Did he make catch to save a run during an actual game? Looking at this card makes us wish tickets to a baseball game were still only $1.75 and a hotdog was a dime.

Back in 1947, the owner's mother would have Bond Bread delivered every three days. The loaves of bread came with a Jackie Robinson baseball card. Recently, this gentleman was cleaning out a drawer and found the card from his childhood. He could hardly remember the card. There was the Jackie card, just sitting there in the drawer. He thought "maybe this is worth something."

After 75 years from rolling out of the bread factory, the trips on the delivery trucks, mom handling the loaf, and kid hands playing with the card (think of how many times you may have dropped something as a kid!) not only did the card survive after all of these years , this Jackie rookie was found in the original owner's home in Rahway, NJ. Our Just Collect store in Milburn, NJ. is only TEN MILES away from Rahway! Hiding from the light of day since before the Moon Landing (July 20th, 1969), the invention of the Internet (January 1st, 1983), and long before the first iPhone (June 29th, 2007), this Jackie Robinson Bond Bread card belonged to the same person - and they live 10 miles from Just Collect. Our Vice President and vintage card specialist, John, spoke to the owner when they stopped in to have the card appraised. All ears perked up when we were told there could be MORE of the Jackie Robinson Bond Bread cards in the owner's home! We will keep you updated if this single card grows into a collection of multiple Jackie Robinson cards.

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RARITY OF THE CARD

PSA is a professional grading company that grades cards on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being Gem Mint (a perfect, flawless card). To date, only 375 total cards have been graded and authenticated by PSA from the entire 13-card set of 1947 Jackie Robinson Bond Bread cards. The card Just Collect purchased, the exact card you see above, has just 19 cards graded on the population report. For comparison, PSA has graded 1,689 of the 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson cards.

THE APPRAISAL AND PURCHASE

After carefully reviewing the Jackie Robinson Bond Bread card here at the Just Collect store, we made a fair offer that the owner accepted. We then paid the gentleman how he wanted to be paid. When you sell your collection to Just Collect, we will pay you in cash, certified check, wire transfer - you name it!

Your local card shop is generally not well equipped to appraise or purchase vintage cards or collections like this. The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections. This is where we are happy to help you.

Just Collect has purchased many Jackie Robinson cards including a collection of three 1948 Leaf cards in the California Love Collection. We have also purchased very rare cards like this Bond Bread including the 1910 PC796 Postcard Collection. Before we purchased the PC796 cards, only 56 had been graded by PSA, and we discovered 20 more!

Always check your desk drawers, inside of books, and these other Unexpected Places; you might find a rare baseball card yourself! If you do, make sure to contact us here at Just Collect.

WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1979 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.

We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:

We offer may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.

Travel to Us

If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.

Come to convention

We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.

Meet in-person

If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.

Meet in New York City

We have another location in New York you can meet us at; read all the information here.

SHIP your collection

If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.

OUR BUYING PHILOSOPHY

We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!

Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.