Vintage Space Travel Trading Cards and Cigarette Cards (Collectables)

Space Trading Cards

Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. Early astronomers used the position of celestial bodies to create calendars and to aid navigation. A number of cigarette card sets were issued on astronomy. The cigarette card set "Romance of the Heavens", issued in 1928 by WD & HO Wills, is interesting since some of the cards display an artist's impression of the landscape of several planets, including Mars. "The World of Tomorrow" card set, issued in 1936 by Stephen Mitchell, is extremely popular and makes predictions about future space travel.

Sadly, the cigarette card era came to a sudden end in WW2, due to severe paper rationing and, later, cost cutting. The trade cards continued the space saga where the cigarette cards left off. They chart the space race, from the launch of the first man-made item into space to man landing on the moon.

I've list below a small selection of space related cigarette card and trading card sets. I've provided scans of a sample card from each set and tried to include all card titles.

Name Of Set: Constellations

Manufacturer: Liebig Extract of Meat Co

Issue Year: 1903

Card Number: 6

Card Titles: -

Name Of Set: Those Pearls Of Heaven

Manufacturer: John Player and Sons

Issue Year: 1916

Card Number: 25

Card Titles: The Pointers and the Pole Star, Bears - Great and Little, The Great W, The Mighty Hunter- Orion, The Dog - Star, The Starry Girdle, The Bull, The Heavenly Twins and The Crab, The Lion, The Virgin and the Scales, The Scorpion, The Archer and the Goat, The Water - Bearer, The Fishes and the Ram, Twinklers, Paths and Pearls, The Wanderers, The Sun's Family, The Swift One - Mercury, Venus - Godess of Love and Beauty, A Weird World - Moon, The Ruddy World- Mars, The Giant - Jupiter, The Ring - Wearer - Saturn, Symbols of the Near and The Far, and Our Special Star - The Sun.

Name Of Set: Astronomers II S1110

Manufacturer: Liebig Extract of Meat Co

Issue Year: 1921

Card Number: 6

Card Titles: -

Name Of Set: Romance of the Heavens

Manufacturer: WD and HO Wills

Issue Year: 1928

Card Number: 50

Card Titles: Hailey's Comet, One Theory of the Formation of the Moon, Neap Tides, Spring Tides, A Shower of Meteors, A Lunar Crona, Typical Lunar Craters, Lunar Craters, The Earth as Seen From the Moon, Earth Shine, Mock Moons, Phases of the Moon, Portion of the Moon's Surface, The Dumb Bell Nebula, A Spiral Nebula, The Inner Planets, The Outher Planets, Jupiter, Two Views of Mars, An Imaginary Landscape of Mars, The Surface of Mercury-Imaginary, Saturn, Saturn's Rings, Two Views of Saturn, The Dark Sid of Venus-and Imaginary View, The Sunlit Sid of Venus-and imaginary view, Cassiopeia and Pole Star, The Composition of a Star, The Evolution of a Star, Two Gian Stars, Leo, The Milky Way, Orion, The Pieiades, The Pole Star and the Plough, The Southern Cross, Variable Stars, The Aurora Australis, The Aurora Borealis, The Cause of Auroras, Solar Corona, Electrical Discharges from the Sun, An Eclipse, An Eclipse of the Sun Viewed from the Moon, The Midnight Sun, Shadows and Rainbows, Solar Prominences, Typical Sun Spot, and The Zodiacal Light.

Name Of Set: Out Into Space ("Issued In..")

Manufacturer: Brooke Bond

Issue Year: 1958

Card Number: 50

Card Titles: The Sun, Moon and its Phases, Eclipse of the Sun, Eclipse of the Moon, Seasons, Moon - Effect on Tides, Rotating Earth, Planets - Orbits, Planets and Their Moon, Minor Planets or Asteroids, Planets - Sizes, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Comets, Metoers (Meteorites), Zodiac (Path of Creatures), Zodiac Symbols (Northern), Zodiac Symbols (Southern), Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, Polaris ( Pole Star ), Ursa Minor ( The Little Bear ), Ursa Major ( The Great Bear ), Canis Major ( The Great Dog ), Cygnus ( The Swan ), Crux ( Southern Cross ), Pegasus ( The Winged Horse ), Hercules, Cassiopeia, Perseus, The Milky Way, Aurora Borealis, Radio Telescopes, Composition of a Star, and Astrolabe.

Name Of Set: The Conquest of Space

Manufacturer: Beano Ltd (Gum)

Issue Year: 1956

Card Number: 50

Card Titles: Stepping-stones to Space, The First Aeronaut, First Parachute Descent, The First Airship, Lilienthal's Glider, The First Aeroplane, The First Aeroplane, Ballon of the 1900's, Aeroplane of the 1920's, The Graf Zeppelin, Upper-air Research Baloon, DH Mosquito, Jet Propulsion, Gloster-Whittle Jet Aircraft, The Flying Bedstead, Guided Missiles, The Earth's Atmosphere, Principle of the Rocket, The Earliest Rockets, The Congreve Rocket, Line-throwing Rocket, Rocket-propelled Aeroplane, First Liquid-fuel Rocket, Rocket Fighter-plane, The Rocket Motor, Douglas Skyrocket, Stratosphere Air-liner 1, Stratosphere Air-liner 2, Stratosphere Air-liner 3, Lay-out of a Space Rocket, Martin Viking No.9, First Space Travellers, Space Suit, Human Centrifuge, Weightlessness, Step Rocket 1, Step Rocket 2, Step Rocket 3, Space Station, Building a Space Station, Space Ship, Refuelling in Space, Return of a Rocket, Surveying the Moon, Moon Rocket, Exploration of the Moon, Moon Base, Worlds to Explore, Mars, Venus, and Mercury.

Name Of Set: Space Mysteries

Manufacturer: Barratt

Issue Year: 1965

Card Number: 25

Card Titles: Saturns Rings, Is There Photographic Proof of Spaceships, Project Bluebook, Pilots and Spaceships, Airliners and Spaceships, Who Said Flying Saucer, Asteroids,Scotland 19th Century, Spaceships From the Sea, The Coniston Saucer, Mars, Ancient Egypt, Men To-Day And Spacemen, Indian Legends, Tragedy, Sky Drama, Spaceships From The Moon, Great Things In The Sky, An Early Saucer, Our Mystery Moon, Spaceships Landing In the Middle Ages, The Australian Saucer, The First American Sighting, The Sussex Spaceship, and The Space Spindles.

Name Of Set: Space Travel

Manufacturer: Granose Foods Ltd

Issue Year: 1957

Card Number: 16

Card Titles: -

Name Of Set: Moon Fleet

Manufacturer: T. Wall & Sons (Ice Cream) Ltd

Issue Year: 1967

Card Number: 48

Card Titles: Planet Earth, The Moon, Rockets - How They Work 1, Rockets - How They Work 2, Satellite Orbits, Vostok, Mercury, Gemini, Man In Space, Orbital Redezvous 1, Orbital Redezvous 2, Ranger Moon Probe, Moonflight Orbits, Surveyor, Moon In Close-up, Far Side of the Moon, Moonflight Plan, Space Training 1, Space Training 2, Spaceport USA, On the Launch Pad, Awaiting Lift-Off, Lift-Off, In Parking Orbit, Weightlessness, Between Earth and the Moon, Apollo Mooncraft, Moonbug Seperation, Descent to the Moon, Touchdown, Men on the Moon, Lunar Lift-off, In Lunar Orbit, Return to Earth, Apollo Splashdown, Building a Space Station, Recoverable Boosters, Return to the Moon, The Lunar Base 1, The Lunar Base 2, Moon Tractor, Lunar Spaceport, The Solar System, Spaceship to Mars, Landing on Mars, Exploring Venus, Close to Jupiter, and Robots to Pluto.

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