1950s Famous Firsts, D280-3, Bond Bread Company, USA

1950s “Famous Firsts” (D280-3)
By: John A. Shupek (Skytamer.com)

D280-3 Overview

Series Title: Famous Firsts
American Card Catalog Number: D280-3
Manufacturer: Bond Bread Company
Issued with: Bond Bread
Country: USA
Number of Cards: 4
Card Numbering: unnumbered
Type of Card: Food: Bakery Issue
Card Dimensions: 163 × 91 mm
Circa: 1950s

A Little History About Bond Bread Company ¹

The history of Bond Bread can be traced to 1911, when the General Baking Co. was incorporated in New York as an amalgamation of 19 former baking businesses. Apparently, one of those bakeries was local Kolb Bakery. By 1930 the company owned 50 plants serving cities in 18 states. The production of bread, sold under the trade name of “Bond Bread,” accounted for over 90 percent of its sales and production averaged nearly 1.5 million loaves per day.

There were many competitors in the marketplace, and advertising played a big role. Bond sponsored television programs, ran commercials and ads in magazines, advertisements on ink blotters, and placed privilege signs in neighborhoods.

By the early 1960s General Baking was suffering from increased competition from supermarkets, many of which had begun equipping their stores with their own bakeries. In addition, charges of illegally conspiring to fix bread prices in the Philadelphia and New York area hurt the brand. By 1972 the company had disposed of virtually all of the Bond division.

A Little More History — Blotters! ²

Back in the days when everyone used quill pens and fountain pens the one thing that could be found on every office or writing desk was an ink blotter. Ink blotters were usually made of a soft absorbent paper formed into a card and were used to dry up excess ink. With the invention of ballpoint pen in the 1950s, ink blotters disappeared from the average office desk. Today, these vintage blotters, made in the 1930s and 1940s, are very highly prized and sought after collectibles. Ink Blotters were a very popular from of advertising that were often given away by fountain pen manufacturers, banks, merchants and especially Insurance Companies. Antique Ink blotters were as common as business cards are today. Written references to ink blotting paper in America have been found beginning in the late 1700s. It was not until the 1850s that blotting paper came into common use in America, when Joseph Parker and Son started manufacturing blotting paper. In the late 1800s, a patent was issued for improved blotting paper which featured a smooth surface on one side and a blotting surface on the other. Rocker blotters were an important piece of desk equipment from the late 1880s until the 1950s. This type of blotter had a handle 2 to 5 inches long and a rounded surface 2 to 3 inches wide where the blotting paper was attached. Some of these rocker blotters were very ornate and made of wood, glass, silver or brass and are also sought after by collectors.

D280-3 Overview ^3,4

During 1950s, Bond Bread Company issued a 4-blotter set of “Famous Firsts” Bakery Issue blotters that were issued with Bond Bread. The cards measure 6.42 × 3.60 inches (163.1 × 91.3 mm), and are assigned the American Cards Catalog reference number D280-3.

The fronts of the 1950s “Famous Firsts” blotters feature color artwork of four American “Famous Firsts” of American history. In addition to the artwork the blotter's front, the set title “Famous Firsts” within the artwork image area with descriptive text and the Bond Bread logo located beneath. The the reverse side is made up of a blank blue absorbent ink blotting material.

The following reference card shows the fronts and Backs of a typical 1950s “Famous Firsts” (D280-3) Bond Bread blotter advertising card. Click on the card images to reveal full-size computer enhanced 600-dpi images of the blotter card.

D280-3 Image-Guide

The following 1950s Bond Bread “Famous Firsts” (D280-3) 4-blotter advertising set Image-Guide shows computer enhanced images of the fronts and Backs of the 4-blotter cards in the Behind each thumbnail image is a 600-dpi computer enhanced card image that you may access. In addition, directly beneath the Image Guide, in tabular form, are links to the original scans used for this series.

1950s “Famous Firsts” Bond Bread, 4-Blotter Airplane Cards ORIGINAL SCANS
1	2	3	4	Back

D280-3 Checklist

Since this set is so small, we have only provided the web version of the 1950s “Famous Firsts” (D280-3) 4-card set issued by Bond Bread Company, USA.

1950s “Famous Firsts” (D280-3) Bond Bread Company, 4-Blotter Cards, USA CHECKLIST
№	x	Card Title
1		America's first transcontinental railroad …
2		The first airplane to carry a man …
3		The first automobile regularly built for sale …
4		The first steamboat to operate on regular trips …

Non-Sports Cards for Sale

If you by chance need any Aviation or Military related Non-Sports cards and/or card sets, be sure to visit our online store, the SkyCardShop, to see what we currently have listed for sale. If the cards you need are not there, please drop us a note at want-list@skytamer.com and tell us what cards you need. If we have your cards, we'll post them on the SkyCardShop. However, as we post them, we'll also send you a “heads-up” email so you can get them before someone else does. We can also set up “Private Sales” via PayPal and skip posting the cards/sets on the SkyCardShop. We're looking forward to helping you fulfill your non-sports cards needs.

Since 2002, we've been buying vintage aviation and military related non-sports cards to feature on our Skytamer.com website. We are currently in the process of populating our website with approximately 400+ non-sports card sets, mostly aviation related. Nearly all of the sets that we feature include both “original” and “computer enhanced” 600-dpi scans of the fronts and backs of all the cards in the individual sets. We also include printable PDF checklists for each of the card featured on the website. By the way, if you print out these 600-dpi card images on any high-quality computer (including photo paper) and trim them, they make great full-size “Filler Card Images” to use before you acquire the real card. We should note that we are actually “Image Collectors” rather than “Card Collectors” per se. Once we've scanned a card for he Skytamer.com website, we're therefore have no use for it, and eventually post it on the SkyCardShop.

Contributors

John Shupek — John is retired Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineer that lives in Southern California. John's 36 year aerospace career/adventure started in the mid-1960s when he worked for Pratt & Whitney at their “FRDC” … Florida Research and Development Center, West Palm Beach, Florida. John was part of the P&W jet engine design team for the CIA/USAF's Lockheed A-12/SR-71A “Oxcart/Blackbird” engines (J58/JT11D-20). He also worked on the RL-10 rocket engine and the JTF-17A which was P&W's entry into the United States' SST competition between Boeing and Lockheed. Several years later, John moved back to California and worked at the AiResearch Mfg. Company at LAX and Torrance. He originally worked on the thermal design of the HRE (Hypersonic Ramjet Engine) which was a supersonic combustion Mach 7 ramjet engine that was to be tested on the North American X-15. John did about three more years of jet engine design work before he disappeared for 13 years into the classified DOE “GCEP” (Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plant) Atomic Energy program for the enrichment of U₂₃₅. After the GCEP program was cancelled by the DOE in 1985, John was hired by Northrop Aircraft to do the thermal design for Northrop's entry into the ATF (Advanced Tactical Fighter) competition, the Northrop YF-23A “Black Widow II” stealth supercruise fighter. He also worked on the Northrop Grumman B-2A “Spirit” stealth bomber. After several years on a classified stealth missile program, John worked the remainder of his Aerospace career as one of Northrop Grumman's Program Directors on the United States Navy's F/A-18E/F “Super Hornet” jet fighter program.

During John's career at Northrop Grumman he served for five years as Northrop's “Vintage Aircraft Club” Commissioner and the Curator and Webmaster for the Western Museum of Flight in Hawthorne, California. Several years later, John was the volunteer webmaster (for about 3 years) for the Yanks Air Museum, Chino, California. He also served as President and webmaster for two different NPO's after his retirement. The Whittier Historical Society & Museum and Whittier Meals on Wheels.

John's love of aviation history and aviation photography lead to the establishment of this Skytamer.com website in 1998. The Skytamer.com site has continued to expand and will always grow and will never be completed. It's sort of analogous to a snowball rolling down a hill without any trees to stop it. In approximately 2002, John remembered that he had collected Topps “Wings” (ACC# R707-4) airplane trading cards while in High School. Somehow the cards had disappeared over the years. So at this point, he started to re-collect airplane trading cards via eBay and become an airplane card “Image Collector” rather than a “Card Collector” per se. After John scans an airplane card for the website, he has no further use for it and he puts it back into circulation via eBay. John's mission statement for the Skytamer.com is basically to restore and preserve high-quality card images/artwork associated with the various airplane card sets from the early 1900s to the present. These cards are wonderful historical “snapshots” into aviation history showing which aviation events and aircraft were important at that point in time. For the Skytamer.com website, basically if it is a trading card collection that features things that fly, but doesn't have feathers, it is eligible for consideration on the Skytamer.com website. John always welcomes inputs and high resolution scans (600-dpi) that can be used on this website. John can be reached via the “Contact Us” navigation button on the left.

References

Ghost Sign Project. website
anonymous. eBay “A Brief History of Blotters”
Watson, James C., M.D. “Famous Firsts.” Non-Sports Bible (NSB). Vol. I. Chelsea, MI: Sheridan, 2007. 305. Print.
Shupek, John A. “Famous Firsts (D280-3) Bond Bread Company.” The Skytamer Archive (600-dpi Image Scans). Skytamer Images, Whittier, CA, 2014. Digital Image Database.