N174 Old Judge 'Master Set' checklisting and images

[G1911]

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

[G1911]

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

[G1911]

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.

[G1911]

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.

[Jerry G]

Wow! Very cool. Thanks.

[G1911]

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.