Cigarette Card Information

Taddy Cards

The oldest known cigarette card is believed to date from 1878 and is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. However, some of the most valuable cards available are those which hail from a small tobacco firm from London, England called James Taddy & Company. These cards are particularly rare because the company ceased to exist only 30 years after starting to produce cigarette cards, when the cards were still in their hey day.

James Taddy & Company was established in 1740 as sellers of Tobacco, Snuff and Tea and during the 1890's they became well known for the excellence of their trading cards. The company was extremely prosperous and the owner, Gilliat Hatfield, who believed in rewarding his employees well, ensured that their wages and conditions were superior to those of his rivals, dispensing with the need for any union representation. However, the cigarette industry went on strike during the 1920's and although the Taddy factory workers were already being paid more than the unions were demanding for the rest of the industry, his workers joined in the strike. Upset by these actions he requested that his workers return to work or he would shut down the factory. They did not and the factory was duly closed.

The Taddy cards showing clowns, actresses and flowers have been nicknamed "the penny blacks" of cigarette cards by collectors. There were 20"clowns" produced in the 1890's and despite being a relatively small set, there are only about 20 complete sets known to be in existence.

In 1985 an incomplete set of 19 was auctioned, by Phillips of London, for a record value(at that time) of £4,600 ($7,400). This price was expected to increase in value over the following ten years (up to 1995) to a remarkable £10,000. Since then, these prices have far been exceeded by a complete set of 20. Another highly collectable James Taddy series is a set of 25 which were issued in 1899 with the Myrtle Grove brand of cigarettes. They depict Actresses and Flowers and although not nearly as valuable as the Taddy's Clown series, they still fetch in the region of £50.00 per card if sold as part of a complete set.

Although there were desultory attempts by several tobacco companies to revive cigarette cards in the 1950s (the most notable British examples being those produced by Allman's and the Black Cat brand), costs of card and printing restricted them severely. Carreras attempted to print pictures directly on to the cardboard insert in their packets but this never caught on with collectors. Instead, competition between the tobacco companies led to the inclusion of gift vouchers, bonus coupons or even trading stamps in their packets. In the climate of recent years, when governments have campaigned against the spread of the smoking habit among the young, it would not be politically correct for the cigarette manufacturers to target youngsters in the way they did in the inter-war period.

Cigarette cards came into use in 1879, the year in which several American tobacco manufacturers began putting small card stiffeners into the flimsy paper packs of cigarettes to protect the contents from damage. At first the tobacco companies were content merely to print their name and address and brand name on these little cards. It was a gradual change from a pictorial element in the advertisement to a full-blown picture which had no direct relevance to the product, but by 1885 the first purely pictorial cards were beginning to appear.

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.

Cigarette cards were issued during a significant time in the history of mankind, 1870s-1940s. These encyclopaedic cards captured the Precambrian explosion in 20th century innovation and social upheaval that propelled us into our modern age. World Wars, the first Hollywood movie stars, motorcars, the Wright Brothers' first flight, famous golfers, soccer stars, scarce wildlife and the atom bomb are all vividly portrayed on these frameable, miniature masterpieces.

Even the cigarette cards were the creation of rapid improvements in colour printing technology and competitive pressures of an expanding free market. It's possible that the powerful tobacco manufacturers who issued these humble, everyday items unwittingly accelerated information democracy itself at a time when books were still expensive to the average person.

The cigarette cards were designed from the start to be collected, perhaps becoming more addictive than the product itself. Even after a hundred years later, cigarette card collecting has surged ahead thanks to the ease of trading on the equally simple but innovative eBay website. At the start of the new millennium, a Honus Wagner card became the first cigarette card ever to exceed a million dollars, and one of the most expensive items to be sold on eBay. It is the cigarette card's uncanny ability to tap into the interests of a wide cross-section of society and inbuilt collectibility that have ensured its survival over other collectors' items.

The trading card pre-dates the cigarette card and originated from the 17th century tradesman's cards. Advances in colour printing technology in the mid 19th century led to a rapid increase in trading card production. The trading card became a popular promotional tool among European firms, especially Au Bon Marche' and Liebig.

The first cigarette packets were very fragile and so a thick card was inserted to stiffen them. During a period considered by many to be one of the most innovative in the history of mankind, an enterprising US businessman decided to print a colourful advert on the "stiffener" card. The tireless evolution of the cigarette card was driven by the highly competitive and creative tobacco markets. Soon cards were issued on subjects appealing to smokers, such as glamorous actresses, sport, warships etc. Firms soon realised that they could strengthen customer loyalty by issuing sets of beautifully illustrated and informative cards, playing on man's instinctive desire to collect and for order and completeness.

At a time when the average person could not afford books, and newspapers contained no photographs, the attractive and encyclopaedic cigarette cards were very popular. At the beginning of the 20th century, more cards were issued with cigarette brands than for any other product and this is probably why trading cards are often referred to as "cigarette cards" even though there is no connection with cigarettes.

Initially, there were many small independent tobacco firms who issued cigarette cards but, as in many situations, a small group of powerful tobacco firms gradually emerged, striving for mass production and cost cutting. This was bad news for the cigarette card whose quality, it is generally accepted, declined as the years went by.

The cigarette card era came to a sudden end at the beginning of WWII, due to severe paper rationing.

The vacuum left by cigarette cards was partly filled by bubble gum cards and tea cards. It is generally accepted that the design of these post WWII cards favoured mass production over quality. There is currently a collectors' card renaissance. Some modern day collectors' card manufacturers are listening to what many collectors want and producing beautifully illustrated cards on high quality card stock once again.