13. Rare 1923-24 Billiken Mantzas Complete Set (9)
1923-24 Billikens were produced for that winter league baseball season as cigar premiums during a short, active period for Cuban card issues. They feature real player pho- tos, leaving them somewhat more vulnerable to condition issues, and are extraordinarily desirable today, perhaps the most widely collected and highly sought after of all the Cu- ban baseball card issues. A little-known, rare set that is ancillary to the Billiken issue is known as the Matanzas Billiken issue. A nine-card set that likely dates to 1923, very little is known about the cards or why they were issued, but they are incredibly rare – just one or two examples of each card are known. It is theorized that perhaps the Matanzas cards were issued as a test, to deter- mine the feasibility and/or popularity of releasing a wider issue. Regardless of their intent, the cards are extremely rare, with this group containing some of the only surviving exam- ples known. Each of the nine subjects in the set appear with either the Matanzas or Piratas baseball team, two clubs about which little is known. What is known is that Matanzas is the home- town of Hall of Famer and Cuban player Martin Dihigo. Cuban baseball scholar Ryan Christoff of Cuban Baseball Auctions – one of the hobby’s leading authorities on Carib- bean and Negro League baseball – has uncovered an origi- nal photo that produced the cards of Recurvan Teran and Pablo Pita (Billiken cards are derived from photos of three players, cut down to make individual cards), with a young Dihigo standing between them. This means that it is likely that at some point in 1923 or 1924, a Billiken card of Dihigo existed, though it is unlikely that such a thing survived. It is amazing to think about, however! All the cards have been graded and encapsulated by CGC. Grades are as follows: CGC VG+ 3.5 (1 card): Marcelo. CGC VG 3 (2 cards): Pita, Tata. CGC GOOD+ 2.5 (1 card): Teran. CGC GOOD 2 (1 card): Jose Lopito. GCG FR 1.5 (1 card): Abraham Tolosa. CGC POOR 1 (3 cards): Ricardo Cardenas, Mike Gonzalez, Ricardo Torres. An incredibly rare subset that stands apart from the Billiken issue, a set with only one or two examples of most cards known – along with the distinct but remote possibility that somewhere, there exists a Matanzas Billiken card of the great Martin Di- higo. Nine cards total. MINIMUM BID: $3,000
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