Football Cig Cards

This was the first thing that I bought at the antiques fair. Just walked in, saw it, bang! parp! Snapped it up. I'd completely forgotten that I had it until today, because I'd preserved it so safely in my bag, nestled in an old gas bill. But now here it is, dusted off and ready to get flogged for a song.

The initial results of my Ebaying have been poor (I'll post the skinny on this soon), and I'm hoping that now I've got the rest of my finds up there, things will turn around a bit. This could be the thing to turn 'em, and all. It's not only a complete set of ciggy cards, but it's in its original presentation album and the whole lot's in perfect mint condition.

Check them out, the handsome lot. That there's (L-R) Billy Wright (looking a bit of a geez), Wilf Mannion, Ted Ditchburn and Stanley Matthews, no less. How can you not love these blokes? Your man on the left captained England ninety times, goddamn you.

Here are some of my favourites:

Raich Carter - Hull City.

He looks right old in this snap, but was probably only in his mid 30s as he joined Hull at 32 I think. One of several footballers who did a bit of cricket on the side (for Derbyshire and Durham) and one of lots who lost their prime years to WWII.

Coolest thing about him is his name, of course. Raich is an amazing first name, but it gets better: It's short for Horatio. Yeah, think on that. What a swashbuckler! My new favourite ancient player.

Charles Mitten - Bogota.

I thought 'hang about...when were Bogota in the league?'. A bit of digging reveals that our man Mitten was busy tearing up the wings for Busby's Man Utd when he was approached by a couple of 'wealthy Columbian businessmen' and spirited away to play for Independiente Santa Fe for a season. Asamoah Gyan has taken lessons.

Unfortunately, Busby wasn't loving this career move, and he was in all kinds of trouble when he came back.

Jack Stamps - Derby County.

For the nominative determinism, by the looks of him.

Peter Doherty - Doncaster.

For the unbelievable hair tekkers.

Anyway, to business. These likely lads cost a total of £3.50. Now, I don't want to get carried away, but... a complete set of football cards from 1951 has got to be worth more than that, hasn't it? Am I deluding myself? Given my current luck in the profit stakes, I don't want to make any wild claims, lest I see my hubris balloon burst into flames, but surely someone will chuck a tenner at something like this?

I don't know... we'll see. Incidentally, I'm pretty pleased with managing to date this to 1951. It took a bit of searching around, but I went on which years each player was with the club shown on the card and managed to narrow it down to the 1951-52 season. Man, that's ...hang on... sixty years old! It's probably the closest thing to an actual antique that I've found yet. But why was the lady I bought it from only asking a fiver for it? She clearly knows something that I don't. Wonder what it is...

Bought for: £3.50 down from £5
Hopes: Nnnnnnngghhhh!!
Profit: ££
Actual Cheddar: ££