Footballers
Field Favorites Cigarettes
1 known
This is the only known card from this issuer and is probably the first card issued in cigarette packets, even though Baines, Briggs, Richardson and Sharpe had been producing and selling football cards for a few years.
Duncan McLean joined Everton in 1890 and was one of only two players to stay at Anfield when Everton moved out in 1892, giving this card it's earliest possible issue date. McLean stayed at Liverpool when they were elected to the Second Division of the Football League at the end of their first season and moved on to St. Bernards in 1895.
D. McLean (Liverpool)
Hello, it sold last week in auction for £7,250 (hammer £5,800 +25% fees). I always felt it was more of a photo than a cigarette card. Something seems odd to me. In Britain the spelling has a 'u'. This card sports the USA English spelling of Favorites, without the 'u'. Some people in card suspect it was a mock up made in the 1970's by a US dealer trying to cash in but we may never know.
ReplyDeleteThe US dealer in the 1970's would have to have been very knowledgeable about Victorian footballers early 1890's England. Very few would have known who Pele was before he joined New York Cosmos, let alone an almost unknown footballer from 80/90 years before. I take it that the expert at Loddon Auctions was happy to include it in their recent auction.
DeleteI do admit that the one sold at auction these last few days is the same one I had a photocopy of from many, many years ago and is shown above.
Although I am on the fence about whether this is an authentic cigarette card, the spelling issue no longer troubles me. A well-respected collector found a 1960s magazine article indicating that Field Favorites (with American spelling) was an old-time cigarette brand popular in Liverpool.
ReplyDeleteThere are some very knowledgeable cigarette packet collectors in the UK and I am hoping to find out more information about Field Favorites Cigarettes through them.
DeleteHi Alan, this card is taking people down rabbit holes as it always did but it's good for cards, great publicity, and sometimes funny too. I think the buyer knew what s/he was buying much though someone I used to know turned it down, years ago*. Martin Murray would never show it to me, not in the 1990's at FCCM nor in more recent years. I offered him significant costs for a photo, for my books. No. Though I used to be a client, a high spending one, he always said no. That's something I do not understand. *The very wealthy collector I used to know offered MM many thousands, some years back and got sight of the card I believe there have never been any cigarette packets found for this firm though it clearly existed. I suspect the card was a proof made from or for a carte de visite, that would explain the lack of others. We may never know but I am sure it's older than the 1970's! All the best to you and your readers, C.
ReplyDeleteHi Carl, it's great to read your thoughts on this card, the card has certainly caused a stir.
DeleteHi Alan, great to be in touch again. We go back some decades, and we've seen a lot between us, but this has always been that 'bete noire' of cards for soccer collectors. Yes, it's a mid-1890's card for sure, much though some people are doubtful of it. I believe it was made by a 'carte de visite' photo studio in Liverpool. In fact, I used to know more.. it's all in the UK somewhere, my old FCCM papers, along with 1000's of pages of records of cards from the 1990's-2000, which I compiled the hard way, by hand -and photocopies. The FF card is 100% genuine no matter the mystery Martin Murray spun around it when it was his. Well, he was a big fan of the 'Topsy-Turvy' Gilbert & Sullivan duo, and their Mikado illusions, so no surprise there. I think he really enjoyed making his FF card a draw for business, being THE man with THAT card, a card he would never show. Well, almost never. I have spoken to the man unto whom MM showed the card, about 20 years ago, and he turned it down because of the crease not due to doubts of origin. I wonder where the card is now...
ReplyDeleteHi Carl, yes, we go back a long time. Like you I used to have reams and rams of papers full of notes and checklists, many of them incomplete. I also used to keep the catalogues of various dealers like Neil Goulding. Luckily, in the early 1990's I got into I.T. and took the opportunity to transfer all my notes into a database on my first ever PC. It took a couple of years to get it all into the database. Back then I was only doing it for myself, never thinking I'd start sharing it with the world.
DeleteI am glad you concur that the card is real, though I had no idea of it's history. I can understand a collector turning it down because of the crease. Perhaps he thought, if there's one, there must be others. But that is seeming less and less likely.
Take care and stay safe.