Friday, April 18, 2014

The Hobby in 1910 Part 2

The Hobby in 1910 Part 1

Welcome back to 1910. It's been a long morning in Chicago as you roam the street corners hawking papers.

You hope to sell off the rest of your stack in time to head down to the park and hear the rest of the game. Your hero, Joe Tinker, has been on fire over the last week.


With a little luck you're able to sneak into West Side Grounds before the game even starts! You find a seat in the bleachers and set in to watch the game.


The man sitting next to you opens a pack of cigarettes. You politely ask for the card and are handed a beauty. It's been a good morning. 


Welcome back to 2014. You're looking at "Calling Back the Elk", another gem from (T73) Hassan Cigarette's Indian Life in the '60's tobacco card set. There is so much to appreciate about this card from an artistic standpoint. The color is absolutely gorgeous even after 104 years. I can't emphasize enough how high quality these cards were for the time. It's not unrealistic to think that manufacturing the cards may have been more expensive than the pack of cigarettes they came with. 1910 was a big year for tobacco cards and Hassan was printing "Topps Chrome" compared to most companies who were more on par with "Topps Opening Day".


If you think too hard about this card, it's actually pretty sad. What the "white man" saw as a silly superstition was likely a religious act performed by a desperate Indian tribe who had lost their lifeline due to slaughter for sport by the new Americans. One of the most glaring inaccuracies of this set is that it lumps all Indians into one. In reality there were thousands of separate tribes with unique languages and religions, many that are now lost to time. At one time, elk could be found in every corner of the United States. Today they are limited to the Rocky Mountains and the Northwest US. 

6 comments:

  1. Incredible visuals for this post. Love it.

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  2. The time-travel back story is a nice touch.

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  3. Pretty cool post. 1910 was an extremely good year for cards. My favorite non-sports set is 1910 American Camarel Teddy's Trophies (E27).

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