Emilio Palomino was an outfielder and two-time Cuban Winter League batting champion. Palomino debuted in 1901 with San Francisco when he was around the age of 20, though his supposed birth year of 1880 is just a guess. Despite having already been on good teams, Palomino had his first big individual season in 1908, hitting .350 to pace the circuit. He won his fourth straight pennant, this time with Almendares, and tied the legendary Pete Hill for the league lead with 53 runs in just 42 games. Palomino continued his title-winning ways with Habana in 1909, batting .292 on the season. Back with Almendares in 1912, Palomino won the batting title by 30 points over the great Home Run Johnson. In 1956, Palomino was inducted into the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, an exclusive club which has only 78 members.

The Punch Cigarros issue is among the most rare and 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. Since the cards were issued in conjunction with a visit to Cuba by the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics between November 10 and December 5, 1910, the set consists of players from those two teams as well as the Almendares and Havana ball clubs. 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 set 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, only a half dozen or so have been found with the backing, the remaining examples - such as this - are all graded AUTHENTIC as a result. The card has not been trimmed. As is the case with all Cuban issues, the Punch Cigarros cards are extremely condition-sensitive; this example presents incredibly well, with square corners and edges, and a very clean surface. 

The scarcity of this issue far outweighs any cosmetic flaws. Between SGC - which has given this example a grade of Authentic - and PSA, this card from the famed Richard Merkin Collection is the only known example of this Emilio Palomino 1910 Punch Cigarros issue in the registries.

Major League Baseball's 2020 announcement that it would recognize seven Negro Leagues as major leagues and adopt their statistics into the official record has had a profound impact on baseball fans; as curiosity and interest in Negro League stars begins to pique, its elite players are beginning to establish their place in the hobby. Many sales records for Negro League cards have been set in the last year, including the most expensive sale of a complete set ($370,000), as well as the most expensive individual card ($140,000). As the Negro Leagues' greatest players begin to become household names, hobbyists and investors are becoming aware of the extreme rarity and historical significance of those players' collectibles. Demand has never been higher.