Hello,

I am working on trying to date the first issue of cigarette cards Football Club and Colors by Leon Marcus and Company under the Handicap brand. From the 1896 Tobacco trade journal I know that the company first released Leading Crcketers in May 1896 and I believe the Football set was also first issued not long after that date. 

Later versions of the Football cards carry the Kinnear stamp from when the company became incorporated in April 1897.   However I haven't been able to find mention of when the cards were first issued. 

Any help or information is greatly appreciated. 

AL
 

 

 

 

Hi Leitchaj,

We did post some information on this company "Leon Marcus" on the 29/12/18. Check the archives?? With regard to the date for introduction of "Cricketers--Marcus Handicap Cigarettes" cards was 1895 and 1896 for the Footballers cards and colours. Check the "Cigarette Card Catalogue". Also, some of these cards are rare and fetching big money.

Hope that helps.

 

bacco 

Note: See Page 2 titled "Kinnear Smoking Cabinet" for further info on Leon Marcus cigarettes,

Thanks for the response. It’s really appreciated.
I saw your informative previous posts on Kinnear / Marcus.

Leon Marcus & Co. was founded in 1895 but appear to be in financial distress by October that year. Kinnear, who had received an inheritance in late 1894, provided some necessary capital about that time and became one of the principal proprietors although the company continued trading as Leon Marcus. It was Kinnear who was an avid sportsman in Liverpool playing tennis, cricket football and rugby with some very prominent players of the era. The article in Tobacco describes Marcus as introducing its “new Handicap brand” (another sports reference) in May 1896. Therefore I believe the cricket series issued under the Handicap brand was actually first in early 1896.

I have seen the Footballers set listed as 1898 and 1896 in different publications. I agree that the set was first issued in 1896 but wanted to see if I could find some support for 1896 date.

Thanks again for the response,

Andrew

 HI Andrew,

Glad the info was helpful. Can I ask what year/date did you find the article on Leon Marcus in the "Tobacco" publication.

Bacco

Hello

Apologies, I had some difficulty logging in and posting.

The article was taken from the trade publication “ Tobacco” 1896 on May 7. Page 175

Luckily Google digitized this year.
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=M4VNAQAAMAAJ&rdid=book-M4VNAQAAMAAJ&rdot=1

https://books.google.com/books/about/Tobacco.html?id=M4VNAQAAMAAJ

Let me know if the links don’t work.

Cheers