Allen & Ginter (USA) - (N28) The World's Champions (03) - Cigar Box

1887

(N28) The World's Champions

Allen & Ginter

USA

50 cards (0 football)

This cigar box includes a large inner coloured label based on the two series of World's Champions. Baseball star Buck Ewing (N29), Hon. W.F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) (Rifle Shooter) (N28), Axel Paulsen (Skater) (N29), Jacob Schaefer (Billiard Player) (N28) are included but the more interesting is the four 1890's stars of the sporting world who do not appear in the N28 or N29 Allen & Ginter sets dating from approximately a decade earlier: boxer Bob Fitzsimmons, another boxer - Kid McCoy, jockey Tod Sloan, and cyclist Jimmy Michael.

If these four 1890's stars had appeared in the 1888-1889 Allen & Ginter sets, or Allen & Ginter had issued additional "Champions" sets in the mid-to-late 1890s, their cards no doubt would have looked very much as they appear on the box. This is a very unusual "updated" version, probably produced circa 1897, based on what is possible and the years of prominence of the four additional stars. Bob Fitzsimmons won the heavyweight title in 1897, making this year of issue all the more likely. The name of the lithographer - O. L. Schwencke - appears at the base of the label. The cigar manufacturer, "I. S. Koch" of Lehighton, Pennsylvania, is printed on the interior base of the box. The box measures 8¾" x 5" x 2½".