Pre-War Cards

Introduction

The T-Cards, which represent tobacco issues, are one of the most popular of the designations given by Jefferson Burdick in the American Card Catalog. T-Cards are heavily collected in part because of their availability.

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 were usually baseball issues, a few did include the sport of basketball. Those can be found below. In general, the tobacco basketball-related issues featured collegiate or Olympic subjects.

Tobacco cards also can stake the claim to what is generally recognized as the first basketball card. The T51 Murad Williams basketball card pictured here is often celebrated as the first true basketball issue featuring a specific team.

While there are several pre-war basketball cards out there, by comparison, they are relatively few compared to other sports.

Looking to learn more about collecting tobacco cards? Here’s an introduction of sorts that I wrote, which covers their history.

Sets

1928 Aguilitas Cuba Deportiva	1936 Dubek Sports	1936 Kosmos Olympia
1909-10 Murad College Series (T51)	1909-11 Murad College Series Cabinets (T6)	1935-36 Muratti Cigarettes Olympic Sports
1936 Reemtsma Olympia	1902-13 Turkish Trophies / Hamilton King Girls (T7)

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