Vintage Card Haul # 2 - 1934 Carreras Footballers

Another group or pre-war cards arrived. These are one of my favorite just for their pure color portraits and white washed backgrounds. The 1934 Carreras tobacco series consisted of 75 cards. I have now accumilated 10 of these.

But not so fast, I say, to completion. This set went through printing changes during its issue.

 

The first printings were release with small lettering, while the 2nd version printing was larger. So in essense, its a true run of 150 cards with variations. The star of this lot is George Camsell, who still holds the best goal to game scoring ratio for England. His 18 goals in 9 matches is a phenominal achievement.

 

He is joined by three players with over 100 league goals - Crooks, Brook and Cookson.

Again, the cards contain a gammet of British Internationals and players from big clubs. These are the players in the group:

George Camsell - Middlesborough - 9 England caps
Sammy Crooks - Derby County - 26 England caps - 100 + league goals
Hugh Adcock - Leicester City - 5 England caps
Willie Evans - Tottenham - 6 Wales caps
Jack Smith - Portsmouth - 3 England caps
Eric Brook - Manchester City - 18 England caps - 170 + league goals
Bert Scriven - Southampton
Peter McGonagle - Glasgow Celtic 6 Scotland caps
Jim Cookson - Plymouth Argyle - 200 + league goals
 

Vintage Card Haul # 1 - 1935 Topical Times

Every passionate card collectors has their wishes and dreams - mine of course is to have every player who every appeared on cardboard all visible in one showcase. Well, one can dream, right ?

 

For now, the quest continues.

 

I search for gems to add to my collection but also cards that can be utilized as a teaching tool or informational artifact.  While a good portion of pre-war cards are either a portrait picture or distant action shot of a player, only a few sets depict these men in full uniform from head to toe on a larger scale.

 

This is the case with the TOPICAL TIMES Series of the mid-1930's.

 

1935 Topical Times Panel Portraits

 

These over-sized cards measuring 4 3/4 x 2 3/4 inches, are fantastic historical images of the style of jerseys, shorts, socks and boots of the times. In addition, the background stadiums are often clearly identifiable.

 

I was fortunate enough to stumble upon this bunch of 15 cards for a downright steal. While the group has no "Hall of Famers" so to speak, it contains several top name clubs such as Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City.

 

There are also several known and lesser known international players which cover the all British Isles.  Here are the players, some with their respective number of caps and accomplishment:

 

James Argue - Chelsea

Sam Barkas - Manchester City - 5 England caps

George Cummings - Aston Villa - 9 Scotland Caps

"Mickey" Fenton - Middlesborough - 1 England cap / 100 + league goals

Bob Hesford - Huddersfield Town

Jim Harley - Liverpool

Len Goulden - West Ham United - 14 England caps

Charlie Fletcher - Plymouth Argyle

Tom Holley - Leeds United

Alf Kirchen - Arsenal - 3 England caps

Sid Lawrence - Swansea Town - 8 Wales caps

Walter Millership - Sheffield Wednesday

Alex Stevenson - Everton - 26 caps (7 Ireland /19 Northern Ireland)

Fred Sharman Leicester City

Robert Pryde - Blackburn Rovers 

 

Click on the above pictures to get a closer look at these beauties.

 

 

 

 

Sweden Goodness - The Record Holder - Sven Rydell (PSA Fails Again)

 

 For all the media attention, marvelous goals and exploits of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he still has come up short on the international benchmark. No, not to Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo - but to his own countryman - SVEN RYDELL.

 

ROSE MARIE Chocolates - Sven Rydell

 

Rydell's international tally of 49 goals is ahead of Ibrahimovic's current total of 46. What is fantastic about Rydell's mark is that he achieved it in only 43 matches, while Zlatan has done it in 93.

 

Unfortunately, neither player has appeared in a FIFA World Cup. However, Rydell did lead Sweden to 3rd place at the 1924 Olympics - before the first World Cup was ever played. 

 

Sven appears (above) in the rare 1930's ROSE MARIE chocolates issue. The set included Swedish personalities mostly from film and sport.

 

Another chocolataire, Cloetta, also issued a mixed sports stars set that included Sven Rydell.

 

1933 CLOETTA - Sven Rydell

 

Cloetta's included boxers, wrestlers and Olympians as well as soccer players.

 

Sadly, the card set has been mis-identified by the idiots at PSA. Once again, their refusal to listen, research or confirm exposes the arrogance of money grubbing swindlers.

 

A perfect example of an erroneous label on the tag of PSA's products.

PSA goof

 

President and CEO of PSA, Joe Orlando, sent an open letter last week begging for collectors to understand the procedure of grading at his company. He claimed that some hobbyist just "don't get it".

 

Sorry Joe, you just don't get it. You cannot label precious artifacts willy-nilly just because someone throws money at you.

 

There have been international collectors researching and compiling proven data on these soccer cards. So, we request that you either reach out and ask for help, or stay out of our hobby - once and for all.

When A Beater is Better Than Nothing ...

Our colleague over at Chronicles of Fuji has posted about cards with character (i.e - cards that would not be found at the overpriced grading companies). To the purist collectors, these misfit cardboard casualties are the diamonds that will never be carved into a jewel. 

And so, I selected a few from my collection that have perhaps no resale value - but great historical value.  Founded in 1903, the Newell's Old Boys club of Argentina is still playing in the top league. But where were they over 100 years ago, you ask ?

Right here on this old cigarette card. Damaged almost beyond its use and recognition. Yet, the picture is the simplicity of the game before the huge stadiums, the sponsorship jerseys, and FIFA goal line technology was ever an idea to spoil the purity. 

1910 Newell FC card from Argentina.

One of the toughest thoughts for me to digest is the cards that were collected, and sorted and owned by kids that lived during World War I and World War II. I think mostly of the children of France, England and Germany who survived the bombing, starvation and firestorms of war. Those are also the places that had some wonderful soccer cards before the wars began.

This guy, Walter Zwickhofer, was someone's favorite player for his club, Schalke 04. The card looks like it went through a few battles, but I like it as all the necessities are still visible and intact. 

Walter Zwickhofer on a rare German card.

Cuba and Cuban athletes are best known in America for their baseball and their boxing. Several collectors of baseball and boxing have Cuban issued cards as prize possession in their portfolios.

But prior to all the political crap in the 1950's that made Cuba an enemy of the state, they had organized soccer leagues. They even played in the 1938 FIFA World Cup.

This chap, hardly known to the international soccer world, played in Cuba and appeared in this tobacco set. He has two holes in his head. Perhaps from a CIA sniper, or maybe they're just punch holes form a  redemption program.

 Cuban player Bienbenido on this rare cigarette card.

Either way, it is a pretty rare card to find. So condition and character and condolences to these cards and their previous owners. Thank Fuji.