Football cards of the 1920s – don’t you just love them? All twirling moustaches, cloth-capped goalkeepers and outfield players with their saggy, baggy shorts pulled up almost to their nipples! Players proudly displaying their international caps, their international shirts and others in their ‘Sunday Best‘! Lovely images of a bygone era, a time when footballers were real men with proper haircuts and not the soft, ‘Fancy Dan show-ponies’ of the modern game. The lovely crisp black and white images and beautiful “hand-coloured” kits are often a little treasure to behold and, even better, to collect. Well, the good news is that this website is devoted exclusively to the multitude of English football trade and trading cards that were issued in the 1920s, usually in boys’ story papers – not comics, you’ll note – and also with products as diverse as toffees and gravy salts. My aim is to produce a FULLY ILLUSTRATED site so it is obviously going to be a long, slow process; I need to find lists and then pictures of cards together with – hopefully – their backs. Wherever possible I will be scanning my own personal collection but I am also going to be scouring the internet.
I would also like to acknowledge right here and now the wonderful work already done on this subject by my good friend Alan Jenkins on his formidable Football Cartophilic Information Exchange website into which I will dip every now and again, with his full backing. Issue dates from specific periodicals have come from Alan’s site.
And, just a word about the valuations that I offer here which are for cards in top condition and are based upon my latest copies of the Murray Cigarette Card Values (2014-15) and Football Card Collector Magazine (FCCM) (2018-19); there may well be variations in more recent editions but usually only by about 25p-50p and, of course, you will certainly find them cheaper at fairs or possibly even online, so my prices are clearly only intended as a rough guide.
Right – off we go on a very long journey. I hope that you will stay with me and that you will call back on a regular basis. Oh, and please feel free to post a comment wherever you feel necessary! 🙂
AN APPEAL
Do you have any cards from the sets shown here? Am I missing the images? Do you have access to a scanner? If so then please contact me and I will give you an address to which you can send 300dpi scans (no photos please) and I will credit you if you wish (many like to remain anonymous!)
1920s Heaven 