1920s Amatller Artistas de Cine Set and Checklist

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Amatller Artistas de Cine
Year	1920s
Size	2 5/8″ x 4″
Images	Color
Type	Candy/Caramel
Number in Set	40

1920s Amatller Artistas de Cine Overview

This set of cards is not an easy one to find in the United States. It features 40 actors and actresses so it’s mostly viewed as a non-sports set. However, a few ‘sports’ cards are found in them, thanks to actor depictions as athletes.

The cards are paper thin and roughly the size of traditional trading cards today, only slightly taller and wider. The set is known by a few different names. The header printed on the fronts is Artistas de Cine (film artists or, more commonly, movie stars). But the cards are sometimes called Artistas de Cinema or Artistas de Cine Humoristica.

The cards are the product of Amatller Chocolates based in Barcelona. Because of that, the backs are written in Spanish. Amatller produced several sets of trading cards, including sports series’.

Football, boxing, and golf are the major sports depicted. Famous actor Harold Lloyd starred in a movie called, “The Freshman,” and played a football player. His card, as such, shows him in that role. Boxing is depicted through actor Reginald Denny. Denny was actually a boxer at one point, thus the connection on his card with that sport. Actor Walter Hies is shown with a golf club on his card.

A pseudo sports card is also found for Fatty Arbuckle. Arbuckle was known in the sports world as an owner of the minor league baseball team, the Vernon Tigers.

In terms of the rest of the checklist, the biggest name in it, however, is Charlie Chaplin. Other famous film stars, though, such as Greta Garbo, Reginald Denny, Jackie Coogan, and western actor Tom Mix are sought after, too.

It should be mentioned that a different Amatller set should not be confused with this one. A set titled Colecciones Amatller issued around the same time also depicts movie stars. However, those cards have a significantly different look and bear the name Colecciones Amatller at the top.

The set is commonly dated as 1920. However, that is likely incorrect. We know that by any number of cards. Notably, the Lloyd card depicts him as a football player almost certainly due to The Freshman film, which was not released until 1925. We know the set cannot have been issued earlier than that. The exact date has remained a mystery, though, so most simply declare this as a 1920s issue.

The cards are rare but commons still often start at only around $10-$15. Collectors will often pay more for the sports cards or the stars, however.