World's 1st Motorcycle Ever Made & 1902 Motor Cycle Ogden's Cigarette Cards

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As with many inventions, deciding who invented the first motorcycle depends on how you define it. If a two-wheeled vehicle with steam propulsion is considered a motorcycle, then the first was the French Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede of 1868. Many authorities who exclude steam powered, electric or diesel two-wheelers from the definition of a motorcycle, credit the Daimler Reitwagen as the world's first motorcycle. This petroleum fuelled bike was developed by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Germany, 1885.

Only a handful of cigarette card and trading card sets were issued just on motorcycles and most of those are post 1920. In order to find the earliest motorbike cards you really have to do some searching, scanning through thousands and thousands of cards. Luckily, I’ve done some of the work for. I’ve tracked down seven cards from the thousands of photographic general interest cards issued by Ogden under their Guinea Gold and Tab brands at the beginning of the 1900s. They hardly ever turn up and when they do they go for way above the catalogue value because it’s such a popular subject. 6 of the cards are all from Ogden’s Guinea Gold New Series 1 B. Below is a list of the card titles:

Guinea Gold New Series 1 B, 1902
B281 “Carl Muller Competitor in the International Cup”
B284 “Toman Winner of International Cup For Motor Bicycles”
B287 “Adolf Marz Competitor In The International Cup”
B271 “Lonfronchi On A Pengeot Motor Bicycle. World’s Record, 1 Mile in 57 4-5 Seconds”
B394 “Detachable Motor”
B395 “T. Silver on the Quadrant Motor” (Tom Silver on a Quadrant motorcycle)
I did also find a tricycle card from Ogden’s Tab General Interest D Series, 1902:
Card #90 “Kenneth Skinner rounding a curve on his prize-winning tricycle, in great American Races”

Ogden's Guinea Gold, New Series 1 B, 1902 (A selection of motorcycle cards)

Includes:Carl Muller, Competitor in the International Cup; Toman, Winner of International Cup for Motor Bicycles; Adolf Marz, Competitor in the International Cup; Lonfronchi on a Pengeot Motor Bicycle, World's Record; Detachable Motor, Tom Silver on his Quadrant Motorcycle, Kenneth Skinner on his Tricycle

If you would like to find out more about the early motorcycle tobacco cards featured in this blog please click here.
Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you found it interesting!