Beginning in 1875, cards depicting actresses, baseball players, Indian chiefs, and boxers were issued by the U.S.-based Allen and Ginter tobacco company. These are considered to be some of the first cigarette cards. Other tobacco companies such as Goodwin & Co. soon followed suit. They first emerged in the U.S., then the UK, then, eventually, in many other countries.
In the UK, W.D. & H.O. Wills in 1887 were one of the first companies to include advertising cards with their cigarettes, but it was John Player & Sons in 1893 that produced one of the first general interest sets ‘Castles and Abbeys’. Thomas Ogden soon followed in 1894 and in 1895, Wills produced their first set ‘Ships and Sailors’, followed by ‘Cricketers' in 1896. In 1906, Ogden’s produced a set of football cards depicting footballers in their club colours, in one of the first full-colour sets.
Each set of cards typically consisted of 25 or 50 related subjects, but series of over 100 cards per issue are known. Popular themes were 'beauties' (famous actresses, film stars and models), sporters (in the U.S. mainly baseball, in the rest of the world mainly football and cricket), nature, military heroes and uniforms, heraldry and city views.
Today, for example, sports and military historians study these cards for details on uniform design.
Some very early cigarette cards were printed on silk which was then attached to a paper backing. They were discontinued in order to save paper during World War II, and never fully reintroduced thereafter.
The system devised to codify 19th Century American tobacco issues has its origin in the ‘American Card Catalog’ (ACC), written by Jefferson Burdick. Burdick listed the American Tobacco Cards in one section, broken down by companies that issued the card series and by the types of cards. The 19th Century issues were prefixed with ‘N’ (N1-N694) and the 20th with ‘T’. (T1-T235).
Golfing, a series of 25 cigarette cards by WD & HO Wills, Issued in 1924. Quite often a set shown when speaking about the hobby of card collecting. Features various courses, rituals and stories around the noble game of golf. Great for lovers of history, sport and especially golf. A fascinating read, as well as great for collectors and for vision boards. Set features images of the top 25 golf courses in Britain on the front with a full write-up about the course on the back - including history, green fees, hotel accommodation's, course records, who can an cannot play, etc. Key cards are #1 Bembridge, 12 Murfield, 21 St. Andrews and 25 Westward Ho.
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