We always encourage folks to bookmark our auction page on eBay because each and every week we offer some really unique, rare, and seldom seen vintage baseball cards (not braggin', just facts!). In fact, it’s pretty easy to lose yourself looking at all of the great items collectors and dealers have consigned to us. One of the cards we’re very excited about handling is the 1948 Blue Tint Jackie Robinson rookie. The Blue Tint (R346) cards are hand cut from strips of eight cards and measure just 2" by 2 5/8". Although the background story on who made them and why seems to be elusive, it’s likely they were made in the New York area, using team-issued photos. Perhaps they were issued at carnivals or during the summer in Atlantic City. Who knows for certain? What's known is that the R346 Set has only 50 cards and Robinson is just one of a number of Hall of Famers featured. The set also includes Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, a young Warren Spahn, the newly retired Hank Greenberg and Mel Ott, and curiously, Lou Gehrig. Few high grade examples exist but the Robinson card we’re offering is one of the best known. In its 20-year history, PSA has authenticated and graded just 16 of them, with only four carrying a numerical grade (the rest have simply been deemed ‘authentic’ because of the crude way in which they were often separated from the larger strip). The R346 Robinson we’re offering is a PSA 6, is the second highest example to be graded by PSA! Jackie Robinson’s place in the game of baseball has been well chronicled and the hunt for the best copies of his most rare early baseball cards is picking up steam. You can definitely put this card on that very short list.
