T-Cards (Tobacco)

Introduction

1936 Ogden Fred Perry Tennis T-Cards represent American tobacco issues and are one of the most popular of the designations given by Jefferson Burdick in the American Card Catalog. When it comes to tennis cards in the pre-war era, they are most abundant in tobacco card issues printed in the 1920s and 1930s.

These were cards that were either packaged directly with tobacco products or issued separately by tobacco companies. Some tennis issues are American cards. The bulk, however, are from other parts of the world. Several were part of multi-sport issues from the United Kingdom. And while many cards feature actual tennis players, some like the card here, feature a generic picture of the sport.

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.

From a tennis standpoint, pre-war tobacco sets offered cards from some of the game’s early stars. While tennis cards were released in the late 1800s, the sport did not really start to take off until the 1920s and 1930s with Hall of Fame players Bill Tilden, Helen Wills, Fred Perry, Jean Borotra, Suzanne Lenglen, Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste, and many others gaining recognition.

One important note for this page is that, similar to what occurred with the famous T206 baseball card set, many issues were produced for numerous tobacco brands. Instead of repeating each set in the table below multiple times, some sets are simply listed once by its set name and the individual brands are then mentioned on that page. For example the 1927 Homeland Events set was issued with Lambert & Butler, Wills, and British American Tobacco products. Instead of listing that set three times, it is simply listed as ‘Homeland Events’ with references to those distributors on its page.

A final note with regards to cataloging efforts here. Many tobacco sets were created featuring movie stars. These are generally non-sports sets that may involve an actor or actress with a tennis racket. Because of the large number of those sets and their relative lack of importance to sports card collectors, those have not been listed here.

These issues are interesting as many high-grade examples still exist, despite their age. As stated, the majority were international issues. Those were often preserved by collectors better than their American counterparts as collecting was seen as more of an adult hobby in other parts of the world. Many cards were affixed or placed into collecting books and sat undisturbed for decades. Thus, it isn’t uncommon to see them in very good condition and without major flaws.

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

Below is a list of pre-war tennis card sets and multi-sport sets where a tennis card can be found.

Sets

1924 A&J Coudens / Monax Sports Alphabet	1932 Abdulla Cigarettes	1914 Adkin’s Sporting Cups and Trophies
1939 African Tobacco World of Sport	1924-28 Aguilitas	1935 Ardath Cricket, Tennis, and Golf Celebrities
1937 Ardath Tennis	1935-38 Ardath Topical Interest Photocards	1935 Ardath State Express Sports Champions
1933 BDV Who’s Who in Australian Sport	1920s Bonzo Sets	1933 Bravour-Bilder Sport
1927 British Trees and Their Uses	1932 Bulgaria-Sport Photos	1935 Carreras Popular Personalities
1924 Cavanders Homeland Series	1928 Churchman Lawn Tennis (Small Cards)	1928 Churchman Lawn Tennis (Large Cards)
1928 & 1929 Churchman Men of the Moment	1931 Churchman Sporting Celebrities	1927 Churchman Sporting Trophies
1934 Churchman Well-Known Ties	1920s Cigarrillos Dolar Color	1904 Cope’s Flags, Types, & Arms of All Nations
1924 Cope’s Lawn Tennis Strokes	1925 Cope’s Sports and Pastimes	1934/1935 Deutscher Sport
1933 Deutscher Sport GEG Cigarettes	1927-32 Die Welt in Bildern (Jasmatzi, Josetti, Manoli, Salem, Sulima)	1936 Dubek Sports
1924 Gallaher British Champions of 1923	1934 & 1935 Gallaher Champions	1938 Gallaher Island Sporting Celebrities
1928 Gallaher Lawn Tennis Celebrities	1912 Gallaher Sports Series	1934 Garbaty Moderne Schonheitsgalerie (Modern Beauty)
1932 Godfrey Phillips Australian Sporting Celebrities	1935 Godfrey Phillips In the Public Eye	1930 Godfrey Phillips Lawn Tennis
1929 Godfrey Phillips Sporting Champions	1910 Godfrey Phillips Sporting Series	1923 Godfrey Phillips Sports
1937 Godfrey Phillips Spot the Winner	1926-36 Greiling	1927 Homeland Events
1903 I. Lewis Gold Eagle Cigars Women and Men in Costumes (T65)	1930 J.A. Pattreiouex Celebrities in Sport	1935 J.A. Pattreiouex Sporting Events and Stars
1931 J.A. Pattreiouex Sporting Trophies	1927 James Illingworth Comicartoons of Sport	1926 Lambert & Butler Who’s Who in Sport
1930s Lucky Strike Bridge Favors (T14)	1929 Major Drapkin Limericks	1930 Major Drapkin Sporting Celebrities
1928 Major Drapkin Sporting Snap	1930 Milhoff De Reszke In the Public Eye	1935 Mitchell’s Cigarettes Gallery of 1934
1936 Mitchell’s Cigarettes Gallery of 1935	1907 Mitchell’s Cigarettes Sports	1932 Monopol Sport Photos
1929 Morris How to Sketch	1909-11 Murad College Sports (T51)	1935-36 Muratti Cigarettes
1923-24 Obsequio de los Cigarros Nacionales	1915-16 Obsequio de Susini (N230-3)	1927 Ogden ABC of Sport
1937 Ogden Champions of 1936	1901 Ogden Guinea Gold	1931-32 Orami Movie Cards / Filmfotos
1937 P. Jackson Pageant of Kingship	1928 Player and Sons Lawn Tennis	1936 Player and Sons Tennis
1913-14 Richmond Artistic Images (T32)	1936 Real Photographs of London	1939 R.J. Hill Celebrities of Sport
1901 R.J. Hill Flags, Arms, & Types of All Nations	1934 R.J. Hill Sports Series	1923 Sarony Origin of Games
1929 Sarony Saronicks	1923 Sarony Tennis Strokes	1939 Senior Service Britain from the Air
1935 Sights of London	1929 Simonets Sporting Celebrities	1928 Sociedade Industrial dos Tabacos de Angola
1928 Tabacalera La Morena	1925 Turf/Boguslavsky Sports Records	1933 Turf Personality Series
1902-13 Turkish Trophies / Hamilton King Girls (T7)	1929 United Tobacco Humour in Sports	1938 United Tobacco Our South Africa Past & Present
1936 United Tobacco Sports/Pastimes in South Africa	1932 Vittoria Egyptian Cigarettes Sports Series	1937 Wills British Sporting Personalities
1939 Wills Happy Families	1932 Wills Homeland Events	1936 Wills Irish Sportsmen
1931 Wills Lawn Tennis	1937 Wills Our King and Queen	1913 Wills Scissors Sporting Girls
1928 Wills A Sporting Holiday in New Zealand	1901 Wills Sports of all Nations	1935-36 Wix Henry’s Adventures
1927 World of Sport