T59Flags.com
A site dedicated to the study and discussion of one of the largest and most intriguing tobacco card sets ever produced.
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The Shortest History Ever of Tobacco Cards
Tobacco inserts started appearing around 1887. It was an effort on the part of James Buchanan Duke to entice men to purchase his cigarettes. Fittingly most of the early cards featured subjects that were of interest to men--mainly, women and sports. From actresses of the day to drawings of bathing beauties women were the main subject of many of these cards. Even cards which depicted flags of other countries had a beautiful woman holding the banner.
As time progressed into the early 1900s baseball players became popular subjects to portray on cards. This culminated with the T206 set, one of the most popular baseball sets of any generation.
The period from 1909 to 1911 was the pinnacle of tobacco cards in America. There were scores of brands all with some type of insert card designed to set them apart in the marketplace. Cards were inserted as well as silks, felts, leathers and coins. There really was something for everybody.
Flags of All Nations (T59)
The T59 Flags of All Nations cards were issued in packs of 11 different tobacco products from 1910 to 1911. They are referred to as T59 because Jefferson Burdick gave them that designation in his publication, The American Card Catalog (ACC). Burdick was an avid collector in the mid 20th century and he devised a numbering system for all types of trading cards.
The cards were issued in 4 series of 50 cards each and are listed below. The first series were national flags of the major nations. The second series consisted of national flags of smaller nations along with Man of War and Royal Standard flags. The third series consisted of mainly city flags while series 4 included nautical flags and yacht club banners. There are no scarcities among any of the front designs or series. In my experience Series two is the most widely seen, although my collection is distributed fairly evenly between the series. Some people think there is a premium for Series four cards, but I think this is unwarranted.
There are four main types of backs. One that lists no designs (I'll refer to that back as FOAN, Flags of All Nations), 100 Designs, 150 Designs and 200 Designs. 100 Designs backs have Series 1 and 2 fronts and 150 Designs backs have Series 1, 2 and 3 fronts. The 200 Designs backs could conceivably have fronts of all series, but generally they have only series 4 fronts. FOAN backs can have fronts of all series. I'll discuss some exceptions to this on the Table of Brands page.
T59's were issued in 11 different brands of tobacco--mostly little cigars and cigarros--and one brand of scrap. These are listed on the Table of Brands page. The easiest backs to obtain are Recruit and Sweet Caporal with Recruit Factory 240 by far the easiest. Even though these are the most prevalent brands, some factory/series combinations are tougher. Brands like Sub Rosa, Hustler, Scrap Iron and Jack Rose while not seen as frequently are not that difficult to obtain. Derby and Big Run are tougher while Puritan backs are seldomly seen.
ARGENTINA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA BELGIUM BOLIVIA BRAZIL BURMAH CANADA CHILE CHINA CONGO COSTA RICA CUBA DENMARK EGYPT ENGLAND EQUADOR FRANCE GERMANY GREECE GUATEMALA HAYTI HOLLAND HONDURAS INDIA IRELAND ITALY JAPAN LIBERIA MEXICO MOROCCO NICARAGUA NORWAY PANAMA PARAGUAY PERSIA PERU PORTUGAL RUSSIA SALVADOR SCOTLAND SIAM SPAIN SWEDEN SWITZERLAND TUNIS TURKEY URUGUAY US OF COLUMBIA VENEZUELA
AUSTRIA HUNGARY MAN OF WAR AUSTRIA ROYAL STANDARD BULGARIA CHINA MERCHANT FLAG COCHIN CHINA COREA DANISH WEST INDIES DENMARK ROYAL STANDARD DUTCH EAST INDIES ENGLAND MAN OF WAR ENGLAND ROYAL STANDARD FINLAND FRENCH COLONIES EAST FRENCH COLONIES WEST GERMAN EAST AFRICA GERMANY MAN OF WAR GERMANY ROYAL STANDARD HELIGOLAND ICELAND IONIAN ISLES ITALY ROYAL STANDARD JAPAN MAN OF WAR LUXEMBOURG MADAGASCAR MALTA MONTENEGRO NEW SOUTH WALES NEW ZEALAND ORANGE FREE STATE POLAND PORTUGAL ROYAL STANDARD ROUMANIA RUSSIA MAN OF WAR RUSSIA ROYAL STANDARD SAMOA SANTO DOMINGO SAXONY SERVIA SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC SPAIN MAN OF WAR SPAIN ROYAL STANDARD TAHITI TASMANIA TONKIN TRIPOLI TURKEY MERCHANT FLAG TURKEY ROYAL STANDARD VICTORIA WALES WURTEMBERG
ALGIERS AMSTERDAM ANHALT BADEN BAVARIA BELGIUM ROYAL STANDARD BERLIN BERN BREMEN BRITISH NORTH BORNEO BRITISH SAMOA BRUNSWICK CAPE COLONY DUBLIN EDINBURGH FRANKFURT GERMAN WEST AFRICA GLASGOW HAMBURG HANNOVER HAVANA HAWAIIAN ISLANDS HESSE JAPAN IMPERIAL STANDARD JERUSALEM LIVERPOOL LONDON LUBECK MADRID MILAN MODENA MONTENEGRO ROYAL STANDARD MUNICH NAPLES NETHERLANDS ROYAL STANDARD NORWAY ROYAL STANDARD PAPAL STATE PARIS PRUSSIA SAINT PETERSBURG SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA SICILY SMYRNA SOCIETY ISLANDS STRAITS SETTLEMENTS SWEDEN ROYAL STANDARD TRIESTE TUSCANY VERSAILLES VIENNA
AMBULANCE AMERICAN CANOE ASSN BURGEE AUSTRIA PILOT FLAG BALTIMORE YACHT CLUB BELGIUM PILOT FLAG BLUE PETER READY TO SAIL BOSTON YACHT CLUB BRITISH CANOE ASSN BURGEE BROOKLYN YACHT CLUB BUFFALO YACHT CLUB CHICAGO YACHT CLUB CLEVELAND YACHT CLUB COLD WAVE CORINTHIAN YACHT CLUB DENMARK PILOT FLAG DETROIT YACHT CLUB ENGLAND PILOT FLAG FAIR WEATHER COLDER FRANCE PILOT FLAG GERMANY PILOT FLAG HAMBURG YACHT CLUB HIGHER TEMPERATURE HOLLAND PILOT FLAG HURRICANE WARNING INTERNATIONAL CODE ABCD INTERNATIONAL CODE EFGH INTERNATIONAL CODE IJKL INTERNATIONAL CODE MNOP INTERNATIONAL CODE QRST INTERNATIONAL CODE UVWX INTERNATIONAL CODE YZ ANS ITALY PILOT FLAG KIEL YACHT CLUB LARCHMONT YACHT CLUB NEWARK YACHT CLUB NEWPORT YACHT CLUB NEW YORK YACHT CLUB NORWAY PILOT FLAG PHILADELPHIA YACHT CLUB PORTUGAL PILOT FLAG RAIN OR SNOW ROYAL CLYDE YACHT CLUB ROYAL IRISH YACHT CLUB ROYAL LONDON YACHT CLUB ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON RUSSIA PILOT FLAG SIGNAL OF DISTRESS SOUTH WEST WINDS SPAIN PILOT FLAG WESTERN CANOE ASSN BURGEE
If any reader has additional information, I may be contacted at wpeters143@msn.com
Tobacco inserts started appearing around 1887. It was an effort on the part of James Buchanan Duke to entice men to purchase his cigarettes. Fittingly most of the early cards featured subjects that were of interest to men--mainly, women and sports. From actresses of the day to drawings of bathing beauties women were the main subject of many of these cards. Even cards which depicted flags of other countries had a beautiful woman holding the banner.
As time progressed into the early 1900s baseball players became popular subjects to portray on cards. This culminated with the T206 set, one of the most popular baseball sets of any generation.
The period from 1909 to 1911 was the pinnacle of tobacco cards in America. There were scores of brands all with some type of insert card designed to set them apart in the marketplace. Cards were inserted as well as silks, felts, leathers and coins. There really was something for everybody.
Flags of All Nations (T59)
The T59 Flags of All Nations cards were issued in packs of 11 different tobacco products from 1910 to 1911. They are referred to as T59 because Jefferson Burdick gave them that designation in his publication, The American Card Catalog (ACC). Burdick was an avid collector in the mid 20th century and he devised a numbering system for all types of trading cards.
The cards were issued in 4 series of 50 cards each and are listed below. The first series were national flags of the major nations. The second series consisted of national flags of smaller nations along with Man of War and Royal Standard flags. The third series consisted of mainly city flags while series 4 included nautical flags and yacht club banners. There are no scarcities among any of the front designs or series. In my experience Series two is the most widely seen, although my collection is distributed fairly evenly between the series. Some people think there is a premium for Series four cards, but I think this is unwarranted.
There are four main types of backs. One that lists no designs (I'll refer to that back as FOAN, Flags of All Nations), 100 Designs, 150 Designs and 200 Designs. 100 Designs backs have Series 1 and 2 fronts and 150 Designs backs have Series 1, 2 and 3 fronts. The 200 Designs backs could conceivably have fronts of all series, but generally they have only series 4 fronts. FOAN backs can have fronts of all series. I'll discuss some exceptions to this on the Table of Brands page.
T59's were issued in 11 different brands of tobacco--mostly little cigars and cigarros--and one brand of scrap. These are listed on the Table of Brands page. The easiest backs to obtain are Recruit and Sweet Caporal with Recruit Factory 240 by far the easiest. Even though these are the most prevalent brands, some factory/series combinations are tougher. Brands like Sub Rosa, Hustler, Scrap Iron and Jack Rose while not seen as frequently are not that difficult to obtain. Derby and Big Run are tougher while Puritan backs are seldomly seen.
Checklist by Series
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
Series 4
If any reader has additional information, I may be contacted at wpeters143@msn.com
