Lot # 373: Rare 1945-46 Caramelo Deportivo #73 Napoleon Reyes - SGC GD 2

Category: 1900-1948

Starting Bid: $500.00

Bids: 21 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Fall, 2022 - 10th Anniversary Auction",
which ran from 11/6/2022 12:00 PM to
11/26/2022 9:00 PM



Perhaps the most widely-collected of all the Cuban issues, the 1945-46 Caramelo Deportivo set was a 100-card set featuring players from the Cuban Winter League that season.  The black and white cards were printed on extremely thin paper, intended to be pasted into a special album.  The set is popular among collectors today because it contains many Negro League players and major league stars who played winter ball in the Cuban League, and includes a number of important Hall of Famers.  

Card #73 of first baseman Napoleon Reyes is perhaps the most interesting card in the set, and certainly the toughest.  Stamped "EXCLUSIVAMENTE Para Coleccionar (For collecting only)," the card is considered the "chase" card in the set, redeemable from the company once the young collector completed the set inside the album with the other 99 cards.  The card is scarce enough that many collectors consider the set complete at 99 cards, without the Reyes.  The card is considered a Holy Grail of Cuban card collecting, with just six examples graded between PSA and SGC.  Of the six, just one has graded higher than this, a single SGC 4.  Every other example besides this has graded PR 1, by either PSA or SGC.  

With exceptional eye appeal, a crisp image and a clear stamp, one of the most important cards in Cuban collecting, the extremely short-printed chase card of the 1945-46 Caramelo Deportivo issue.

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