I recently picked up this 1888 Allen & Ginter W.E.Crist from the N29 set, which was the standard tobacco era style card of the day (roughly 1 ½ x 2 ¾), there were also the N43 Cabinet Card versions in 1888 depicting the same athletes but the cards were larger ( 4 ¼ x 6 ½). The N29 cards were packed in to the 10 count cigarette packs and the N43 cards were packed in to the 20 count cigarette packs. I know very little about Crist, the only information I find about him was from a book, Outing Vol. 14, which was published in 1889. Crist was one of the top “tricyclist” of the time and had won a couple of big races in New York in the late 1880s.
Part of the reason that I collect vintage cards is the history connected with these cards. This specific card had something more to it though that drew my attention plus at $15.51 shipped it was a decent price. These cards contained the series checklist on the back of each card and someone had gone through this checklist and scratched off a number of names in pencil. I can just see a boy my son’s age being handed this card by his dad in 1888 and as his dad lights up an Allen & Ginter cigarette the boy lays on the floor, with pencil in hand, and goes through marking off all of the cards that he currently has in his collection.
