Posts Tagged ‘cigarette cards’
Cigarette Card Origin
In the early 1880’s U.S. cigarette companies created the original cigarette cards. The early versions were simply pieces of cardboard placed in cigarette packets to keep the cigarettes from being broken or crushed.
Soon after their inception, the cigarette companies saw the advertising potential of these little cards and started printing cigarette ads on them.
Then they began to replace the ads with pictures that would appeal to what was then a predominantly male market. The subjects of these series of pictures included sporting champions and glamorous actresses.
The British & Australian Versions
The concept spread to first Britain, then Australia and then around most of the rest of the world. Thousands of sets of cigarette cards were produced from 1880 to 1940 with the height of the cigarette card age between the years of 1900 and 1917.
During the 1900s, Australian tobacco companies realized they could appeal to their customers by issuing ‘collectable’ sets of beautifully illustrated and informative cards. Based on the popularity of horse racing, they produced sets showcasing well-known jockeys and race horses.
Horses on Australian Cigarette Cards
The horses chosen for the Australian cigarette cards were popular race horses, including famous winners of the Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup.
The video clip below shows some of the horses from a series of cigarette cards which featured winners of the Melbourne Cup from its beginnings in 1861 until 1905. These images were drawn by artist Godfrey Phillips in 1906.
Smokers began to collect and trade cigarette cards and they are still highly collectable even today. Depending on their condition, these cards sell at auction for anywhere from $100 to $180 Australian.
I love these horse cigarette cards. I wonder if I’ll be able to buy one at auction…
