A 17" x 22" poster on premium metallic glossy paper. Each card is meticulously sourced from high resolution images to create this one-of-a-kind poster of the first football card set of 35 cards.
"Football," as Americans play it, was first introduced in the United States when teams representing Princeton and Rutgers Universities took to the field in 1869. Modern American football was established in the mid-1870's with a game played between Harvard University and McGill University.
The teams operated under different styles of play with 2024 no universal style accepted by all colleges until the 1880's. With no professional leagues, college players were the leaders of the sport. Despite the formation of rules, football was a very violent game abundant with injuries. Over the next twenty years, college football saw significant growth in popularity.
Included in this set is the rare, unique and most valuable card - John Dunlop. It is unique because it is the only card without a name on it (originally called "anonymous". It is rare because there are only about 10 copies known to exist. It is valuable since a copy was sold at auction for over $8,000.
The fan base was widespread enough to justify P.H. Mayo Tobacco Works of Richmond, Virginia to circulate a roster of thirty-five different football Ivy League players representing Yale, Harvard and Princeton University teams for the tobacco firms' "Cut Plug" brand of tobacco. This is the first set exclusively devoted to football ever produced. For 19th century gridiron collectors this is, aside from a rare single entry here and there, pretty much all there is. The distinctive black borders and midnight colored backing helped diminish staining from the direct contact the cards had with their leafy roommate inside pouches and tins.
Product code: Poster of the First Football Card Set - 2024 1894 N302 Mayo's Cut Plug Football Complete Set