This is a summary of the history of cigarette and other trade cards, including a definition of cartophily and plenty of interesting facts regarding the hobby.
Cartophily is defined as the hobby of collecting cigarette cards
. As this document goes on to explain, cigarette cards are collectable cards which were given away with cigarettes. Many collections, however, are not limited to these alone and may include cards which were given away with other products.
Cartophilists, as cigarette card collectors are known, do not necessarily stick rigidly to the one hobby. Some spin-offs of cartophily, such as collecting sports cards, playing cards and cigarette packets, are considered in the Related Topics page.
Cigarette and trade cards have followed quite different evolutionary paths. No-one is absolutely certain about the history of either; what follows is our preferred version, based on a number of different and ever-changing sources and our own general knowledge.
Cigarette cards started life as blank cards which were inserted as strengtheners into paper packets of cigarettes in the mid to late nineteenth century. They evolved into advertising cards bearing product details, a device first employed by Allen & Ginter in the United States in 1886. The first British cigarette manufacturer to follow was W.D. & H.O. Wills in 1888.
A couple of years later, some cigarette cards were produced bearing pictures instead of purely advertising details. The first such cards produced had blank backs, but later the rears bore information associated with the picture. Cards were organised in sets (usually of 50) on a common topic and were designed to be collected as a set, a marketing gimmick to encourage people to buy more cigarettes.
Once the success of cigarette cards had been witnessed, manufacturers of other products began to adopt the same idea, producing sets of cards as a marketing ploy. These trade cards, as they became known, have been distributed with a wide range of products in Britain. The most famous company to produce such cards was the Liebig Extract of Meat Co. Ltd., whom we shall discuss later. Other examples include the tea manufactuer Brooke Bond (PG Tips) and confectioners Barratt & Co. Ltd.
In the USA, trade cards were handed out with products by the shopkeeper rather than being packaged with the product. Although supplied by manufacturers, they were apparently printed with the name and address of the shop. Their purpose was the same as their British counterparts and soon these, too, developed into sets.
The picture on the face of the card often had little to do with the primary business of the issuing company. The advertising was confined a line or two on the textual rear, while the picture was designed to be appealing to shoppers.
The subject matter often reflected the purchasers of the item. For example, items bought by women, such as tea, often portrayed flowers, animals, historical scenes and, predominately in Britain, royalty. Early cigarette cards were aimed at a male audience and covered subjects such as war (especially the Navy), sport and film. Confectionery cards catered for children's interests such as cartoons and football.
During war time, the card subjects reflected the state of conflict; many militaria sets were produced. Some carried useful information to coincide with government campaigns, such as Wills' Air Raid Precautions, issued in 1938, when fears of war were rife. However, other sets such as those bearing pictures and details of aeroplanes were banned by the government as they may have been of use to enemy spies. Surviving sets that were never officially issued can be extremely rare and valuable.
See the Cartophilic Picture Gallery for some examples of the subject matter of cards.
Each card in a set had a different picture and textual explanation, but were centred around the same theme. It became popular for sets to contain 50 cards, although some had 25 and playing card sets had 52. Some later trade sets had 40 cards and there seems to be no definite standard for the number of cards in a modern set.
Once it became popular to collect sets of cards, albums were produced to contain them. Initially these were designed so that the cards could be stuck in. Later cigarette manufacturers issued albums which held the cards by the corners or edges. Sometimes cards may be damaged by the use of the manufacturers' albums, so these are therefore not the best way to store cards; methods of storage are discussed in our Guide to Collecting Cigarette Cards.
Interestingly enough, many of the albums produced by cigarette manufacturers did not bear the name of the set and so could be used for any 50 cards. Trade albums, however, still usually carry the set name, probably because the number and size of cards in each set often varies. Usually they have places for the cards to be stuck so that you can see the picture and the text on the rear of the card is reprinted in the album.
By 1888, James B. Duke's American Tobacco Company (ATC) had become the dominant force in the US market. In 1901 Duke sailed to the UK in an attempt to buy up the UK market. Of the 500 existing companies Duke only managed to buy Ogdens, but failed to buy Wills and others.
In an unprecedented move in response to the Tobacco War initiated by Duke, the thirteen main UK manufacturers merged to form the Imperial Tobacco Company (ITC). Each merged company retained responsibility for its own advertising and marketing. This led to the situation whereby the same cards can be found with different manufacturers' names on the rear.
In late 1902 Duke realised that he could not win the War, and a settlement was reached with the ITC. The agreement reached included the sale of Ogden's to the ITC and limited the commercial activities of both companies to their home markets. A new company, the British American Tobacco Company (BAT), was formed for joint ventures in territories such as Canada and India. Often, BAT issues have blank backs, giving no clue to the issuer.
The Tobacco War led to a huge increase in the numbers of cigarette cards in circulation.
Due to restrictions on raw materials during this period, fewer cards were produced. Manufacturers decided not to issue sets of certain subject matter in order not to aggravate the conflict, destroying most of those which were produced. The surviving cards are now highly desireable. Other manufacturers issued sets supposedly of help to the war effort, such as series of propaganda.
In the 1920's, when production began again in earnest, some sets were reprints of pre-war sets while others reflected new subjects. A huge number of sets were produced, and cartophilic shops and clubs developed to support the ever-increasing numbers of collectors. This period is often referred to as a "Golden Age" for collecting cigarette cards.
In 1940 cigarette cards were officially banned by the UK wartime government as "a waste of vital raw materials". Unfortunately, after the war, cigarette cards were not really revived, perhaps due to to the cost, although some manufacturers reportedly considered re-releasing earlier sets.
In recent years, cigarette cards have been replaced by bonus points systems (a newer marketing trick). Trade cards continue to be produced, although again these appear to be declining in favour of other promotions.
The most popular, and largest, trade card producer of recent times was Brooke Bond, who distributed "tea cards" with their "PG Tips" tea bags (where "PG" stands for "Pre-Gestee"). Even Brooke Bond has contributed to the decline of the traditional cards, firstly by moving towards newer styles and content and then in 2000 by ceasing card production altogether. There are now very few card producers.
An interesting trend to note is the change in size of the cards issued. In the early days, most cigarette cards were of a particular size which became so common that it is referred to as the "standard" size. This was presumably dictated by the size of a packet of ten cigarettes. Following this tradition, many trade cards of standard size were also produced; however, over recent years there has been a shift towards larger cards for products supplied in larger packets (such as tea).
There are a few interesting loose ends to be tied up to conclude this history of cartophily. Further information about collecting cigarette cards can be found in the Guide to Collecting Cigarette Cards.
Liebig issued around 2,000 sets of cards in the hundred years following 1872 - the most produced so far by any trade card company. They were founded in 1856 and their product named Oxo in 1910. The company was purchased in 1971 by Brooke Bond & Co. Ltd. (Tea). Liebig sets have been produced in nearly every major European country in its native language.
Because different manufacturers sometimes issued the same sets of popular subjects, they were differentiated by code names. These were acronyms composed of the first letters of the companies' names. Many of these were pronounceable due to them being released by anonymous manufacturers; hence these code names contained the letter A. An example is Boer War Celebrities CLAM issued by Churchman, Lambert & Butler, Anonymous and Muratti.
When it was observed that it had become popular to collect cards, some companies began selling packs of collectable cards. These are known as trading cards, and often come in much larger sets than cigarette or trade cards.
Customisable card games, commonly known as CCGs, are also sold in this way. A good example of a CCG is "Pokémon", which recently took the world by storm.
These two hobbies are considered in a little more detail in the Related Topics page.
Multi-backs are cards which are issued in several different varieties, each bearing a different brand name of the same manufacturer.
Brand issues are cards which bear the brand name of the cigarettes with which they were issued but not the manufacturer's name.
Dissimilar series are sets of cards which appear similar but are, in fact, distinct sets. An example of this is Wills' Dogs and Dogs (Eire).
Sources of information include the Collins English Dictionary, Murray's Guide to Cigarette and Other Trade Cards and other Internet sites.
Thanks to Keith Moody for determining what the "PG" in "PG Tips" stands for and to Howard Adams for dating the Oxo cube.
This page was last updated on 11 December 2002. © Steve Talbot and David Snowdon 2002.
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