W514 Mother’s Bread/Besta Cake Set

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	W514 Mother’s Bread/Besta Cake
Year	1919-21
Size	Varies by Cut
Images	Color
Type	Bakery/Strip
Number in Set	120

W514 Mother’s Bread and Besta Cake Strip Overview

The W514 strip card set is one of the more significant such issues. It includes almost all of the banned members of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox team, including would-be Hall of Famer Joe Jackson. The lone player not included is Fred McMullin.

The cards featured colorful images of players. Bottoms of the card have their name, position, and team printed. We know the cards were printed over the period of more than one season because a few players have variations in the text to denote changes to teams, etc. The strip cards are distinctive because they feature a small card number in the lower corner of the pictures. Most strip issues were unnumbered.

While most of the W514 cards are found with blank backs, some feature an ad for other companies, creating a similar but slightly different issue. One of those was Mother’s Bread/Besta Cake.

These look exactly like regular W514s from the front but have the Mother’s Bread/Besta Cake name on the back. While the advertisement reads for Mother’s Bread and Besta Cake, these cards are typically simply called ‘Mother’s Bread.’

Back Variations

Two different types of the Mother’s Bread backs are known with one having a horizontal layout and a second, a vertical layout. Both are extremely rare but the horizontal version is ultra rare and its existence was not even widely confirmed until recently. One recently popped up in a Goldin auction in 2018.

Backs read:

Safe at the Home Plate
For Sale at All Grocers
Mother’s Bread
and
Besta Cake
John M. Streett

Unlike some other strip card sets, this is solely a baseball issue. It is completely packed with big names and Hall of Famers. Leading the way is the aforementioned Jackson, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson.

The cards are a pretty typical strip release. Hand cut, these will usually be found with some sort of uneven edges. The fronts feature a color cartoon image of a certain player and his name, position, and team are printed in the bottom border. In addition, a tiny card number is printed on the front of the player’s card.

A total of 120 cards are in the set.

W514 Mother’s Bread and Besta Cake Strip Checklist

Since the Mother’s Bread cards are extremely rare, it is not known if every card in the W514 set can be found with their advertisements. However, assuming they can, this is the full checklist.