(Almost) 19th Century Goodness: Part 1

We can all agree that 1901 is within a reasonable distance from the 19th century, right? Good, because I'm far too lazy to change that 19th to a 20th. And besides, it would ruin the theme I have going for this series of posts which is five parts deep.

The scan I took from the eBay listing makes the card appear to be missing the bottom portion. It is not.

A previous owner decided to pin this card somewhere, and apparently nobody pins a card like this person. Hence about a bajillion pinholes. I was entirely unfamiliar with Taddy's before buying this card some months ago (December of 2010 to be exact), and went to trusty old Google to find some information. Here's a bit of what I came away with:

The oldest known cigarette card is believed to date from 1878 and is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. However, some of the most valuable cards available are those which hail from a small tobacco firm from London, England called James Taddy & Company. These cards are particularly rare because the company ceased to exist only 30 years after starting to produce cigarette cards, when the cards were still in their hey day.

The card ran me four GBPs (Great British Pounds), and according to the seller is from a set released in 1901. The dude seems honest enough, so I'll trust his dating skills. A low price, one hundred and ten years between its creation and now, and my interest in war were enough selling points for me to grab this card.