Collecting Tobacco Cards
Frequent visitors of ephemera shows and antique shops have seen them: small rectangles of lightweight paperboard with colorful decorations on the front, from hand-drawn illustrations of cars, engineering, and other objects to real photos of famous people, sports figures, heralds, military figures, and silent film actors. Often referred to as tobacco or cigarette cards, these became popular trading cards at the time of their manufacture during the late 19th to early 20th centuries. During the early 1900’s, silent film stars became a very popular topic for cigarette cards, in both black and white, or sometimes sepia toned, as well as full color.
A single tobacco card was used to help stiffen the cigarette packaging as well as advertise the cigarette brand. The reverse side of the cigarette card would sometimes contain information about the design on the front, plus the name of the issuing tobacco company. The earliest tobacco cards had their designs printed on silk which was then attached to a paper backing. When World War 2 began, these cards were no longer manufactured so that paper could be saved. Eye catching in design and an intriguing collectible, cigarette cards were frequently traded among family members and friends in order to collect a full set of cards, then store them in special albums created by the cigarette card manufacturer.
While some individuals may collect a full set of cigarette cards devoted to a specific topic, such as cars, others many concentrate on collecting on a single topic, thus creating an eclectic set of tobacco cards by different manufacturers. This may be especially desirable for someone who collects solely on a silent film star, thereby creating a rather unique collection of cigarette cards worth a few dollars. Interest in collecting cigarette cards will depend upon either design topic appeal or cigarette brand name. Country of origin may be another factor involved, such as cigarette cards made in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, or Australia. Following are just a few cigarette companies which issued collectible cards:
United States: Kinney, Old Judge, Goodwin, Bowman, Allen & Ginter
United Kingdom: Godfrey Phillips, Gallaher, Rothmans, A & M Wix, Player, Carreras, Liebig, Taddy
Australia: Wills, Ardath, Sniders & Abrahams, J. J. Schuh
Germany: Zuban, Manoli Gold, Orienta Stern, Borg, Cigarettenfabrik Constantin
The London Cigarette Card Company issues a reference publication, “The Essential Price Guide for the Hobby: Cigarette & Trade Card Catalogue” for identification, card grading, and value of each card. Another reference and price guide is the World Tobacco Index, published by the Cartophilic Society of Great Britain.
In place of an official cigarette card album, acid-free baseball card holders can be used to store cigarette cards.
Image Credit: Zindbar.
