1868-70 Peck and Snyder Trade Cards

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Peck and Snyder
Year	1868-70
Size	Various
Images	Sepia/Black and White
Type	Trade Card
Number in Set	N/A

Peck and Snyder Trade Cards Overview

At the time of printing, Peck and Snyder hardly had an idea of the significance of the issues they created. Peck and Snyder trade cards are considered to be the earliest or among the earliest baseball cards by most collectors.

Peck and Snyder was a sporting goods company located in New York. They were known for a large supply of equipment and even are recognized as the first manufacturer of rubber-soled/canvas tennis shoes and two-wheeled inline skates. The company was a popular one and eventually was purchased by Spalding.

The first ones were the company’s 1868 editions. These trade cards served as an advertisement for the company on one side with a picture of the Brooklyn Atlantics baseball team on the other. While that card was printed first, the 1869 card featuring the Red Stockings is often considered the first true card since it was the first in the series to feature a truly professional team. Along with the pictures on each card, the names of the players were displayed as well.

Measuring about 3 1/2″ x 4 1/2″, they are slightly bigger than today’s trading cards. The image is in a sepia tone while the printing/text is in red. The ad on the back depicts a picture of a baseball player and states that Peck and Snyder is a manufacturer and dealer of supplies for baseball players.

After those initial 1868 and 1969 issues, the company produced several more trade cards of other teams, including the Chicago White Stockings, New York Mutuals, and Philadelphia Athletics.

Both the White Stockings and Mutuals cards had a similar format and layout as the 1868 and 1869 issues (although the White Stockings card is known to contain a different type of ad, possibly from another company). The Athletics card was a bit different than those first two, though. It kept the same type of ad for the store on the back but the team photograph included small oval portraits of each player.

Today, only a handful of all of the cards are known to exist.