Beautiful, higher-grade example of one of the true rookie card of Jackie Robinson, the beautiful portrait issued as part of a complete set of 13 cards, all picturing Robinson.  This is one of the truly great cards of the Hall of Famer, one which has rapidly been escalating in value as collectors begin to understand the true significance of this card.  

Research conducted by hobbyists and presented to the Net54 Message Board community in 2009 has helped collectors to understand the nature of this set, which was actually issued over a three-year period, with this portrait card among the first distributed in 1947.  The only card from the set with both biographical and advertising information printed on the reverse, it is a well-known find of this portrait card that was brought to a New York card show many years ago that helped collectors to speculate that the cards were intended to be given to shopkeepers to hand out at stores.  Years later, the originator of that find, a long-time friend and consignor to Love of the Game, explained that he obtained a hoard of approximately 75 of the cards, directly from a Bond Bread truck driver in 1947.  Growing up a Jackie Robinson fan in New Jersey, he simply asked the driver for the cards, and received them! 

This example is extremely attractive, graded EX-MT 6 by PSA.  Just 19 examples have been graded higher, as the issue is naturally condition-sensitive, given that the method of distribution.  Unquestionably one of the most important cards of Jackie Robinson, a true rookie card, distributed in his rookie season of 1947 as part of an entire set devoted to the Dodgers Hall of Famer.