[Bosox Blair]

Hi there,

I collect vintage Lacrosse cards.

The ones we see most in North America are the 3 Canadian-issued Imperial Tobacco sets designated C60, C59 and C61 from the 1910-1912 period.

C60 is understood to be the earliest set (98 cards), followed by C59 (100 cards) and then C61. The C60 and C59 cards resemble T206s in a sense - they are white-bordered tobacco cards featuring a mix of portraits and some images of players with equipment. C60 and C59 almost entirely overlap...the first 98 cards are the same subjects (some with different background color)...the additional 2 cards in C59 are second pose cards of Dude Sumner #99 and Newsy Lalonde #100, both with Vancouver.

C61 is a black and white photo set on the same sized tobacco card stock, and is seen less often IMO. All 3 sets are considerably scarcer than the Hockey tobacco issues of the day (and WAY scarcer than T206/T205 baseball).

These sets are expensive to collect in high grade, but you can spot affordable commons in lower grade on eBay if you keep your eyes open. If you want to splurge, there are some PSA-graded examples of C60 regularly for sale on eBay.

Within the sets are Lacrosse cards of several Hockey Hall-of-Famers...these are priced far above the common level. Several of these are acknowledged as "rookie cards" of these Hockey stars. The best known of these (and most expensive) is Edouard "Newsy" Lalonde.

(If you are keen to land a couple cards for yourself, I have a few duplicates that I would offer for sale for a fair price too - even Hall-of-Famers - drop me a PM)

Cheers,
Blair