|
Carnegie Collectables |
|
|
|
Cigarette Cards: A treasure trove for Australian Rules football collectors Cigarette cards originated in the Soon the idea spread to With the majority of smokers being men, the subjects of early cigarette cards were chosen to appeal to them. Beauties and Actresses form the subject of many Australian sets around the turn of the century, military themes are also featured and fortunately for football collectors, sport also became prominent. An American set produced by Goodwin and Company depicted prominent Australians including some footballers around about 1889. Later American Tobacco Company included a footballer in a celebrities set circa 1895 - 1901. The Golden Age of cigarette cards is considered to be between the years 1900 and 1917 and it is in these years that we saw a flood of Australian produced cards featuring footballers. Dungey Ralph produced a set of Australian Footballers 1906 -
1907. These cards are very hard to find and are amongst the few cards to
feature South Australian footballers. The forty nine cards in the set feature
colourful head and shoulder shots of club players,
the back of the cards advertises Sweet Nell Cigarettes.
W.D. and H.O. Wills produced sets of cards
in this period. Between 1905 and 1910 they produced a set titled Past and
Present Champions. A beautiful set it portrays a number of champions from the
1880s and 1890s as well as players of the day. Peter Burns one of the first
super stars of the game is featured, he played for South Melbourne from 1885
to 1891 then went to At about the same time Wills released Football Club Colours and Flags (1905 - 1915). This probably ranks as one of the most inaccurate sets of football cards produced. Probably printed overseas, the colours and flags bear little resemblance to the actual clubs. The jumpers and flags would be much more at home in a soccer club and reflect the fact that the artist had probably no idea, apart from colours, of club designs. About 1910 Wills produced sets of League and Association Flags. The 29 cards have rules and definitions on the reverse with some cards in the set available with as many as twenty different backs. Most collectors just collect the different fronts, however some aim to collect all variations. Without a doubt the cream of Australian cigarette cards are the various sets issued by Sniders and Abrahams between 1904 and 1914. In this time Sniders issued sixteen sets of football cards including League, Association, Country and Western Australian Players totalling just under 800 different cards. The vivid colours and quality of the portraits provide a marvellous glimpse of footballers of the day. One of the earliest sets "Incidents in
Play" is unusual in that it depicts action shots of games of the day. A
hard set to complete it contains 17 cards one of which is extremely difficult
to find.
Another set issued about 1904 of Australian Footballers has 74 cards and contains full length portraits. Players are shown holding a football in various poses. In 1906 and 1907 four sets were released
depicting League, Association and Country players. These sets are three
quarter length portraits of players and give great insight into the jumpers
of the day. Lace up fronts are the norm and
many clubs had quite different jumpers from those of today.
Four series in 1908 and 1909 feature head
and shoulder pictures of League, Association and Western Australian players.
The close up portraits highlight the vivid colours of their jumpers and give
clear images of players of the day like the famous Dick Lee of Collingwood.
1910 - 1914 saw some magnificent sets released. Each set contained sixty cards and are amongst the most attractive and sought after of Sniders' issues. Victorian League players feature in Oval, ray, pennant, star and shield designs with the last two sets showing players in collars and ties. At the same time numerous other sets of cards were in circulation, but that is a different story. Football cards appeared again in the twenties and then flooded the market in the thirties. Very few however, equal the appeal and quality of the cigarette cards from before the First World War. |
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
PLEASE BOOKMARK THIS
|
We BUY
Football, Cricket, Olympic and Sporting Memorabilia.
|
We have the largest range
of early Australian Rules Football cards in Carnegie
Collectables |
|
|
|
Email us at sportmem2@optusnet.com.au |