Tobacco Road

I'm always impressed with the generosity I find among other bloggers. Eric from Manupatches and Mustaches continued that great tradition of generosity last week. Eric had a series of posts describing a lot of early 1900s Tobacco Cards he got for a steal. I commented that I'd be happy to trade for one if he had any dupes. I've always wanted a real tobacco card, even it wasn't a baseball player. Well, Eric sent over 18 cards! I was blown away. Heck, I'm still blown away and I've been looking at these things for more than a week.

I'm just going to show a couple today. In my current sickly state, I only managed to get two scans done.




I regret not scanning the backs of these amazing little cards. This is a 1924 Player's Cigarettes Russian Relief Forces card. It is #9 in a series of 50 Army Corps & Divisional Signs. This card highlights a Russian Army unit that fought in Northern Russia 1919 and 1920.





The Australian Open is going on right now. That's why I chose this card out of the package. It's a 1936 Player's Cigarettes Miss Mary Heeley. This is card #6 of 50 in a series simply called "Tennis". It tells how England's former #1 tennis player, Miss Heeley, hits her forehand. I'll bet all of today's top players use these cards as a training reference. Well, maybe not.

Eric, thanks so much for the amazing cards! I look forward to showing a few more of them off.