T-Cards (Tobacco)

Introduction

T-Cards, which represent tobacco issues, are among the most popular of the designations given by Jefferson Burdick in the American Card Catalog.

Tobacco cards were popular (and at least one even led to a marriage) but they were also being blamed for causing all sorts of problems related to children collecting them. After a temporary ban on American tobacco cards in the late 1800s, they came back with a bang in the early 1900s.

While T-Cards are an important designation, they are only one of two tobacco card types as identified today. T-Cards are for tobacco cards from the 20th Century while N-Cards are now identified as tobacco cards from the 19th Century. While the N-Card designation was initially used to identify cards from Central and South America, it is mostly used today to identify 19th Century cards instead.

T-Cards are heavily collected in part because of their availability. Despite being more than 100 years old, many cards are still very plentiful compared to other issues from the same era.

Tobacco cards typically included advertisements of some sort of the back for the company. These cards were generally placed inside of tobacco products, such as boxes of cigarettes or even loose-leaf tobacco. Cards in packages of loose-leaf tobacco often have stains on them.

Like the other non-sports pages, this is not meant to be a full listing of non-sports issues in this category. Rather, it includes only some of the more popular ones listed in the American Card Catalog.