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PREWAR CARDS
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circa 1920 LA SUD AMERICANA BARAJA FANTASIA SPORTS BASKET-BALL PLAYING CARDS (SPAIN)
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The Baraja (Deck of Cards) Fantasia game playing cards were released as a variety of sets with different backs. Variations included a full black & white landscape image, an all-blue illustrated image or a full color illustrated image. There were two sets, “Futbol” & “Sports”, that had the full color illustrated backs with a lower section dedicated to advertising. This section was typically advertising Spanish chocolate companies but are also found blank, without any advertiser listed. Both of these sets consisted of 48 cards. The Fantasia Futbol set featured only foot-ball and the Sports set featured a variety of sports including Foot-ball, Tennis, Rowing, etc and included a total of four Basket-ball cards: 9,10,11 & 12 of Clubs. These cards are very scarce, with only a handful of examples known to exist.
The exact date of the cards is unknown but the consensus is around 1920. Measurements: 2.5” x 3.5” |
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circa 1923 BASCHETT-BALL #1 UNA FASE EMOZIONANTE CARD (AN EXCITING PHASE), UNKNOWN PUBLISHER (ITALY)
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I have yet to find any comparables for this card. It is the first time I have seen the word "Baschett-Ball". I was only able to find one example of this term used for the game, it was in the June 1923 issue of L'Araldo Abruzzese, referring to a match between the national boarding school and Stamura Ancona. I'm guessing this card is of that era as the term
Palla Al Cesto was commonly used in most mid 1920s examples. Measurements: 2" x 1.375" 
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1923-24 LA SUD-AMERICANA DEPORTES COLECCION DE 100 CROMOS #99 BASKET-BALL (SPAIN)
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This is the only basketball card in the Deportes Coleccion De 100 set. The card (pictured here) is mislabeled by the grading company. There were different manufacturers making these cards & a variety of businesses advertised on the back
(most of which were chocolate companies). Measurements: 2.375" x 3.375" 
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circa 1922-26 PALLA AL CESTO (BALL TO THE BASKET) CARDS, UNKNOWN PUBLISHER/UNCLASSIFIED (ITALY)
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Basketball was introduced to Italy in 1915 by Guido Graziani who had graduated in the U.S. where he had learned the game at the YMCA. It was initially named "Palla Al Cesto" (Ball to the Basket) before being changed to "Pallacanestro" (Basketball) in the late 1920s. Squadra (Squad) ASSI, featured on card #34, was one of the founding members/teams of The Italian Basketball Federation which formed in 1921. Between 1921-1927, ASSI dominated the sport, only losing the title in 1923. There is a picture of the ASSI team from the La Tribuna Illustrata Magazine in December of 1927 where they are pictured wearing darker uniforms with an "A" on their chest. The photos on these cards are prior to lettered uniforms.
With this information I'm guessing this card set was produced sometime between 1922 and 1926, the publisher remains unknown. Measurements: 2" x 1.25" |
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1920s PALLA AL CESTO (BALL TO THE BASKET) CARDS, UNKNOWN PUBLISHER/UNCLASSIFIED (ITALY)
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These cards are very similar to the Palla Al Cesto cards shown above but vary slightly. They are slightly smaller in size and have rounded corners. The rounded corners are uniform and seem intentional, especially when viewed from the reverse and compared with the squared off cornered examples. The publisher is also unknown but I assume it's the same one as the cards above as
the font lettering and style match. The year is presumed to be early to mid 1920s when comparing these photos to Italian basketball photos of that period. Measurements: 1.125" x 1.9375" |
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1924 WILLARD CHOCOLATE V122 SPORTS CHAMPIONS #42 EDMONTON GRADS (CANADA)
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The sports champions V122 cards were released with Willard Chocolate Bars and the set consisted of 56 cards of various sports, including 1 basketball card. The card featured the "Canadian Grads", a famous Canadian women's basketball team that dominated
the sport in the 1920s & 1930s. Measurements: 1.375" x 3.375" 
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1925 DOMINION CHOCOLATE V31 MULTI-SPORT BASKETBALL CARDS (CANADA)
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The 1925 Dominion Chocolates set consisted of 180 Sports cards and were issued in two separate series. In total there are 7 Basketball cards in the set. There were coupons on the bottom of each card that were redeemable for prizes, so examples are sometimes missing these. I'm not sure if any of the basketball cards are rarer than others.
Measurements: 1.125" x 2.875" |
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1927-28 CIOCCOLATO SALVI #65 PALLA AL CESTO (ITALY)
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The Cioccolato Chocolate Company was located in Milan and was in business for the majority of the 20th century. They released a few sports sets in the 1920s/1930s, the majority of which consisted of soccer (futbol) cards. This is the only Salvi card featuring basketball that I've seen. It's unknown if there were any others in the set. Palla Al Cesto translates to Ball to the Basket and was regularly used until about 1930, when Pallacanestro (basketball) became universally used.
Measurements: 1.375" x 2.125" 
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1928 CUBAN CIGARROS AGUILITAS DEPORTIVAS BASKET-BALL #394 TEAM C. FERROVIARIO (CUBA)
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This rare card is from the Cuba Deportiva set distributed by Aguilitas cigarettes. There were many basketball cards in the set but the exact number is unknown.
Measurements: 1.5" x 2.25" 
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LATE 1920s DIBUJOS ORIGINALES DE MASIA, AUN PODEMOS EMPATAR (WE CAN STILL DRAW), #38 BASKET-BALL (SPAIN)
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This set of 40 cards feature comedic sports illustrations by the artist Juan Masia Lopez (1899-1971). This is the only basketball card in the set. The set was released in 2 variations, one with the card number inside the border, and a much rarer version with the card number located outside of the border. Like many early Spanish cards, the backs of these cards included various advertisers, typically chocolate, or nothing at all.
Measurements: 2.25" x 3.25" 
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LATE 1920s PALLA AL CESTO ILLUSTRATED CARD, UNKNOWN PUBLISHER/UNCLASSIFIED (ITALY)
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This card is the same image used in the 1930s "Pallacanestro" version with the differences being the name "Palla Al Cesto" and its slightly larger size.
The name used would date the card earlier, most likely the late 1920s. The exact date and publisher remains unknown but it looks very similar to the illustrated cards that Marca Stella was publishing at the time. Measurements: 1.4375" x 2.125" 
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circa 1926-1930 HUECOGRABADO MUMBRÚ TODOS LOS DEPORTES, SERIE 1, NO. 7, BASKET-BALL, COLECCIÓN DE 21 CROMOS (SPAIN)
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The only documented and graded Huecograbado Mumbrú cards are Futbol cards from 1923 & 1925. Comparables online show nuances in photo tinting and text font and the exact date of this set is yet to be confirmed. I have discussed this card with a few pre-war Spanish collectors and the consensus was that this set was produced somewhere between 1926-1930. The advertisement on the back of the card is for the Tabu House Chocolate Factory. Like most Spanish cards at the time, I assume that the advertiser varies, so there could be many different versions of the back of this card.
This is the only example of this card I have seen. Measurements: 4.25" x 2.75" 
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LATE 1920s PALLA AL CESTO ILLUSTRATED CARD, UNKNOWN PUBLISHER/UNCLASSIFIED (ITALY)
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Although CGC labeled this card 1930s, I believe it to be late 20s because the term "Palla Al Cesto" had been replaced by "Pallacanestro" by 1930. It is not definitive, so the date remains unknown. The publisher is also unknown but it looks very similar to the illustrated cards that Marca Stella was publishing at the time.
Measurements: 2.125" x 1.5" 
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1928 TURMAC OF HOLLAND KORFBALL (NETBALL) SILK (HOLLAND)
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This silk was part of the Sport and Nature Series distributed through packs of Turkish Macedonian Tobacco in Holland. Turmac issued silks between 1926-1934 but I've seen this one listed as 1928 a few times, so I've labeled it as such.
Measurements: 2" x 3" 
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