18th Century Boxing Token & Rare Tobacco Cards John L. Sullivan Jack Johnson Boxer Joe Louis Cigarette Cards

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I have a fantastic piece of boxing history; an 18th century boxing medal/token, depicting a pioneering boxer and I’ll be discussing it later in this blog.

Who was the first boxing super star? I bet a whole host of great boxers from the past sweep through your mind: Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Jack Johnson or John Lawrence Sullivan. Actually, this great sport dates back thousands of years, with the earliest depictions of fist fighting appearing on relief carvings from the Bronze Age. The first English bare knuckle boxing champion was James Figg in 1719 and this was about the same time the word “boxing” was initially used. Early fights had no written rules and there were no weight divisions, round limits or referees. The first boxing rules, called the Broughton’s rules, were introduced by heavyweight champion Jack Broughton in 1743 to protect fighters in the ring.

One of greatest boxing matches in living history, between Thomas Johnson and Isaac Perrins , was held in 1789. It was such a momentous event that two medals, one representing each participant, were struck to commemorate it. I own the medal featuring the winner of the fight, Thomas Johnson. The obverse of the medal shows the bust of Johnson. The reverse is inscribed with the words “Science and Intrepidity”, because Johnson was well known for using his brain to outwit bigger and more muscular opponents, which was unusual for that time. He was thought to have earned more money during his reign as champion than any other fighter until John L. Sullivan almost a century later. Jack Anderson, a modern historian of the sport, has summarised the early boxing writers as agreeing the period of Johnson’s reign as champion “rescued the declining sport and heralded the beginning of a golden age”.

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Thomas Johnson (Iohnson) Boxing Medal / Token (Inscribed: “Bella! Horrida Bella!” and “Science and Intrepidity”), 1789

Tobacco card featuring John L. Sullivan, Allen & Ginters, circa 1887

Famous Boxers (featuring Jack Johnson), Cohen Weenen & Co., 1912

A Gallery of 1935 (featuring Joe Louis), Stephen Mitchell & Son

Boxing Personalities (featuring Gene Tunney), WA & AC Churchman, 1938

Sporting Champions (featuring Jack Dempsey), 1922

If you would like to find out more about the boxing memorabilia and tobacco cards featured in this blog please click here.
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Cigarette Cards’ History

Cigarette Cards’ History

Trading cards pre-date cigarette cards and originated in 15th century China, about the same time the printing press was conceived. Trading cards started out as simple calling cards. Calling cards were introduced to France in the 17th century and their popularity spread throughout English society in the same century.

Calling cards soon evolved into business or tradesmen’s cards under the rapidly increasing commercial pressures of the industrial revolution. The popularity of trading cards soared, especialy since at the time other types of media, such as newspapers, were rather under developed. Advances in colour printing technology in the mid 19th century meant that trading cards became one of the most powerful marketing tools the world has ever witnessed. Au Bon Marche’ and Liebig produced colourful sets of trading cards on a prolific scale.

The first cigarette packets were very fragile and so thick cards were inserted to stiffen them. An enterprising US businessman decided to print colourful adverts on the “stiffener” cards. Soon cards were issued on subjects appealing to smokers, such as glamorous actresses, sports, warships etc. Firms soon realised that they could strengthen customer loyalty by issuing sets of beautifully illustrated and informative cards, playing on man’s instinctive desire to collect and for order and completeness. The commercial success of these cards was demonstrated by the rapid growth of some of these early and often small tobacco firms into global empires.

At a time when the average person could not afford books, and newspapers contained no photographs, the attractive and encyclopaedic cigarette cards were very popular. At the beginning of the 20th century, more cards were issued with cigarette brands than for any other product and this is probably why trading cards are often referred to as “cigarette cards” even though there is no connection with cigarettes.

Initially, there were many small independent tobacco firms who issued cigarette cards but, as in many situations, a small group of powerful tobacco firms gradually emerged, striving for mass production and cost cutting. This was bad news for the cigarette card whose quality, it is generally accepted, declined as the years went by.
The cigarette card era came to a sudden end at the beginning of WWII, due to severe paper rationing.

The vacuum left by cigarette cards was partly filled by bubble gum cards and tea cards. It is generally accepted that the design of these post WWII cards favoured mass production over quality. There is currently a collectors’ card renaissance. Some modern day collectors’ card manufacturers are listening to what many collectors want and producing beautifully illustrated cards on high quality card stock once again.

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Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you found it interesting!