Lot # 3: 1923-24 Billiken premium - Pedro Dibut

Category: Featured

Starting Bid: $2,500.00

Bids: 0 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Auction #30",
which ran from 8/22/2021 7:00 PM to
8/28/2021 10:00 PM



This is one of the coolest Cuban baseball items ever to exist. It's a 1923-24 Billiken premium of Pedro Dibut, pictured as a member of the 1923-24 Santa Clara team, the best team in the history of Cuban baseball. There are two examples total from this set. This one, and Merito Acosta. One example of each. They measure 8" by 10" and have "Cine Fausto" stamped on the reverse, which was a movie theater in Havana. The theory is that perhaps they were given out serially, similar to how pieces of glassware and dishes were given out in American theaters at the same time. One visit you get a saucer, the next a cup, the next a plate, as incentive to keep coming to the theater every week. It's possible that they produced the entire set of Billiken cards as premiums, giving out one per week, but Dibut and Acosta are the only examples that survived. Given their size and the climate in Cuba, it's a miracle those two examples survived. The image of the Billiken card of Dibut is only for comparison to show the difference between the image on the premium and the card. The card is not included. There many collectors of the 1923-24 Billiken set, but none of them have a 1923-24 Billiken premium. Yet...

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