Gallery: Cigarette Cards.

Wilfred McClure

Wilfred McClure (rear detail)

Mart Sieffert

Ben Unwin

Art Pechar.

"Skid" Skinner

Charlie Spinks

Picts Via: Digital Gallery

Wiki:

"Cigarette cards are trade cards issued by tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and advertise cigarette brands.

Beginning in 1875, cards depicting actresses, baseball players, Indian chiefs, and boxers were issued by the Allen and Ginter tobacco company. These are considered to be some of the first cigarette cards. Other tobacco companies such as Goodwin & Co. soon followed suit.

Some very early cigarette cards were printed on silk which was then attached to a paper backing. Each set of cards typically consisted of 25 or 50 related subjects, for example famous football or Canadian ice hockey players, Boy Scouts or British butterflies. They were discontinued in order to save paper during World War II, and never fully reintroduced thereafter. Today, sports historians study these cards for details on uniform design.

The largest cigarette card collection on record is that of Edward Wharton-Tigar. His collection, bequeathed to the British Museum following his death in 1995, is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest collection of its kind. His autobiography, "Burning Bright", details both his obsession with collecting cigarette cards, as well as his business life, which included becoming President of Selection Trust - at the time, one of the largest mining companies in the world - as well as his life-long passion for cricket, which culminated in his presidency of Kent Cricket Club."