There are impossible rarities, and there are impossible rarities.

The Punch Cigarros issue is among the rarest and most desirable of all Cuban card sets, with very few surviving examples known. Many of the most advanced prewar and Negro League collections are without a Punch Cigarros card, simply due to their extreme rarity. The cards were issued in conjunction with a Cuban visit by the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics, the set consisting of players from those two teams as well as the Almendares and Havana ballclubs. The current known checklist is considered incomplete, with only one or two surviving examples of many of the known subjects. Complete sets of the cards could be exchanged for an album; it is speculated that this contributed to the rarity of the cards today.

The cards were produced on photographic paper glued to a cardboard backing measuring approximately 1 1/4" x 1 7/8". Of the surviving cards, very few (fewer than a half dozen, perhaps as few as four) have been found with the backing. The remaining surviving examples - all graded AUTHENTIC - are found without the backing. Many of the most advanced collectors of Cuban cards have never seen a Punch Cigarros card with its cardboard backing still attached; as word of the consignment of such a card to Love of the Game began to spread, we received multiple emails asking, "Is it true? Do you have a Punch Cigarros card with the cardboard backing?"

It is true. Presented here is one of perhaps four known examples, and certainly the most attractive of the four, a card of Almendares catcher Gervasio Gonzalez. A 1939 inductee into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, Gonzalez also played with a number of Negro League teams between 1901 and 1917. Nicknamed "Strique," Gonzalez played in the Cuban Winter League every year between 1902-03 and 1918-19. 

The rarity of this card, coupled with its condition, is difficult to describe. Punch Cigarros cards with the paper backing are among the white whales of virtually every collector of Caribbean or Negro Leagues cards, and the other examples we have seen simply pale in comparison with this. PSA has graded the card AUTHENTIC, citing two small bits of cardboard remnants adhered to the reverse of the card as the rationale. The fact remains that the entire border is intact, with clear space beyond the ornate border on all four sides. The photograph remains affixed within the border, a clear image of the player with outstanding detail and perfectly legible text. A few spots of discoloration can be seen in the bottom border, mentioned here for accuracy only. The reverse does exhibit some discoloration at the corners, perhaps related to some sort of adhesive. The reality is that there is no known example of a Punch Cigarros card in finer condition, despite the technical grade.

One of the most important and highly prized rarities in Negro Leagues collecting, certainly worthy of the often-used phrase "impossibly rare," simply because it is impossibly rare - not only a Punch Cigarros card retaining its original cardboard backing, but one in outstanding condition.

Size: large
Condition: yes