1888 A33 Duke’s Cigarettes Terrors of America Set and Checklist (N88 Supplement)

‘It’s In The Details’

Title A33 Duke’s Cigarettes Album (for N88 cards)
Year 1888
Size 7″ x 10 1/2″
Images Color
Type Album
Number in Set
50 (album cut cards)

A33 Duke’s Cigarettes Terrors of America Album Overview

N88 Duke Terrors AlbumAs a special premium surrounding their 1888 N88 Terrors of America cards, W. Duke Sons and Company Tobacco distributed a special album (designated as the A33 Album in the American Card Catalog) with pictures of the 50 cards in their Duke Cigarette’s brand set. One of the cards from the set/album is pictured here.

Like other album pictures, the cards in the album had the same pictures as found on the N88 cards. The biggest difference is that the backs on the flip side did not include the standard checklist as the N88 cards did. They were instead blank or had whatever the page behind it had on it.

One distinguishing characteristic of the cards is that they have a three-dimensional look with a greenish shadow emerging from some sides. This is seen on he card on the cover of this picture as you can see it on the bottom and to the right. If cards are trimmed from the book, some may exhibit a part of that if not cut to entirely remove it. Thus, if you see individual cards out there with a light greenish border on some sides and they are blank-backed/thinner, assuming they do not have skinned backs, you know they were cut from these albums and were not the cards distributed in cigarette packs.

To make things even more confusing, a second type of N88 cards is known. They are slightly larger than regular N88 cards and some (if not all) also have the same greenish color border. Those cards, however, have a different ad from regular N88 cards for Duke’s Mixture Brand.

These albums are scarce and difficult to find. Collectors will also find them in various forms. Sometimes, the albums are complete. Other times, individual pages from the album will be offered for sale from albums that have been separated. In addition, cards are also cut out individually from the pages (each page contained several cards). While these do not hold the same value as the regular cards, there is certainly a market for them.

Many of the cards are non-sports and simply depict boys misbehaving or in precarious situations. However, several are baseball-themed, which has led to some being collected by sports card enthusiasts.

The cards and album are often mistakenly credited for having a football card. That assertion, however, is incorrect as I outlined here.

A33 Duke’s Cigarettes Terrors of America Album Checklist

The checklist of the 50 cards from the N88 Terrors of America set, which are included on the pages of the album, is listed below. Cards are printed in appearance of their order on the checklist of the N88 cards and not necessarily in the order they appear in the book.

  1. The Umpire
  2. The Pitcher
  3. Foot Ball
  4. A Stunt
  5. The Catcher
  6. Swimming
  7. Kite Time
  8. Snow Balling
  9. The Figure Eight
  10. Election Night
  11. “Pot a Boilin”
  12. Big Bite
  13. Hide and Seek
  14. Save the Core
  15. The Dude
  16. A Turkish Bath
  17. “Wid me one Hand”
  18. “What a Find”
  19. Before Election
  20. Tug of War
  21. Fishing
  22. “Watch me hit him”
  23. “Line up back there”
  24. The Boss Fighter
  25. Playing Nurse
  26. Brick in Hat
  27. “Ain’t she a beauty”
  28. “Extra! Extra!”
  29. Rabbit Hunter
  30. “Please come home”
  31. Maud 8
  32. Spread the Eagle
  33. “Hit a feller yer size”
  34. “Knuckle down”
  35. “Get off there”
  36. In the First Class
  37. Leap Frog
  38. Let her go slow
  39. De Boss of de Gang
  40. Boss Whistler
  41. Tappy-on-the-Window
  42. My New Duds
  43. Out in Left Field
  44. Me Galluses is gone wrong
  45. Playing Buffalo Bill
  46. Out on first
  47. The Boss Short Stop
  48. “I didn’t steal no apples”
  49. “Clean it for a quarter”
  50. Thanksgiving Day

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