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.

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. JF 40 is no exception. Part of the reason that the cards are rarely seen is that they could be redeemed for prizes. In fact, the Cisco Co. has stamped all seven cards in this lot on the back in yellow ink, indicating that these cards have been redeemed.

The players featured in this lot are (top row, left to right) Tokuji Iida (HOF), Masao Morishita (Rookie), Kazuo Horii (bottom row, left to right) Kazuo Kageyama, Kunihisa Taneda (Rookie), Kazuo Kasahara, Chusuke Kizuka.

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

Condition: Range--Poor to Vg. Iida--Poor. Average--Fair to Good.