N174 Old Judge 'Master Set' checklisting and images
 

Due to an unfortunate loss of a hard drive, most of my archive for C, E and N1-N300 cards are only from the last few years. I am left largely with my textual notes that begin in 2003 to go further back, and I am always reluctant to trust my own word and notebooks if I cannot prove them.

N174 is one of the cataloguing choices that bugs me most in Burdick's inconsistent system. He grouped a lot of the N sets around subject matter, without any interest in actual sets as issued, different from how he did T cards. N174 is not a real set, but a made-up compilation of any photographic cards from Goodwin's Old Judge and Gypsy Queen brands that don't feature baseball players or actresses (mostly boxers). N171 and N172 cards are often actually from the same sets as these subjects.

I think the evidence suggests that there are 7 different, distinct issued sets with boxers grouped into N174, that come in 10 or 11 different types and issued from 1887 through 1889-1890. Some of them are fairly common and some of them are very rare. Extant checklists have cards I don't have a picture of but I do not doubt exist, and are missing a couple I have pictures of.

I'm going to break them out by set and share what I have for each set in it's own reply because it's too many to attach to a single post. I hope you folks might be able to help flesh out my archive, or just share some cool Old Judge cards. I do not really collect this set much, or N332 - they are wonderful documentation of a great era of boxing, but it is unfortunate that the cards have physically aged so poorly, with the original black and white appearance and image sharpness deteriorated in even the best examples I have seen.


Sets:
N174-1 - Old Judge banner, cursive script names with Wood credit
N174-2 - Old Judge banner, no 0 prefix in the number in upper right
N174-3 - Old Judge banner, with a 0 prefix in the number in upper right
N174-4 - Gypsy Queen Arch N175 style cards
N174-5 - N332 style wavy banner branding, 2 types
N175-6 - UK "Cigarettes" release with Jem Smith
N174-7 - Australia "Cigarette Factory" release, with 3 or 4 different types

The type 1 cursive script names series, with the OJ banner at top, a credit to J. Wood, and Goodwin at the bottom without any card numbers. 17 or 18 different cards plus some variations.

These are one of the most common types, although I do believe that there is uneven production of the set. I believe Mitchell (White name) is less common. I have seen Jack Dempsey (Suit, chest up) listed with this release instead of the numbered set. I have not seen a photo of this card that seems to lack a number in the upper right, but the fading and poor aging of this set sometimes makes the numbers difficult to determine even if they are present without a close examination.

I have not secured a photo of Burke with the banner centered.

Checklist:
# Pugilist (Subtitle or Pose) Banner Placement
1A Jack Burke Left
1B Jack Burke Center
2 Patsy Cardiff Right
3 Mike Cleary Left
4A J.P. Clow Right
4B J.P. Clow Center
5 Jack Dempsey (Boxing) Right
6 Jack Fogarty Right
7 Joe Godfrey Right
8 Jake Kilrain Right
9 Lablanche (The Marine) Left
10 Jack McAuliffe (Belt) Right
11 Charles Mitchell (Black Script)Center
12 Charley Mitchell (White Script)Right
13 Paddy Ryan Left
14 J. L. Sullivan (Boxing) Center
15 J. L. Sullivan (Suit and top hat)Center
16 Tommy Warren Right
17 Tug Wilson Left

Type 2, the numbered series without the 0 prefix. 131 Mike Boden is the highest number I am aware of. He is not included on checklists I have seen.

These are tough cards and do not appear much. This set includes other non-boxing N174 subjects. I know I need a picture of 80 Joe Lannon, and a better photo of Dempsey (Suit, chest up) than an image of a photo of the card I have.

Attached are the rest.

What I believe to be the Checklist:
1 Ike Weir (Suit)
2 Ike Weir (No shirt, full body)
3 Ike Weir (Arms crossed)
11 Tom Chandler
12 Jack Dempsey (Suit, Knees up)
13 Jack Dempsey (Suit, Chest Up)
80 Joe Lannon
81 Kerrigan (Arms Crossed)
82 Kerrigan (Boxing)
83 Paddy Duffy
131 Mike Boden “The Kanuck”

Type 3 now, which looks just like the last type but has a 0 prefix and starts the numbering over again - certainly a different issue. There are a massive number of cards but only the first 30 something are not baseball players. 041 Dempsey is numbered in the baseball range.

These are tough. The quality of the checklist continues to deteriorate with an increasing number of mediocre subjects appearing.

What I believe to be the boxing Checklist, with those with images I do not have in red. There was also a jockey named Fred Wood at this time, so I'd especially like to see him. I am not quite sure who H.G. Peterson is. I have a crappy 'photo of a photo' of 08 Mitchell.

01 Arthur Chambers
02 Billy Frazier
03 Jno. F. Scholes
04 Pete McCoy
05 L.S. McGregory (Boxing)
06 Johnny Regan
07 L.S. McGregory (Suit)
08 Jemmy Mitchell
09 Jack McAuliffe (Boxing, no belt)
010 James F. Larkins
011 Billy Edwards
012 Dominick McCaffrey (Suit)
015 Steve Taylor
021 Jack Harding
022 William Ellingsworth
023 Charley Ellingsworth
025 Tom Allen
026 H.G. Peterson
029 Fred Wood
030 Johnny Murphy
041 Jack Dempsey

Type 4, the Gyspy Queen Arch cards. These are very tough. This is the same set as N175.

There are almost certainly more subjects than claimed today. I have images of 3 different copies of Clow's card, so they are not quite unique but they are not that far from it.

Checklist (surely incomplete):
1 Jack Burke
2 Patsy Cardiff
3 Willie Clark
4 J.P. Clow
5 Jack Dempsey (Boxing)
6 Jake Kilrain
7 Jack McAuliffe (No belt)
8 Pete McCoy
9 John L. Sullivan

Type 5, the wavy banners. These come in two types, advertising either Old Judge or Gypsy Queen at the bottom. N332 cards, a 'pirated image' issue from S.F. Hess share the same format, but which copied which I am not entirely clear. Probably Hess was the copier. These are common N174's, and they have generally aged better than types 1-3 have.

The rule I have observed is that ff a card exists with one branding, it exists with the other. There is also a card of Oarsman Wallace Ross that is catalogued as an N174. There are numerous actresses which I am also trying to slowly accumulate images of - I think it proper to checklist sets as they actually existed instead of by after-the-fact cut ups.

I believe at present that this set is from some time remove after the 1887 type 1's. These cards borrow heavily from the images and checklist of type 1, but done in a way that suggests to me they redesigned them from scratch, as if the original work had been scrapped by the time these were re-made. One will note that a couple of the cards are not actually the same image, but very similar images to the type 1 cards of that fighter taken from the same session at Wood's studio (Mitchell, if you look at his feet and Sullivan, if you look at his back posture and arm positions). Only Dominick McCaffrey is a new subject, and Mitchell gets only one card this time around. The lack of Dempsey (Chest up) further makes me question whether that truly exists in type 1.

Attaching Gypsy Queen first.

Master Set Checklist:
# Card (Pose) Branding variation
1 Jack Burke Gypsy Queen
2 Jack Burke Old Judge
3 Patsey Cardiff Gypsy Queen
4 Patsey Cardiff Old Judge
5 Mike Cleary Gypsy Queen
6 Mike Cleary Old Judge
7 John P. Clow Gypsy Queen
8 John P. Clow Old Judge
9 Jack Dempsey (Boxing) Gypsy Queen
10 Jack Dempsey (Boxing) Old Judge
11 Jack Fogarty Gypsy Queen
12 Jack Fogarty Old Judge
13 George Godfrey Gypsy Queen
14 George Godfrey Old Judge
15 Jake Kilrain Gypsy Queen
16 Jake Kilrain Old Judge
17 George LaBlanche Gypsy Queen
18 George LaBlanche Old Judge
19 Jack McAuliff (Belt) Gypsy Queen
20 Jack McAuliff (Belt) Old Judge
21 Dominick McCaffrey (Boxing) Gypsy Queen
22 Dominick McCaffrey (Boxing) Old Judge
23 Charley Mitchell Gypsy Queen
24 Charley Mitchell Old Judge
25 Paddy Ryan Gypsy Queen
26 Paddy Ryan Old Judge
27 John L. Sullivan (Boxing) Gypsy Queen
28 John L. Sullivan (Boxing) Old Judge
29 John L. Sullivan (Suit) Gypsy Queen
30 John L. Sullivan (Suit) Old Judge
31 Tommy Warren Gypsy Queen
32 Tommy Warren Old Judge
33 Tug Wilson Gypsy Queen
34 Tug Wilson Old Judge

And the OJ variation of this type. I have images of all 17 pugilists that I believe constitute this set.

And type 6, the UK Old Judges "Cigarettes". Jem Smith is the only prize fighter I am aware of. Not an easy subject, here's 2 copies of it.

Type 7 is probably the worst understood in the states. It is a set of 76 cards released in Australia c. 1889/1890, counting 2 different poses of a non-boxing subject and the Slavin variation.

1) The OJ cards have the "Cigarette factory" caption at bottom.

2) They also come in a pink tint variation - I have observed that the ugly pink colored cards have tended to age even worse than the black and white OJ's. Some categorize this as damage peculiar to only certain OJ issuances.

3) The third type comes with a Dog's Head branded back instead of the blank back of all other cards, and remove the bottom branding. All of the boxers probably exist/existed in this type based on what has been observed of the subjects the Australian's care about a lot more than the prize fighters. These are very tough.

4) I am not clear yet if the Dog's Heads also had a pink tint print run.

My list had 8 pugilists until recently, where I am told that Jennings and Jack Thompson exist. I am not sure which boxer "Jennings" is.

In addition, Joe Thompson was a booker/manager/promoter/sports businessman who might be of interest to boxing fans but I do not think he belongs in the boxing subset. Professor William Miller was a fine boxer, but was more known as a wrestler so I have checklisted him as a wrestler - others may not agree with that categorization.


I have seen 3 additional boxers claimed but highly doubt this is actually true and these will ever be shown: Dempsey, Kilrain and Jem Smith.

Boxing Checklist:
# Name, Caption (variation)
1 Jac’ R. Burke, Pugilist
2 Martin Costello
3 Mick Dooley, Pugilist
4 Bob Fitzsimmons, Champion Middle Weight
5 Larry Foley, Ex champion. Boxer of Australia
6 Peter Jackson
7 Jennings
8 Frank E. Slavin (name left)
9 Frank E. Slavin (name right)
10 Jack Thompson


Here's the Dog's Heads I have saved

And a pink tint, which are also tough but with the significant physical degradation of the cards not always as easy to ID as one would think. This one is obvious

And here are the 'basic' Aussie cards, pretty tough in the states.

Slavin's variation did not seem to be known in Australia but has been to the US. There is considerable evidence of 2 print runs of this set, which I suspect is where this came from, but that's a whole 'nother deep dive.

And finally, I don't know which set McAuliffe with fur hat belongs too, type 2 or type 3. I cannot read the number on the only example I've seen an image of.

Wow! Very cool. Thanks.

Targeted red cards I need images of and the checklists are all updated.

N174-1 - Old Judge banner, cursive script names with Wood credit

Not counting the second Dempsey I am suspicious of, 16 cards + 3 variations (Mitchell's name, Burke's banner, clowns banner = 19 cards checklisted

N174-2 - Old Judge banner, no 0 prefix in the number in upper right

11 cards checklisted

N174-3 - Old Judge banner, with a 0 prefix in the number in upper right

21 cards cards checklisted

N174-4 - Gypsy Queen Arch N175 style cards

9 cards checklisted

N174-5 - N332 style wavy banner branding, 2 types

17 cards with 2 variations of each - 34 cards total

N175-6 - UK "Cigarettes" release with Jem Smith

1 card

N174-7 - Australia "Cigarette Factory" release, with 3 or 4 different types
10 cards with OJ fronts or Dog's Head backs, probably 20 cards total printed. Pinks would add 10-20 more cards depending on categorization, but not account them yet. Miller accounted as wrestler, not boxer

Additional
McAuliffe and his Fur Hat I cannot make out the numbering on

Total
19+11+21+9+34+1+20+ McAuliffe Fur Hat = 113 hypothetical cards. There are certainly some not known yet today we can't really guess at.