1888 Football R & S Artistic Die Cut Set

[walnutts]

Has anyone ever seen a single one of the Die Cuts in the uncut sheet we recently bought? Am trying to figure out if these are actually the very first Set of American Football "Cards" ever issued. The were made at the same time as the R&S Artistic Baseball Die Cuts by Raphael Tuck and Son (1888) and would predate the 1894 Mayo Set by 6 years. The Baseball Die Cuts are considered "Baseball Cards" so why wouldn't this Football set also be considered a Card Set? Thanks for your input here.

[walnutts]

Sorry forgot to post a photo of the sheet.

[LuckyLarry]

No clue...

[Il Padrino]

I have another 1888 from Spalding and I tend to agree about your point... to a point = Mr. Beecher (Yale) 1888 is the first card with a player's identity assigned, therefore it is the first football card (in my opinion):

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj26/a66cobra/Football/item8_zps537b7b6b.jpg (http://s268.photobucket.com/user/a66cobra/media/Football/item8_zps537b7b6b.jpg.html)

[walnutts]

In Case anyone was interested (and for future reference) the sheet sold this evening on eBay for $1913.00 - the uncut sheet of Baseball Scraps sold for $2606.00.