Vintage Card Of The Month: 1889 Kinney Brother's Leader George Washington

Last month I posted a beautiful 1889 N222 Kinney Brothers Martha Washington card but I topped it with this month’s VCoM, Martha’s companion George Washington. This 1889 Kinney Brothers George Washington has even better coloring and I prefer the image of Washington crossing the Delaware River compared to Martha’s eagle bearing a flag across a sunrise (or set).

There is staining along the both side edges and the bottom, the corners are rounded and the card is not as solid as Martha’s card. The stains along the edges carried over on to the back but the checklist is in better shape than the other card.

I don’t want to start going down the conspiracy road but I just noticed that the “A” in Leaders at the top of the back looks an awful lot like the Freemason’s symbol.

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1889 N222 Kinney Brother's Leaders Martha Washington

This month’s VCoM is of the first First Lady Martha Washington and comes from 1889 and is part of the 1889 N222 Kinney Brothers Leaders set, which was included in packs of Kinney Brothers cigarette packs like their brand Sweet Caporal.

These cards are just amazingly beautiful, just something you wouldn’t see in anything released in the modern era. I think tobacco and candy cards are generally the most amazing cards illustration-wise. When you consider that this card is 128 years old it has held up amazingly well. The colors are fading but still vibrant, the filigree on the back is still completely visible but there is some paper wear and staining. I got a kick out of the “These cards can be retained” on the bottom of the card, something that does not need to be included these days. The cards are also thick, especially for a tobacco era card, about 35-pt and this one is still solid.  

This card will be difficult to top.