We have long been fascinated with the 1921 Herpolsheimer’s issue, and were stunned when, in early 2019, a person posted on the Net54 Baseball message board about a new find of 1921 Herpolsheimer cards. The cards were discovered stored away in an old Band-Aid box as part of an estate just miles from Grand Rapids, the location of the Herpolsheimer department store. Over the years we stayed close to the owner of the cards, astonished at the fact that while much of the hobby continued to be under the impression that the 1921 Herpolsheimer cards were one-of-a-kind, possible “prototype” cards, we knew otherwise – that there were more, including a number of cards that became the second known examples. In our opinion, this discovery dramatically increases the likelihood that the cards were actually distributed to the public somehow through the Grand Rapids store, and are simply unbelievably rare.

Hall of Famer Dave Bancroft is presented here, in the first known example of his card to be found in the Herpolsheimer's set.  While it was likely that the card existed, it is not included in the most recent (2017) update of the Standard Catalog.  One of several cards in the Band-Aid Box find that was not also part of the original find, this example has been graded GOOD 2 (MK) by PSA, with light surface wear and wrinkling visible.  The erased pencil marking in the lower border of the reverse is visible in the scan upon close inspection, certainly enough that the MK qualifier is deserving.  Still, the appeal to a 1921 Herpolsheimer's card should not be lessened due to pencil markings since all the cards discovered from this issue have had pencil markings in one way or another.  An outstanding example, and certainly the most rare card of Dave Bancroft.

Final note: Early this morning we published a blog entry titled "An Extraordinary Piece of Hobby Research," which chronicles a brand-new discovery that solves the mystery of how and when the 1921 Herpolsheimer's cards were distributed.  We invite you to review the research that answers these questions, and also direct your attention to a newly-posted print advertisement from the Grand Rapids Press that features these cards.  You can view the blog entry at https://loveofthegameauctions.com/an-extraordinary-piece-of-hobby-research/