T215 Red Cross Tobacco and Pirate Cigarettes Set

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	T215 Red Cross Tobacco and Pirate Cigarettes
Year	1910-13
Size	1 1/2″ x 2 5/8″
Images	Color
Type	Tobacco
Number in Set	Varies

T215 Red Cross and Pirate Cigarettes Overview

Yet another issue that utilized the player imagery from the T206 white border set was the T215 Red Cross tobacco and Pirate Cigarettes release. In all, there are three different T215 sets:

Red Cross Type 1 (1910-12)
Red Cross Type 2 (1912-13)
Pirate Cigarettes (1912)

The Red Cross cards are much more scarce than the T206 issue and there are two different types. Similar to the T213 Coupon Cigarette cards, one type (Type 1) has brown font on the fronts like T206 cards while the other (Type 2) has blue. Some collectors, in fact, think the T215 Red Cross and T213 Coupon Cigarette cards should be considered T206 cards.

Most backs have a Red Cross tobacco advertisement, stating there are 100 cards in the set. Some cards are found with a Pirate Cigarettes brand advertisement printed in a yellowish-green ink. The Red Cross advertisements are printed horizontally while the Pirate Cigarettes ads are vertical.

The Red Cross cards are believed to be a regional issue in Louisiana while the Pirate Cigarettes cards an English issue. How did the cards get to the UK? They were apparently distributed to troops that were there in 1912, thus helping us to date the set.

While the Red Cross Tobacco cards are already extremely rare, the Pirate Cigarettes cards are even harder to find. As of early 2017, PSA has graded only a handful of those cards.

T215 Red Cross and Pirate Cigarettes Overview

Because new cards are still being found, it is unknown how many cards might exist across both Types and both brands.

Currently, there are about 100 known cards in each set. The Pirate Cigarettes set has 97, Red Cross Type 1 has 96, and Red Cross Type 2 has 96. It should be noted, however, that the Red Cross backs state there are 100 in each set so others may still be unknown.