Eventually they would be sold with more kid-oriented products like caramels and bubble gum but 110 years ago, if you wanted a picture of a professional baseball player (and who wouldn't before color magazines, TV or even radio?), you had to have access to tobacco, or at least someone who used it. When the American Tobacco Company's massive promotion began in 1909, word … [Read more...]
High Costs of 19th Century Tobacco Cards Revealed
We mostly refer to the boom of the American tobacco cards as coming in the early 1900s. Numerous sets were produced in the 1909-12 time period. However, the start of the cards actually came much earlier than that. The 1880s is where most cigarette cards got their beginnings. But despite being very popular with collectors, tobacco companies were very interested in cutting … [Read more...]
Owner of “The Original” T206 Wagner Revealed as Auction Approaches
The baseball crazy youngsters who pestered smokers and caused a major uproar in 1909 upon the release of the American Tobacco Company’s trading cards knew it. Honus Wagner was a huge star but finding his picture was a pain in the Heinie. Little did they know their desires had been trumped by the Pittsburgh Pirates star’s insistence on being left out of what … [Read more...]
Notes: Record-Setting Year; Cards and Kids 1902 Edition; Hockey Heaven
Earlier this week, I posted the top 10 most expensive auction lots sold in 2016. The numbers on the list were eye-popping, even if you remember each sale. A look back at the lists for the last few years does indicate this was a record-setting year, at least in terms of the amounts at the top. For the first time, the top ten list included four lots that … [Read more...]
T206 Cards Caused Uproar Upon 1909 Release
Everyone who had a hand in their creation is gone. Those in charge of marketing them passed on decades ago. Even those who were just learning to read and write when they were released are dead and buried. Even though we can’t hear or see them talk about it anymore, though, what they put on the record more than a century ago is pretty clear. T206 baseball … [Read more...]
1909 Kids Were Caught Up in Baseball Card Mania
Maybe we've found the true answer as to why Honus Wagner didn't want his picture used in the T206 tobacco card series. A recently discovered column that appeared in the August 9, 1909 edition of the Charlotte (NC) Observer, and a follow-up on September 1 of that year, would indicate the cards were quite a sensation on Tobacco Road. The Observer's current day … [Read more...]