Card Fiends Trade Card Set and Checklist

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Card Fiends Trade Cards
Year	c1884
Size	2 11/16″ x 4 1/4″
Images	Single Color Ink (Red, Blue, or Black)
Type	Trade
Number in Set	5

Card Fiends Trade Cards Overview

Card Fiends Trade Card This trade card set has not been cataloged by noted collector Frank Keetz in his book, “Baseball Advertising Trade Cards, 3rd Edition,” and has generally gone uncataloged.

Like most trade issues, an exact date for this set has not been confirmed. However, one of these was found advertising an 1884 event, so they appear to be distributed around that date.

As mentioned, these cards were not catalogued by Keetz. Part of the reason for that could be that the set may not technically include a baseball card. The closest card in the set to a baseball card is likely one that shows a young card collector. That card, titled, ‘The Juvenile Fiend,’ shows a boy holding his hand out asking an adult for a card. The practice of children asking adults for cigarette cards during the 19th century, has been well documented. The caption of the card reads, “Mister, please give me a card.”

One of the other cards in the set is particularly interesting from a card collector’s point of view. The card, ‘The Publisher Fiend’ shows an apparent printing magnate printing off various cards.

All others in the set I have viewed to date have been decidedly non-sports cards. The set features ‘fiends’ for all sorts of things. Of note is that there are three variations of the cards as they are printed in blue, red, and black ink.

As is the case with most trade cards, these are relatively fragile and printed on thinner card stock. For that reason, they can be torn or ripped quite easily and damaged easier than standard baseball cards.

As is the case with many trade cards, this one can be found with any number of advertisers. Some advertisers printed their information at the top or bottom of these cards while others added it to the back.