1920's Association Footballers Trading Cards Hughie Gallacher Joe Spence Manchester United Arsenal By Thomson Rover Comics 1927

Click Here To See More

I believe that association football is one of the most underrated card collecting subjects, although there has recently been a flurry of activity in the auction houses. Despite the fact that soccer is considered by many to be the most popular sport in the world, the values of its early football cards lag way behind baseball, which is mainly restricted to North America. Thomson produced card sets that would appeal to the readers of its comics, and association football was a strong favourite. The set of Thomson cards featured in this blog, “This Year’s Top-Form Footballers”, includes talented players such as Hughie Gallacher, Joe Spence, Manchester United’s prolific goal scorer, and many others who performed particularly well in 1927 (see below for a full list of players and the football clubs they played for in that particular year).

DC Thomson, This Year's Top-Form Footballers, 1924 (24 cards)

Includes:John Blair - Tottenham Hotspur,Hugh Gallacher - Newcastle United,G Briggs - Birmingham,Joe Spence - Manchester United,A Jackson - Huddersfield Town,J Ruffell - West Ham United,James Crawford - Queen's Park Rangers,GH Green - Sheffield United,T Glidden -, West Bromwich Albion,GA McLachlan - Cardiff City,JD Gibson - Partick Thistle,WR Dean - Everton,A McInroy - Sunderland,T Bradshaw - Bury,Hugh Adcock - Leicester City,T Jennings - Leeds United,J Lambert - Arsenal,George Sommerville - Burnley,Walter Harris, - Aston Villa,W Cook - Dundee,G Brown - Huddersfield Town,R Parker - Millwall,T Mitchell - Blackburn Rovers,A James - Preston North End

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

1930’s Lancashire Celebrities Dixie Dean Everton FC George Formby Gracie Fields Eric Brook Manchester City Peter Kane Cigarette Cards By Ardath 1937

Click Here To See More

Lancastrian Celebrities

I have a soft spot for this particular card set because I was born in the British county of Lancashire. As with many photographic Ardath cards, this collection is mainly devoted to football stars from the late 1930s, including the prolific goal scorer Dixie Dean, the pride of Everton FC, and Eric Brook, an all time record goal scorer for Manchester City FC. It also includes many of their equally talented fellow players and legends from Liverpool FC (see full list below).

Despite the strong bias towards association football, this set does include two of the most well known Lancastrian entertainers from the era, Gracie Fields and the ultimate banjo playing comedian, George Formby. Boxing is represented by one of the greatest flyweight boxers of all time, Peter Kane.

Ardath, Lancashire Personalities, 1937 (22 cards)

Includes:Samuel Barkas - Manchester City, Ernest Blenkinsop - Liverpool Football Club, Thomas Bradshaw - Liverpool FC, Eric Brook - Manchester City FC, J Cunliffe - Everton FC, W Dixie Dean - Everton F.C., Lord Derby, Reginald Dixon, Robert Donnelly - Manchester, City FC, Gracie Fields, Foden Motor Works Band, George Formby, Charles Gee - Everton Fc, Albert Geldard - Everton FC, Fred Howe - Liverpool FC, Peter Kane, Barry Nieuwenhuys - Liverpool Fc, Arthur Jack Riley - Liverpool Fc, Ted Sagar - Everton F.C.,, J Sullivan - Wigan, Frank Swift - Manchester City FC, Samual Tilson- Manchester City FC,

If you would like to find out more about the 1930's Lancastrian celebrities featured in this blog please click here.
Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you found it interesting!

1914 Garden Insects and Pests Cigarette Cards by Wills Garden Spider, Ladybirds, Ladybugs, Beetles, Moths

Click Here To See More

Miniature Monsters From The Underworld - Garden Insects and Pests

The garden seemed a welcome retreat to the colossal carnage and devastation caused by WW1. But lying in wait beneath the foliage remained an enemy even more formidable than before, an opponent that could survive an all out nuclear attack and would probably outlive us all - the garden pest.

Very few cigarette card sets were issued purely on entomology, but this is one of those rare insect gems. As well as highlighting the gardeners’ foes, it pays tribute to their underrated friends – the ladybird (or ladybug) and the garden spider. It goes on to describe a whole host of destructive miniature monsters from the underworld. I’ve done my best in listing the titles of all these ancient collectors’ cards below.

WD and HO Wills, Garden Life , 1914 (50 cards)

Mealy Bug,Click - Beetle, Wire Worm,Garden Snail,Red Spider,Lace-wing Fly,Devil's Coach - Horse Beetle,Large White Butterfly,Cuckoo Spit Insect,Celery Fly,.Cockchafa,Leaf-cutting Bee,Magpie Currant Moth,Aphides,Green Fly,Ichneumon Fly,Hover Fly,, Lady-birds,Ladybirds,Plum Fruit Saw - Fly,Pear Midge,pea Moth,Vine Louse,Garden Spider,Coding Moth,Small Ermine Moth,Earwigs,Apple Sucker,Centipedes,Snail - Slug,Millepedes,Crane - Fly,Raspberry Beetle,Rose Chafer,Apple Saw - Fly,Pear and Cherry Saw -, Fly,Cherry Aphis,Cabbage Moth,Lackey Moth,Winter Moths,Plum Fruit Moth,Ants ,Mussel Scale Insect,Wasp and nest,Woodlice,Woolly Aphis,Weevils,Slugs,Thrips,Currant Gall Mite,Mottled Umber Moth,Vapourer Moths,Tiger Beetle

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

Rare Famous Silent Movie Stars by Ruby Magazine Trade Cards in 1923 Mary Pickford Lillian Gish Pauline Frederick

Sample scan

In the early days of the movie industry the actors and actresses who appeared in films were not publicized as they are now. The studios feared that if they made them famous in their own right they may become too powerful and demand bigger salaries. In a similar vein, the early trading card and cigarette card issuers did not credit the visual artists who helped produce the illustrations for the cards.

Florence Lawrence became very popular as the leading lady in Biograph studio movies, despite the fact that her name was never revealed. To the audience she was simply known as “The Biograph Girl”. Fans began writing in to the studio asking for the name of the mysterious girl. In a move to lure her away from Biograph, Carl Laemmle promised to make her the first performer to be identified by name on screen and in film advertising, and so the first true movie star was born in 1910. Despite having appeared in more than 270 films and laying the foundations for future film stars, she was laid in an unmarked grave and her movie accomplishments were largely forgotten.

Miss Lawrence’s successor as the “Biograph Girl” was Mary Pickford, who quickly became a global phenomenon. This set of cards features Pickford and many of her contemporaries.

Ruby (Periodical), Famous Film Stars , 1923 (6 cards)

Includes:Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Norma Talmadge, Constance Talmadge, Pauline Frederick, Anita Stewart

If you would like to find out more about the classic silent movie era icons and legends featured in this blog please click here.
Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you found it interesting!

Scarce 1920's Football Car Trading Cards by DC Thomson in 1929 Cliff Bastin Arsenal, Hughie Gallacher Chelsea FC

Sample scan

Thomson, publishers of boy’s magazines/comics, wanted to appeal to the widest possible market and what better way to achieve this than by producing double sided cards featuring both talented Association Footballers of the day and coveted motor cars. Thomson was very brave in its experimentation with new and innovative trading card set designs. I believe this rare card series is the earliest double sided set ever to be issued.

Footballers featured include Cliff Bastin, who overcame his hearing disability to become one of Arsenal’s greatest forwards of all time, the talented Hughie Gallacher, who tragically ended his life by throwing himself under a train in 1957, and many other popular footballers from the 1920s.

The reverse of the set depicts legendary 1920’s classic cars by Bugatti, Rolls Royce, Buick, Daimler, Austin, Hillman, Wolseley and many more.

DC Thomson (Boy's Comics / Magazines) , Footballers - Motor Cars (Double-Sided) , 1929 (24 cards)

Includes:Hughie Gallacher - Chelsea FC, J. Hampson - Blackpool Football Club, RGC Peden - Queen's Park Rangers, Cliff Bastin - Arsenal, A McPherson - Liverpool FC, J Stein - Everton, T Lloyd - Bradford FC, R Williams - Swansea Town FC, A Cunliffe - Blackburn Rovers,, P O'Dowd - Burnley FC, H Hibbs - Birmingham S Weaver - Newcastle United FC, M Hooper - Sheffield Wednesday, J Connor - Sunderland FC, GH Smithies - Preston North End FC, J Easson - Portsmouth Fc, T Tait - Manchester City, D Duncan - Hull City, B Yorston, - Aberdeen, J Dunn - Sheffield United FC, A. Jackson - Huddersfield FC, D Gray - Rangers FC, S Littlewood - Oldham Athletic FC, ACJ German - Notts Forest FC, Arrol Aster 8 Car, Austin 20, Bentley Car, 1920's Bugatti Motor Car, Buick, Daimler Double Six,, Duesenberg, Franklin, Hillman 8, Hispano Suiza, Isotta Fraschini, Lagonda, Lancia, Lea Francis, Mercedes Benz, Minerva, Morris Isis Six, Rolls Royce, Singer Six, Singer 6, Sunbeam Car, Wolseley Hornet, Trojan, Tracta Front

If you would like to find out more about the classic card set of famous 1920's association footballers and classic cars featured in this blog please click here.
Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you found it interesting!

1920's Strange Sports Trading Cards by Liebig Extract of Meat Co Includes Clowns Sailors Motor Cars etc

Sample scan

Liebig Extract of Meat Co , Humorous Sports (S1232), 1929 (6cards)

Sport has always been very popular among many card collectors. Liebig issued a set of Humorous Sports, 1929. After seeing one of the cards depicting a motor car driver wielding a decapitated head (probably not real LOL ) mounted on a spike, you maybe forgiven in thinking that people in the 1920s had a twisted sense of humour. However, when you observe the remaining cards of Northern Africans hopping like kangaroos in hessian sacks, men dressed in just underwear jumping through dangling oak barrels and sailors racing wheel barrows I’m sure that you’d agree that we still share a lot in common with our forefathers’ desire for amusement.

If you would like to find out more about the classic card set of unusual sports featured in this blog please click here.
Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you found it interesting!

1950's Pin-Up Girls (Risque Vintage Erotica) Cigarette Cards by Phillip Allman and Co 1953

Sample scan

1950's Pin-Up Girls (Vintage Erotica)

There were many casualties during WW2 and one of them was the cigarette card. Due to severe paper rationing card production came to a virtual standstill. The huge tobacco empires that the cards had helped promote and build up from small businesses decided to turn their backs on future card production at the end of the war. Only a handful of true cigarette card series were ever issued after WW2 and this Pin-Up girl set, by Allman, is one of those rare treasures. It features artwork of pin-up girls. This genre of art was popularized by artists such as Alberto Vargas, Gil Elvgren, and George Petty.

Phillip Allman and Co, Pin Up Girls, 1st (Unnumbered, "For Men Only"), 1953 (12 cards)

If you would like to find out more about the classic card set of 1950's pin-up girls (vintage erotica) featured in this blog please click here.
Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you found it interesting!