Thursday, December 31, 2009

1946-47 Caramelo Deportivo #5 League Umpires

By the 1940s, America saw baseball cards as a kid-and-candy product, but other countries still marketed them with tobacco and another "grown-up" novelties. Cuba's "Caramelo Deportivo" brand published this set of paper-thin cards across the country's 1946-47 winter league season.

Card front

I believe Caramelo also made an album for this set, so surviving single cards usually sport glue stains or missing paper. (I traded with an experienced Caribbean collector to get this clean example.)


Card back (front printing visible)

Long-time Cuban umpire Raul Atan makes his second #5 blog appearance on this card, preceding the beautiful 1952-53 Victoria set.

Value: The hobby's discovered many more Caribbean sets over the last decade and values jumped as people learned enough about them to become interested. Commons from this year run $10 to $40, depending on condition and provenance. (Guides like the annual SCD have more detailed pricing.)

Fakes / Reprints: It's likely reprints exist for this set, since they definitely do for early 50s Cuban issues. Real examples come on thin, glossy paper that you can almost see through. (Note the ink ghosting on both sides of the scan.)

3 comments:

Carl Crawford Cards said...

Nice find! Non-US cards don't get enough play. There is some amazing stuff out there. And when was the last time you saw an ump card in a US issue?

GBV said...

Just wanted to tell you that I recently discovered your site and love it. I'm thinking about doing the type card thing myself and had never thought of keeping a specific card # before. Anyways, thanks for sharing your collection. Happy New Years!

Matthew Glidden said...

Happy 2010 and thanks for the kind words. Can't think of any umpires in a mainstream set since...1955 Bowman? It's been a long time, that's for sure.

Good luck with your type set!