1896 H-818 Spalding Die-Cuts Set and Checklist

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

It’s in the Details

Title	Spalding Die-Cuts
Year	1896
Size	Various
Image	Color
Type	Trade Cards
Number in Set	5

1896 H-818 Spalding Die-Cuts Overview

The 1896 H-818 Spalding Die Cuts set included only five cards. Among them, however, is one of the earliest American football issues available.

The set includes a football die-cut card for sporting equipment manufacturer Spalding. The front features a generic player while the back includes a long description of the game of football by Walter Camp.

Camp’s name might sound familiar to you since one of college football’s most prestigious awards is named after him. Camp is considered the father of American football. He played and coached at Yale and also became a sportswriter.

In addition to the football card, also popular among collectors are the baseball as well as the golf and tennis issues. These cards were used as advertisements for Spalding to promote the company’s sporting goods.

Despite being over 100 years old, these die-cuts do surface at auctions – even as entire sets.