PREWAR CARDS
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1894 MCLAUGHLIN COFFEE XXXX Z9 SERIES 5 & 6 DOLLS WITH BALL OUTFITS (U.S.A.)
These are classified as Z-Cards in the American Card Catalog. Specifically, they are a Z-9 issue as they are a coffee and food insert. The 5 series (top center & right) is debated amongst collectors if the ball is truly a basketball, so it isn’t definitive. If it is, it may be the oldest basketball collectible known to exist.The 6 series (bottom center & left) is also a ball, although what type remains unknown.
The back flap of the Series 5 is missing from my example. Measurements: Figures approx. 5" tall, outfits approx. 3" tall |
1899 J.L. PRESCOTT & CO ILLINOIS WESLEYAN BOY ENAMELINE COLLEGE DOLL (U.S.A.)
This doll was released with Enameline Stove Polish and was part of a series of 9 dolls that included Baseball, Football, Tennis and other sports. The consensus is that this is a Basketball given that there is already a football featured in the set. The debate continues however as to whether or not this would be considered an actual card.
Either way, this is one of the earliest Basketball collectibles there is. Measurements: Approx. 2.5" x 5.75" |
1903 TETLOW COLLEGE GIRL SERIES PRINCETON BASKETBALL (U.S.A.)
The front of this example is in fantastic condition, the low grade is due to the tape residue and discoloring on the back. There is a debate whether or not this is the first Basketball card produced or if that honor belongs to the Murad Williams College card released in 1909-10. Regardless of where you stand on that, this is still an awesome early Basketball collectible. This College Girl Series consisted of 4 cards, all depicting various sports. While Princeton isn't named on the Basketball card, the pennant is in Princeton colors and the other 3 cards (Penn, Harvard, Yale) are all Ivy League with their
appropriate school colors, so Princeton is assumed. Measurements: 4" x 6" |
1904-05 BAINES SHIELD SCHOOL GIRLS E.S.B. OPEN COLLAR & NET BALL E.S.B. CLOSED COLLAR (U.K.)
The Baines Company manufactured jersey shirts and sweaters and produced shield shaped cards with color lithograph fronts and their advertising on back. The cards were distributed in promotional packets and were primarily football but had 2 "Net Ball" cards with slight variations. Net Ball was a variation on Basketball that became quite popular in Europe in the early 20th Century.
Measurements: Approx. 2.75" x 3" |
1908-10 FABRICA DE CROMOS FRIEDRICHS BARCELONA TRADE CARD ADVERTISING JOAQUIN MARANES (SPAIN)
This image was published by various European manufacturers as both trade cards and postcards. This trade card was manufactured in Spain and advertises the shop, Joaquín Marañés, in Toledo (outside of Madrid). Another known trade card (not pictured) advertises the French company, Jules Macors distillery, and was published by Chromos E Deiters of Belgium. The trade cards seem to be much rarer than the postcards. Measurements: 3.5" x 5"
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1909-10 MURAD CIGARETTES T51 COLLEGE SERIES CARDS (U.S.A.)
The Murad T51 cards are seen by many as the very first "true" basketball card. The Williams 1st edition card with the #14 displayed on the front (not in the collection) is the first release of the Murad Basketball cards and is the rarest one to find. The other cards come up for sale semi-regularly and seem to be one of the most popular prewar cards to collect. Both Williams and Northwestern had 2nd editions printed with
only 1 edition for both Luther & Xavier. Pictured also from the collection is the original cigarette pack from 1910 in which the cards were released. Measurements: 2.5" x 2" |
1910-11 MURAD CIGARETTES T6 COLLEGE SERIES WILLIAMS #24 TYPE 1&2 CARDS (U.S.A.)
The T6 Murad cards used the same images as the T51s but were much larger and limited to 25 cards in the series. Williams #24 was the only basketball card in the series and was made with 2 different versions, distinguished by the Flag placement/coloring, ball shape and font. You had to collect coupons that were distributed in cigarette packs to send in to receive T6 cards,
so they are much rarer than the smaller T51 cards. Measurements: 5" x 8" |
1910-1912 MURAD B33 COLLEGE ATHLETE, PENNANT, SEAL TOBACCO FELTS (U.S.A.)
Murad also released College felts that represented 30 colleges and their various sports. Each college had a Basketball felt with the same player image but featured the college name and colors. Some of these felts are common to find, while others are very scarce. There is no example known of Bucknell University. Measurements: 3" x 5"
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1910-1912 RICHMOND STRAIGHT CUT S23 COLLEGE FLAG, PENNANT, SEAL, SONG, YELL OBERLIN COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER TOBACCO SILKS (U.S.A.)
1910-1912 B16 (Type 1A) COLLEGE SEALS FLANNEL, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (U.S.A.)
The large B16 College Flannels were released in the 1910s with the exact manufacturer unknown. There were 3 Types, with Type 1 broken into Series A & B with different variations. There are only 2 Basketball Flannels, the Type 1A UNC (pictured) is much more common than the other Type 1B Kentucky (not in collection).
Measures 5.5" x 8.25" |
1911-12 A.T.C. L40 LEATHER COLLEGE PENNANT, YELL, EMBLEM, COLUMBIA COLLEGE (SILVER) (U.S.A.)
1912-13 HAMILTON KING GIRLS SERIES T7-6, BASKET BALL GIRL #8 (U.S.A.)
The Hamilton King Basket Ball Girl is a large, beautiful and rare card. The card is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. This card comes from a series of 4 depicting women in various sports. The actual artist is Hamilton King and the cards were redeemed by mailing in coupons from cigarette packs. The same image can also be found on a silk, a leather and a pillowcase. These items are even rarer as they required more coupons to obtain.
Measurements: 6" x 8" |
circa 1920 LA SUD AMERICANA BARAJA FANTASIA SPORTS BASKET-BALL PLAYING CARDS (SPAIN)
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 assumed to be around 1920. Measurements: 2.5” x 3.5” |
circa 1923 BASCHETT-BALL #1 UNA FASE EMOZIONANTE CARD (AN EXCITING PHASE), UNKNOWN PUBLISHER (ITALY)
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" |
1923-24 LA SUD-AMERICANA DEPORTES COLECCION DE 100 CROMOS #99 BASKET-BALL (SPAIN)
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" |
circa 1922-26 PALLA AL CESTO (BALL TO THE BASKET) CARDS, UNKNOWN PUBLISHER/UNCLASSIFIED (ITALY)
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" |
1920s PALLA AL CESTO (BALL TO THE BASKET) CARDS, UNKNOWN PUBLISHER/UNCLASSIFIED (ITALY)
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" |
1924 WILLARD CHOCOLATE V122 SPORTS CHAMPIONS #42 EDMONTON GRADS (CANADA)
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" |
1925 DOMINION CHOCOLATE V31 MULTI-SPORT BASKETBALL CARDS (CANADA)
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" |
1927-28 CIOCCOLATO SALVI #65 PALLA AL CESTO (ITALY)
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" |
LATE 1920s PALLA AL CESTO ILLUSTRATED CARD, UNKNOWN PUBLISHER/UNCLASSIFIED (ITALY)
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" |
LATE 1920s PALLA AL CESTO ILLUSTRATED CARD, UNKNOWN PUBLISHER/UNCLASSIFIED (ITALY)
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" |
1928 TURMAC OF HOLLAND KORFBALL (NETBALL) SILK (HOLLAND)
1931-32 LA VACHE QUI RIT, 2nd SERIE, B222 - FOYER ALSACIEN DE MULLHOUSE CHAMPION DE FRANCE DE BASKET-BALL (FRANCE)
This card was manufactured by Fromageries Bel in France and released by La Vache Qui Rit (The Laughing Cow) cheese company. I have seen examples with and without the red lettering stamp on the reverse. There were 2 series released of these cards, 12 cards per subset, 10 subsets, for a total of 240 cards. This is the only Basketball card in the entire set, part of the Les Grandes Equipes Sportives subset.
Measurements: 2.25" x 3" |
1930s CHOCOLAT AMATLLER LOS DEPORTES #24 BASKET (SPAIN)
1932 SANELLA MARGARINE KORBBALL (NETBALL) #54 TYPE 2 (GERMANY)
The Sanella "Handbuch des Sports" was a multi-sport card set that consisted of 112 cards. The cards were published with 3 different types, the only difference being the layout on the back of the cards. Pictured here is Type 2, which is rather common. Astra margarine also released this card (not pictured) in 1932 and is much rarer than the Sanella version. Measurements: 2.75" x 4"
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1932 CHOCOLATINES AGUILA SERIE XXI #7 BASKETBALL (URUGUAY)
Chocolate Aguila produced stickers and albums on all sorts of subjects in 1932. One set of stickers was Campones of Deportes and it included one basketball card (pictured here). The majority of the set consisted of the more popular football at the time. These cards were meant to be adhered to a accompanying album, so they are
hard to find without adhesive/residue on the back. Measurements: 1.325" x 1.875" |
1933 JACQUES CHOCOLAT LES SPORTS ILLUSTRES SERIE S (BELGIUM)
The Jacques Les Sports Illustres was a large set of 240 cards featuring a variety of sports each broken into their own series. There were 24 basketball cards, which were the "S" series. The cards pictured here were Type 1 cards, but there was also a full Type 2 "S" series that included similar illustrations for all 24 cards with the text within the border, different font and reverse layout. In total, there are 48 basketball cards between both Types in the series. These cards were meant to be adhered to a accompanying album, so they are hard to find without adhesive/residue on the back. Measurements: 1.375" x 2.5"
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1933 C.A. BRIGGS CHOCOLATE #8 BASKET BALL (U.S.A.)
The C.A. Briggs card pictured here is the favorite and likely most rare of the collection. I know of only one other copy. There were 31 sports cards in this set and this is the sole basketball card. The cards were released in Massachusetts and
could be collected and redeemed for prizes. Measurements: 2.25" 2.75" |
1933 GOUDEY SPORT KINGS GUM BASKETBALL CARDS (U.S.A.)
The Sport Kings Gum card set featured a variety of sports and consisted of 48 cards, 4 of which were basketball: #3 Nat Holman, #5 Ed Wachter, #32 Joe Lapchick (misspelled Lopchick on the card) & #33 Eddie Burke. These were the first U.S. cards to feature professional American athletes. The cards aren't too difficult to find but can command high prices, especially in higher grades.
Measurements: 2.375" x 2.875" |
1934 SNAP QUIZ CARD GAME TELLING TOMMY WHO INVENTED BASKETBALL?/ JAMES NAISMITH CARDS (U.S.A.)
1934 CIOCCOLATO ZAINI GUF MILANO (PALLA CANESTRO) (ITALY)
Zaini was an Italian chocolate company that produced a few sets of multi-sports cards in the 1920s/1930s. The only basketball card known in this releases is this card featuring GUF (Gruppos Universitario Fascista) Milano Team in the 1934 set.
There is a rarer variation of this set that has black borders although I've never seen one of this particular card. Measurements: 1.375" x 2.5" |
1935 MURATTI CIGARETTES BRENNPUKTE DES DEUTSCHEN SPORTS #196 BASKETBALL (GERMANY)
This set was released by Muratti cigarettes of Berlin and features sports and athletes of the 1936 Berlin Olympic games. There were over 700 cards in 3 subsets and this is the only basketball card in the set and and shows the
Wünsdorf team vs the Berlin team while training for the Olympics. Measurements: 2.5" x 3.5" |
1935-1939 MENKO BASKETBALL CARD (JAPAN)
I cannot find any information regarding this unique Menko card. The back of the players uniform on front translates to "basket" and the back of the card translates to the design copyright. The other examples I've seen of this card display different numbers on the back, so I assume a particular number was not assigned to each card. Other cards released in this set all highlight Olympic sports, so I would assume this was issued around the 1936 Olympic games or shortly thereafter.
Measurements: 1.5" x 2.5" |
1936 KAISER'S COFFEE KAMPFREGELN FUR DIE OLYMPISCHEN SPIELE (RULES OF COMBAT FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES) #33 BASKETBALL (GERMANY)
1936 KOSMOS OLYMPIA #175 BASKETBALL (GERMANY)
The Kosmos Olympia cards are another German card that features Olympic games. The backs of the card give descriptions of the athletes and games and mention a special offer to redeem a larger 6"x9" card. I have yet to see an example of the 6"x9"
basketball card from this set if it exists. Measurements: 2.375" x 3.375" |
1936 DIE OLYMPISCHEN SPIELE STEREOSCOPIC CARD #54 BASKETBALL (GERMANY)
The Die Olympischen Spiele cards were stereoscopic cards had images meant to be used with a stereo viewer, which was included in the accompanying album. The cards featured different sports from the 1936 Olympics, one of which was a basketball card, #54, which features a scene from the Poland vs. Mexico game in which they were playing for the bronze medal. The cards came in a numbered set of 100 and the photographs were taken by Heinrich Hoffmann, the official photographer of the Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party. Hoffman was arrested by the United States army in 1945 and was sentenced to prison for war profiteering.
Measurements: 2.25" x 5" |
1936 MUHLEN FRANCK OLYMPIA SERIE 20 #4 USA BASKETBALL (GERMANY)
Mühlen Franck was a coffee company in Berlin that also produced cards for the 1936 Olympics. This card featured the U.S.A. team and was in color, which many other German cards released for the games were not. The U.S.A. defeated Mexico in the final game to become the first team to win a gold medal in basketball. Measurements: 2.75" x 4.125"
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1936 THEODOR GRÜNEIS PASSAU XI. OLYMPIADE BERLIN 1936, BILD NO. 17, BASKETBALLTURNIER, PHILLIPINEN VS MEXIKO (GERMANY)
I cannot find any information online for this set. I've inquired with other collector's and some have heard of it but never actually seen it before, so it is a very rare card indeed. I know that the set was released by Theodor Grüneis Tobacco of Passau, Germany in 1936. Like many German Berlin Olympic sets of that year, I assume the set consisted of a variety of athletes and games. This basketball card is number 17 in a series of 60 cards and features the 2nd round match between the Philippines vs Mexico
on August 9th, 1936, in which the Philippines won 32-30. Measurements: 1.75" x 2.625" |
1936 REEMSTSMA BAND 1&2 NR.13&14 CARDS #143 #156 #157 (GERMANY)
Reemtsma released 2 sets (Band 1&2) of cards that were made to adhere to an accompanying album of the 1936 Olympic games. There were a total of 3 basketball cards in the 2 sets, with number #157 (Philippines vs Mexico) being larger than the other 2.
These cards seem to be the most common of the 1936 German Olympic cards. Measurements: 3.125" x 4.75" & 4.75" x 6.75" |
LATE 1930s CHOCOLAT SAINTOIN ORLÉANS, BASKET-BALL NO. 49 (FRANCE)
There is very little information available on this set. I do know that the set included a variety of other sports including baseball, hockey, boxing, tennis, etc. I have not seen a card numbered higher than 50, so perhaps that's the total amount of cards included in the set. SGC did not assign a year to this release. My research found that the photo used for the baseball card was from 1936 and it is highly likely this photograph used on the basketball card was from a match in early 1938.
My best guess is that this set was released in 1938-39. Measurements: 2.375" x 3.75" |