1800's victorian trade cards

calleocho

is there any website where i could learn more about these cards ...mainly baseball related.

or is there anyone here with some knowledge to share?

i have notice that while its true that most of the cards dont show actual players of the time , the design is far superior to caramel and tabacco cards and most of them are at least 100+ years.

since they are such a neat americana type collectibles and somewhat affordable right now, do you guys see a them as holding their value or remaining obscure?

here are a few pics

qualitycards

The trade cards are a different ballgame. There are many trade card collectors too! There is some crossover to sports as well, so they are indeed collectible. To the uninformed, a trade card is a card from the size of a business card to post card size. That was given out by merchants in the late 1800's to early 1900's. It would advertise a product and have the merchant's address stamped on 1 side and would have a picture on the other, some times related to the product, and many times it has no affiliation. I have 1 of a cigar store in NJ that has a sunset on the other side. Many of the collectors 100 years ago wpuld pick these up at the various shops in town and would glue them to a scrap book as a collection. And since travel was limited, many would trade by mail w/ family & fiends who had a similar interest. The standard trade cards involving perfume, sewing machines, medicines etc... can usually be had for $3-$10. Nice litho pieces can cost more, as well as ones involving beer/liquor, sports and automobiles.
I have a handful myself, although none w/ a baseball theme. They are interesting as they are a piece of Americana...jay

calleocho

Thanks Jay,

i started looking into them a short while ago and found them fascinating.

MorrellMan

I picked up a group of these, obviously water damaged, but at a buck a piece I thought they were cool - collect what you like!