Ultra Rare Horizontal-Backed W514 Mother’s Bread Strip Card in Goldin Auction

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Pre-War Cards

Rare Sisler W514 Mother’s Bread Card up for Grabs

The W514 Mothers’ Bread cards are rare variations from the standard W514 strip card set. Produced from 1919-21 or thereabouts, these cards were just like regular W514 cards but with a twist on the back. Instead of the standard blank backs found on 99% of the other W514 cards, these have backs for advertising Mother’s Bread and Besta Cake products.

While the advertisement of those cards was usually printed vertically, an ultra rare horizontal back is known as well. The first instance of these that I saw was in a 2017 auction and now another one is up for sale.

Goldin Auctions is featuring the unique card in its spring auction. Not only does the card feature Hall of Famer George Sisler but the lot actually includes two Sisler Mother’s Bread cards – one with the traditional vertical back and the other with the horizontal back shown here.

As stated, I first saw the horizontal-backed cards in 2017, though they surely were known before that. But I’ve probably seen about a dozen or so of the Mother’s Bread cards and this is only the second horizontal one I’ve seen. Searches online generally bring up only the more common vertical types.

Both cards are graded by PSA – the vertical-backed card earning a 2.5 with the horizontal card graded ‘Authentic’. But while the vertical card has a technically higher grade, it’s the horizontal one that is the really impressive card because of the rarity of those style of backs.

Bidding in the auction will conclude on May 5.