1880s Bufford Ice Skating Trade Card Set and Checklist

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Bufford Ice Skating Trade Cards
Year	1880s
Size	3 3/8″ x 5 1/16″
Images	Color
Type	Trade Card
Number in Set	3 (?)

Bufford Ice Skating Trade Cards Overview

Atlantic and Pacific Tea Hockey Trade Card.jpg One of the earliest and most popular recognized hockey cards comes from this Bufford trade card set.

The famous hockey card shown here is often believed to be a standalone issue. However, it belongs to a set with at least three cards in it. Lithography for the cards was provided by Bufford, a popular company that created the artwork for numerous trade cards in the 1800s.

All three cards include a small number 817 in one of the corners, as well as the Bufford name. While the topics are different, they all have color illustrations of ice skaters. The most popular card in the set is the aforementioned hockey issue shown here. A second card pictures a pig on the ice pulling an ice skater. The third known card depicts ice fishing with ice skaters in the background. The latter two cards are seen less frequently but the ice hockey card is generally considered to be the more valuable, often selling in the $100-$200 range.

Regarding the hockey card, the color picture on the front of the cards shows several men playing a game of ice hockey. Collectors will notice the use of a ball instead of a puck and that is because early forms of the sport and variations of it used a ball instead of a puck. Despite that, it is generally considered to be a hockey card by most.

I have not seen an exact date for these trade cards but they were possibly issued over several years. Most dates of them that I have seen referenced are from the late 1880s.

Naming Confusion

It should be noted that the hockey card is commonly called the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company card (as most I have seen have borne that name on the front). However, other variants of the card exist with no name on the front and with different advertisements on the back. At least one variety includes an advertisement for Dr. Hartshorn’s cough balsam, though others may exist, too.

Collectors looking for that card specifically may have better luck searching for the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company card as opposed to a more generic Bufford listing, even if that is technically correct as the cards were issued with more than one advertiser.