Issue Dates of Pre-1900 Cricket Cigarette Cards

This article will attempt to provide overview the first issue dates of sets of pre-1900 cricket cigarette cards. It is acknowledged that this list may not be comprehensive as other lesser known sets may exist. For instance, there are reports of a very early Anonymous issue cricket card set from Australia that was released some time during the 1880s. If you have any comments / corrections/ additional information that you think should be included, please feel free to contact me.

1. Goodwin & Co. Old Judge Cigarettes – Set N172 mixed subjects – Issued Circa 1886 – 1889

I had originally believed that the Old Judge cards were a single set, but thanks to great feedback, I have now realized that the Cricketers were made of two distinct sets. The first set appears to part of the massive N172 mixed subject (thought to have over 2000 subjects). The Cricketers are English subjects and it believed that there are 6 known subjects including the great W.G. Grace. The cards can be easily distinguished by the abbreviation “Cktr” and does not mention Cigarette Factory. Furthermore, some have Old Judge advertising on the back of the card suggesting more than one type.

Five examples from the set are shown below.

2. Goodwin & Co. Old Judge Cigarettes -Set C1- Celebrities Politicians and Sport Stars Issued circa 1889/90 N147

Goodwin & Co. Old Judge Cigarettes -Set C1- Celebrities, Politicians and Sport Star issued circa 1890 N174

The cards were produced in the U.S.A. as Goodwin’s Old Judge Australian series for distribution in Australia. The set depicts Australian Celebrities, Politicians and Sporting stars from the day (c1890) – 76 cards known in the set. There are 15 cricket cards with all subjects coming from Australia

The entire set consists of the following breakdown of categories. 5 x Athlete/Sprinter/Runner, 8 x Boxing related, 15 x Cricket related, 11 x Australian Footballers, 7 x Jockeys & Horse Trainers, 7 x Rowers/Scullers, 10 x Politicians & 13 known others.

The N174 are distinguished from the N172 set as “cricketer” is written and contains “cigarette factory” and have blank backs.

2. Marcus’s Handicap Cigarettes – Leading Cricketers – Issued Circa February – May 1896

This strikingly beautiful and rare set named Marcus’s Leading Cricketers features chromolithographic prints of some of the top cricketers of the era with blank backs.

Note: Many thanks to Stephen Flemming, who houses one of the best vintage collections in the world, who provided me with several of the images of the cards from the Marcus set from his own scanned images.

The portraits in the set were based upon photographs that were included in Hudson and Kearns’ Famous Cricketers and Cricket Grounds from 1895.

The set contains at least 18 known cards (according to the LCC) and was issued by Leon Marcus & Company circa February – May 1896.

The set was issued with the sport-focused Handicap cigarettes as described on the front of the cards and the first advertisements for Handicap cigarettes appear in February 1896.

The Cricketers cards were issued prior to the Football Clubs & Colours set, which was issued later the same year. The principal shareholder of the company was Charles Maxwell Kinnear who as an enthusiastic sportsman in Liverpool and played top level cricket for Liverpool with some of the top players of the era.

3. W.D & H.O. Wills – Famous Cricketers – Issued Circa August 1896

This iconic set contains stunning chromolithographic portraits of 50 of the era’s top cricketers including legendary players such as W.G. Grace, C.B. Fry, Lord Hawke and K.S. Ranjitsinhji among others.

3. Ogden’s Guinea Gold Base M(b) Circa August 1896-1897

The Ogden’s Guinea Gold cricketers are from set 385(s) Base M subject (b) Cricketers. Subjects are written in capital letters and there are two types of captions 1) wide caption and 2) narrow caption.

The wide caption set contains 77 subjects and includes several legendary players such as W.G. Grace, C.B. Fry and K.S. Ranjitsinhji. The narrow caption set contains 27 subjects and only cricketers from Lancashire, Yorkshire and Ireland.

Luckily, one player Tunnicliffe appears in both sets to make comparison between the sets easier.

4. Godfrey Phillips General Interest – Issued Circa December 1896.

The beautifully rendered chromolithographic images from Godfrey Phillip’s General Interest set contains two prominent cricketers of the era: Archie McLaren and the legendary W.G. Grace.

5. Cohen Weenen Circus Girl Heroes of Sport – ISsued circa August 1897 (trademarked in March 1897)

This set was issued along with other sports including cycling and football in the Heroes of Sport title. The title comes from the original source from which the subjects of the set were taken, which was a series of publications entitled The Sportfolio: Portraits And Biographies Of Heroes And Heroines Of Sport from 1895.

The photographs are in black and white with blank backs under the Cohen Weenen Circus Girl brand of cigarettes. To my knowledge, no set list currently exists; however, there are many parallels between this set and the Ogden’s Guinea Gold Wide Caption set of 1896.

6. Kinnear Handicap Cigarettes – Australian Cricketers – Issued 1897

This set of 15 cards was issued by Kinnear Ltd. (see Marcus’s Leading Cricketers above) in mid-1897 in their Handicap Cigarette brand.

Australian Cricketers were albumen photos of cricketers from Australian who had come to England for a tour in 1896.

7. Tally ho Cigarettes Cricketers – circa 1898 – Australia

Tally Ho Cigarettes were an Australian issue of 13 cards. The set appears to be the first local issue of cigarette cards by an Australian company and comprises portraits of the of the English touring side that toured Australia in 1897-98. The English team, known as the A.E. Stoddart XI arrived in Australia in October 1897 and stayed or 5 months.

The set checklist is as follows:

1. Board J.H.
2. Briggs, John
3. Druce N.F.
4. Hayward, T.
5. Hearne, J.T.
6. Hirst G.H.
7. Maclaren A.C.
8. Mason J.R.
9. Ranjitsinhj K.S.
10. Richardson T.
11. Stoddart A.E.
12. Storer W.
13. Wainwright

8. Ogden’s – Cricketers and Sportsmen – Issued Circa 1900

As the name implies, the Ogden set contains both cricketers as wells as sportsmen including what are considered to be some of the first golf cards ever issued. These cards are a stark contrast to the dark border Guinea Gold cards issued at the time as these card have a white borders with black and white photographic images with blank backs. The set contains 36 cricketers and although this set is often listed as 1898, it is likely that these were issued in 1899. Wilfred Rhodes played his first game for York in May 1898 and was not yet a prominent player. In addition, the the golfer H.H. Hilton is referred to as an ‘Amateur Golf Champion” although he didn’t win the title until June 1900 suggesting the cards came out after this date.

The information provided is based upon research conducted on the subject; however, football and cricket cards and their issued dates should be considered vast evolving subject matter. I will update to the best of my knowledge as new information comes available but no one source should be considered definitive. If you have comments or corrections, please contact me and I will do my best to provide the most accurate information available.