It is listed as an heirloom hybrid from California Hybrids. It is listed along with some other heirloom hybrids that I've seen advertised previously.

http://californiahybrids.com/category/dr-kantis-heirloom-hybrid-tomatoes/

Mentioned as a substitute for "Kumato," might be worth a try, but hopefully someone else has already tried it.

WC2K8

#1. This is a large farm's grow list which is hosted at Cornell's site. 117 varieties, including "Black Velvet," which they love. They comment on it in the first page which lists varieties.
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/TDW/Presentations/7 Hepworth_TDW_2011.pdf
[N.b. that they either can't spell, can't type, or can't proofread: of the first 23 varieties, at least 5 names are spelled wrong.]

#2. Rutgers has a database of everything they've ever grown (lots of determinates, hybrids, and older varieties). Here's their brief listing of facts about Black Velvet (with photo):
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/tomato-varieties/variety.asp?Black+Velvet
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The term "heirloom-hybrid" makes me suspicious. What does it mean? Is it a hybrid so old it's considered to have heirloom status (for example, Big Boy, which has been around for 60 years or more)?

"Black Velvet" seems to have been around long enough to appear on the lists above. Is it another very old hybrid? It's sold at Gurney's and Henry Field's, plus other places I'm not familiar with.

But also on the California Hybrids sites are "Green Zebra," "Pineapple," "San Marzano," "Large Pink," and "Gold Rush." And as the site is giving Dr. Kanti credit for them all, apparently he hybridized them all.

Presumably he began with the open-pollinated varieties of the same names and crossed them with something secret, then used the OP name (without even "Hybrid" or "F1" or adding another word to the name). To me, that falls somewhere between needlessly confusing and intentionally misleading -- and I'll stop there.
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For the record, I don't find "Black Velvet" listed in Tatiana's TOMATAbase (not surprising, as it's a hybrid), Cornell's Vegetable Varieties, or Ventmarin. Someone at the database which can't be named or linked to created an entry, but that was before the fruit ripened, so no real info.

Quite frankly I am skeptical of "heirloom hybrids," it just seems like such an oxymoronic term. Like senate intelligence, clogged drain, or house ethics committee.

Betsy

With that background, he really should know better.

Interesting that he has apparently bred miniaturized red and yellow per tomatoes, yet called them "red pear" and "yellow pear". In the text, their "yellow pear" is called "baby yellow pear" once.