B33 College Felts and Flannels Set

Posted on January 21, 2017 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	B33 College Felts and Flannels
Year	1900s
Size	3″ x 5″
Images	Color
Type	Blanket/Felt
Number in Set	300

B33 College Felts and Flannels Overview

The B33 College Felts and Flannels issue was another multi-sport release with various college teams featured. Numerous schools along with nine different sports (ten different pictures) from this issue are believed to be produced by Murad (who produced other college multi-sport cards) in the early 1900s.

This was one of many college issues. As tobacco companies expanded their reach, marketing to college students, these types of issues became popular. The college issues generally depict only generic athletes, but because they used the names of actual colleges, they have become extremely collectible – not only of sports collectors but particularly among alumni of those schools.

Like other B-card issues, these were created with felt. Few people know what to call these, though they are generally categorized as felts or flannels. They are called miniature rugs by some since, well, that’s sort of what they look like. Some, in fact, have been rumored to be used in things such as doll houses.

They are approximately 3″ x 5″ and have tassles at the ends. Each includes the school seal and pennants on the front along with the sport being depicted. This is partially a unique issue because it includes all four major sports. The basketball felts, in fact, are some of the earliest collectibles of that sport that utilize the names of actual teams.

While these items have tassles at the ends, it isn’t too uncommon to find them removed. It doesn’t mean they are not authentic as some collectors have removed them over the years. Obviously, those without the tassles have less value.

B33 College Felts and Flannels Sports

In all, a total of ten different pictures are represented in the series. There are two different track and field images so there are only nine different sports represented.

Baseball
Basketball
Fencing
Football
Hockey
Rowing
Swimming
Tennis
Track and Field – running
Track and Field – hurdles

The set includes some of the few pre-war basketball, football, and hockey issues, in particular. Those issues are generally the more valuable ones as they are the most in demand.

Each school (there are 30 of them) has various sports and it is believed that each had all of the sports listed above, which gives us a total of 300 felts issued. Each sport includes the same generic player picture, so unfortunately, specific players cannot be tied to this set.