The Cisco Caramel Co. was a smaller competitor of Kobai, Calbee and Morinaga, the biggest companies in the Japanese candy business in the early 1950s. All of these firms released baseball cards at the time. While Kobai Caramel cards featured only members of the Yomiuri Giants, Cisco printed cards only of the Nankai Hawks. Cisco produced several sets of baseball cards during the early 1950s (possibly all in 1952). Cisco cards seem to be even scarcer than their competitors' cards of the same era.

While all Cisco Caramel cards have received a scarcity factor of R5 (five or fewer copies known) in Japanese Baseball Cards, Checklist & Price Guide 3.0 by Gary Engel, the cards offered here are the scarcest of all. While the other Cisco Caramel card sets have been cataloged for decades, JF 40a cards were undiscovered until this year! In fact, to this day, only two examples of the cards offered in this lot are known.

Tokuji Iida (left) was a top first baseman during his 17 year career in Japan Pro Baseball with the Hawks and Swallows (1947-1963). He earned the 1955 Pacific League MVP award, and had a consecutive appearances streak of 1,208 games. Chusuke Kizuka, a shortstop, was a six time all-star and a member of the Hawks' "million dollar infield" of the early 1950s along with Iida.

Size: Each card is 1 1/2" x 2 1/16"

Condition: Iida--Fair to Good. Kizuka--Poor. Both cards have been stamped in red on the back by the company, indicating that they were redeemed for prizes.