SMR Article - 1938 Churchman Boxing Personalities

[Kevin Glew]

Hi there,

Hope you are well.

I'm writing an article about the 1938 Churchman Boxing Personalities series for SMR magazine. I'm having difficulty uncovering information about the initial distribution of these cards. Does anyone out there know the following:

1. Were these cards inserted one per pack of cigarettes?

2. Were these cards only initially distributed in cigarette packs in England?

3. Why are so many of these cards now in collections in the United States? This makes me think that maybe cigarette packs with these cards were sold in the U.S. in 1938?

Thanks for any help you can help provide.

Sincerely,

Kevin Glew

[david_l]

These cards often still come up for auction in their original collector book. You've probably seen them if you searched on eBay. I suspect these books were cheap and/or promotional as I have never seen a pre-war sports set that is so readily available in a completed form as these. I have my doubts as to whether these cards came in individual cigarette packs. I'd guess that they were just something one could pick up in the book from their local tobacconist but that's merely a guess. I'd say they're in so many US collections because they are so cheap and they actually make up a pretty nice set. I don't think Churchman's was available in the US at the time. I bought my set shipped from the UK for about $20. I suspect many other collectors did the same. They include many US star boxers, some even in their prime. A lot of US collectors would have interest. I would also say that no other set demonstrates the fallacy of the psa price guide as this one.

Sorry these are all guesses. Being that there's a collector culture in the UK for "cigarette cards" I'd say maybe try to find a contact. This guide is published in the UK and might be a good start.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cigarette-Trade-Card-Catalogue-2015/dp/1906397163

[Kevin Glew]

Thank you very much for your thoughtful response, David!

I will check out the link to that guide.

Thanks again.

Kevin

[Exhibitman]

Lots of American novice collectors (me included) buy 1938 Churchman's sets because they are cheap and loaded with HOFers. You figure that you can't lose with that sort of situation. Until you realize that the cards are so common that anyone who wants one has one.

An interesting angle for an article would be the effect of TPG on these commonplace sets. Take a $10 card, slap a 10 label on it, does it morph into a desirable card?

[GasHouseGang]

I don't know the answers. However, I looked up the set in an old Murray's book and it mentions that they had for sale a detailed 36 page booklet about the Churchmans. Has anyone seen this booklet? Maybe it has some of the answers you are looking for.

[Exhibitman]

Also FWIW Churchmans made a lot of different sets. The 1938 is only one of many.

[david_l]

What really floors me is that this set was reprinted in 1990. Was there not already enough cheap circulating copies?

[steve B]

A few of the more interesting British sets of all kinds were reprinted in the late 80's early 90's. I mostly saw the sets of reprints framed with fairly large asking prices.

Steve B

[david_l]

A few of the more interesting British sets of all kinds were reprinted in the late 80's early 90's. I mostly saw the sets of reprints framed with fairly large asking prices.

Steve B

It's the rare situation where the reprint is rarer than the original :)

[BradH]

What really floors me is that this set was reprinted in 1990. Was there not already enough cheap circulating copies?

David - you are correct. In fact, I've seen reprint Churchman boxer cards in PSA holders (not identified as reprints) with high grades - one as recent as last month at a card show in Atlanta that was graded a "9". I pointed it out to the dealer and he just said, "Oh...crap..."

I've never understood why these were reprinted, but my guess is that in the early 90s, pre-internet days, maybe people didn't really know how available they were. The internet opened us up to a lot more buying power and discoveries of what was really out there in the international marketplace. I ordered several sets off eBay in around 1998/99 and I still have them.

It's still a neat little set, along with many of the other sets they produced in that era.