Monday, April 14, 2014

The Hobby in 1910 Part 1

The year was 1910. The Cubs dominated the National League and the Athletics of Philadelphia sat atop the American League. Ty Cobb had just batted .380, Walter Johnson struck out 313 batters and Dizzy Dean had just been born. You are ten years old and you've just finished up a shift in the factory. You trot downtown and meet your friends for a smoke.

Courtesy Shorpy.com
 As you finish up the last of your smokes you head down to the general store to grab a few more packs. 


Frank grabs a pack of Obak and pulls out a Buck Weaver for his collection. Charles grabs a pack of Lucky Strikes and pulls another (T206) Christy Mathewson. "Ugh, the collation sucks balls." Charles proclaims as he tosses the dupe in the gutter. You're a little more mature than Chuck and Frank, so you grab a pack of Hassan. Inside, you find this...


"Boom baby!" You jump around and rub it in the faces of your pals. You've spent all summer collecting (T73) Indian Life in the "60's" cards from Hassan Cork Tip Cigarettes. The Oriental Smoke. This card, Buffalo Charging Hunter, is one you don't have yet and it'll fit in nicely with your collection. It's been a good day.


Okay, welcome back to 2014. Last summer my LCS had a few of these in the shop that he'd been holding on to for years. The T73 Indian Life in the 1860's set is not that popular among collectors, therefore they're cheap. I grabbed a few and started on my quest to chase down every card in the set. The last thing I need is another series of blog posts, but these cards are too perfect not to share.

I hope you'll also enjoy seeing this gems. The gorgeous artwork was ahead of its time and still manages to drop my jaw 105 years later. The cards are far from politically correct and they're usually far from correct period. The information is laughable at times, but you have to remember that in 1910, there were still Indians living off the land in a few remaining tribes. The point of these posts won't be political, we could easily talk about the racism and genocide these people faced at the hands of the white man, but there's enough of that out there. Instead, I just pay want to pay homage to the roots of our hobby and the treasures of 1910.

4 comments:

  1. Very cool.. looking forward to seeing more of these.

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  2. Hee hee - "The collation sucks balls."

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  3. I've never been a wild west guy but I love some of their other sets. Thanks for taking us back in time. You hit it on the head. That is one of the fun things about owning cards like that. I've spent quite a bit of time on Shorpy myself. I haven't posted any in a long time but I used to do a sporadic Shorpy shot of the day. Here's one,
    http://canthavetoomanycards.blogspot.com/2009/11/shorpy-shot-of-day-nov-19.html

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