Incredibly Rare Cigarette Pack Discovery

[canjond]

Apologies for not posting this in the "tobacco pack" thread, but I wanted to share a very exciting discovery with the Board. As many of you know, I have been collecting baseball related cigarette packs for 25+ years now. Although my collection is pretty advanced, there are still a handful of packs I've never come across, so it makes adding to my collection incredibly difficult. I'm at the point now that the 10-15 remaining packs I need are either unknown, or there is only a handful of copies that exist, and those reside in collections of old-timers or the whereabouts of the packs have been lost to time. The pack below is one such example.

To say that T231 Fan cigarettes cards are rare is an understatement. In fact, to date, only 3 examples of the cards have ever surfaced, Frank Baker, Larry Gardner and Carson Bigbee. What's incredible, however, is that about 15 years ago while doing research on the brand, I came across an old black and white photocopy of a Fans cigarette pack. It had appeared on the front cover of a cigarette newsletter in 1984. In an effort to track the box down, I contacted the publisher of the newsletter, many advanced cigarette pack collectors, and literally anyone else I could think of, but to no avail - no one had ever seen the pack beyond the newsletter, or knew what had happened to the gentleman's collection that was featured. I've been on the lookout for the pack ever since, and until recently, had resided myself to the real possibility that I'd never find it.

Fast forward to last week. Out of the blue, I received a letter in the mail (not email!) from a gentleman who ended up with the pack 40+ years ago. After some negotiation, we arrived at a price (a very steep price!), but the pack is now mine. The inner slide is missing, but the condition is incredible. So, for the first time, here is a picture of a T231 Fans cigarette box. I hope others can appreciate the pack as much as I do.

[bobfreedman]

What an amazing find Jon, it certainly landed in the right collection.

[Leon]

Congrats Jon. As a pack lover and Fans Cigarettes card prior owner, that is awesome. We finally get to see it!! I am happy for you.

[Bicem]

Great find, very cool!

[jerseygary]

What a great find ! Thank you for generously sharing it with us instead of keeping it hidden away like some collectors do.

[JLange]

Congrats on a fantastic find! Thanks for sharing!

[vthobby]

Jon,

It's a beauty! Thanks for sharing. Love the story and congrats!

Mike

[rhettyeakley]

Amazing Find. I love this type of thing!

I hadn't realized that "Fans" was a Tobacco Products Corp. brand. They made quite a few non-sports sets and a set of Canadian Athletes and one of my favorite all-time sets (of any sport) the CHAMPS CIGARETTES Hockey card set, there is only one or two of the packs for that brand known to exist as well (it looks really cool with the small Stanley Cup pictured on the box.) They were very proficient in marketing Actor cards in the US and Actor/Athlete cards in Canada.

[canjond]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

Amazing Find. I love this type of thing!

I hadn't realized that "Fans" was a Tobacco Products Corp. brand. They made quite a few non-sports sets and a set of Canadian Athletes and one of my favorite all-time sets (of any sport) the CHAMPS CIGARETTES Hockey card set, there is only one or two of the packs for that brand known to exist as well (it looks really cool with the small Stanley Cup pictured on the box.) They were very proficient in marketing Actor cards in the US and Actor/Athlete cards in Canada.

Great info! Do you happen to have a scan of the Champs Cigarettes box?

[CW]

That's incredible, Jon! Persistence pays off... or maybe patience. Congrats!

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by canjond

Great info! Do you happen to have a scan of the Champs Cigarettes box?

I only have the very small image in board member Bobby Burrell's "Vintage Hockey Collector" guide book. I will copy the tiny image from there here, if he wants me to take it down I will but it is the only copy I have ever seen of it...



The set includes a card of the Stanley Cup itself as well and has been on my wantlist for years without seeing one for sale. One of the best Hockey sets ever made in my opinion.

Complete Set of the C144 Champ's Cigarettes Hockey Set that sold several years ago at Heritage (check out the Stanley Cup card):
https://sports.ha.com/itm/hockey-car...a/7024-80064.s

Stanley Cup card alone:
https://sports.ha.com/itm/hockey/192...Results-012417


I don't want to hijack your thread but here are some of the C140 Canadian Athlete Series, this is BY FAR the most difficult of the various Mixed Sport Athlete sets from the early 1920's in Canada (the other being V122 Willard's Chocolate and V31 Dominion Chocolate), the backs are somewhat on topic as they feature coupons for discounts for sporting goods (often baseball) which may account for their rarity today...

[Joe_G.]

Great find, hope the pack makes it to you safe and sound

Rhett, great info on the Champs Cigarettes box and cards as well.


Thank you for sharing!

[the 'stache]

Congratulations, Jon. I live for reading stuff like this. Good luck getting those last few impossible pieces to finish your collection. I hope you find them.

[toppcat]

Insane!