1888 N403 Yum Yum Tobacco Set and Checklist

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	N403 Yum Yum Tobacco (A. Beck and Company)
Year	1888
Size	1 3/8″ x 2 3/4″
Images	Sepia
Type	19th Century Tobacco
Number in Set	64

N403 Yum Yum Tobacco Overview

The 1888 N403 Yum Yum Tobacco set is another obscure 19th Century tobacco issue rarely seen these days. These cards do pop up occasionally with major auction houses, but are not staples of most collections.

The set includes numerous Hall of Famers, such as Cap Anson, John Clarkson, King Kelly, Tim Keefe, Connie Mack, Buck Ewing, Pud Galvin, and several others.

A few players have more than one card. When that is the case, the cards are variations. For example, Hall of Famer Cap Anson has a portrait card as well as a full-body card showing him batting. Several players have two cards but Hall of Famer Mickey Welch is the only player with three known variations.

Like the N172 Old Judge set and others from the same period, this set includes cards with two parts – a photograph affixed to a piece of cardboard. The fronts include a picture of the player in a sepia tone and the Yum Yum Tobacco name while most of the backs are blank. Some of the pictures are actual photographs while others are unique drawings. The A. Beck and Company (out of Chicago, Illinois) name is also present on the fronts as the likely manufacturer as are the individual player names and positions.

While most backs are blank, some cards have been spotted with a redemption offer. Those backs stated that upon returning 100 of the Yum Yum cards, the company would mail a lunch box. While that offer was mostly on the backs of Yum Yum’s N402 card set featuring actresses, one was discovered with a baseball card in recent years.

N403 Yum Yum Tobacco Checklist

SGC has graded almost every known card in the checklist. Note that while Sullivan appears on most recognized checklists of this set, I have not yet verified that card.