Baines cards

[ntw]

Any collectors of these out there?

I've picked up a few over the years (Warrington rugby ones), and wondered if there's any way to date them? Even better if anyone has a link to a catalogue (never been able to find one on-line, though there's a few websites with people listing what they have).

Any help appreciated.

[manchesterunitedman1]

ntw wrote:

Any collectors of these out there? I've picked up a few over the years (Warrington rugby ones), and wondered if there's any way to date them? Even better if anyone has a link to a catalogue (never been able to find one on-line, though there's a few websites with people listing what they have). Any help appreciated.

tap into your browser Baines Football Cards and a history link will pop up.

Here is some info on them as well

John Baines of Bradford invented the Football Card in 1885. The cards were of local and national sporting teams. There were also some international teams as well as some cards of individual personalities and sporting heroes.

The cards were sold in packets of 6 and cost 1/2d. From the time of their invention to their demise in the early 1920’s, more than 20 million cards were produced. Young people sought to collect as many as possible as there were prizes for collecting as many cards in a given time period as well as weekly prizes.

The prizes were generally a football jersey but there were also such things as a Musical box with accompaniments.

Every 10000th card produced was a gold card and if you found one in your packet you could also win a prize. There were prizes for returning bags as well.

The cards were printed in Brighouse and Leeds.

On the reverse of some of the cards was the trade mark 197161 and details of the Gold Medal won at the Bradford Trades and Industrial Exhibition. Also on the reverse of some of the cards is the Royal Crest of Queen Victoria as John held Royal Letters patent nos. 13173 & 80607. The reverse of some cards carried details of the business and advertising was sometimes present, such as Pears Soaps and St. Jacob’s Oil as used by Mr Lewis, trainer, at Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club.

On occasions John would ask for essays to be written or football cards to be drawn in a weekly competition. The prize was a football. Cards were sometimes given out at local cinemas to the attendees at a Saturday matinee.

The business passed to John’s son, John Alexander Baines before eventually being sold to a company based in George Yard Barnsley.

The cards were sometimes distributed from a horse and van as is shown in the photo with John in attendance.

John ran his business from premises at 72 Carlisle Road and 32 Oak Lane Bradford as well as from 48 Nelson Road Gillingham Kent.

John Baines also had a dolls hospital at 15 North Parade Bradford.


here are a few of the ones i have https://flic.kr/s/aHsjgbqEwY

[tackler7]

First off are they actually Baines cards?

There are alot of similar cards which now get lumped in with Baines.

As you will see from the link above and similar other searches from Google there are quite a range.

I have a number of rugby cards - the best way to date them is via the person shown on the card - if indeed a player is shown on the card.

The cards lasted into the 20s - although these are less impressive and generally a different shape - more oval for rugby as opposed to Shields.

[wandererpaul]

Most Baines cards have the name printed on them. If it doesn't, then it may be a different publisher.

To date them is difficult unless, as mentioned above, there's a player name printed on them.

There isn't a definitive list, some believe there are over 3000 examples of Baines cards. There are different addresses on some, which help to date them, and some styles can be dated too.

There are one or two online sites, you may have to look through and read these to see if they can give you an idea of a date.

The were produced from the 1880's through to the 1920's.

Of the four known Brentford cards, two can be dated as they depict a footballer and are named, the other two can only be dated by style, as these were produced around a certain period.

They're nice cards and some are very rare, could even be one offs - as in only one left of that type - but most valued Baines cards are of Football League Clubs. Rugby, Cricket, lower League Football and Schools Clubs don't carry the same value as say a Newton Heath, Manchester United, or Liverpool for example.
_________________
Not Forgotten; Allwright, Greechan, Hagan, Kennedy, Littler, Purver, Robotham, Saunders, Shields

[bisphamseasider]

Great items to collect and they don't take up as much room as programmes.

Unfortunately the Blackpool ones rarely appear for sale and when they do every Blackpool collector and his dog are after them.

Here's an example of a Blackpool one.

[wandererpaul]

The four Brentford FC cards are here. I have just one of them and seen one other. The two I've never seen apart from on here are the "Brentford - 'Hands' " card and the cricket ball card.

http://bainesfootballcards.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Brentford

Some of the known Blackpool ones are here "bisphamseasider", although some scans are a little blurred! It just shows how rare some of these cards are to find!

http://bainesfootballcards.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Blackpool
_________________
Not Forgotten; Allwright, Greechan, Hagan, Kennedy, Littler, Purver, Robotham, Saunders, Shields

[bisphamseasider]

Cheers wanderpaul.

Some great cards there and a couple of Sharpes as well.

Here's another one not shown there.

[wandererpaul]

Any Baines cards that are not on the website I'm sure Alan (Cornelli Blue) would be grateful of a scan to add to the list of known cards.

Agree that they are very nice cards and some with lovely printing. The vibrant colours certainly make them stand out. It's a shame that there aren't that many to go around! Some team cards have a very strong value and are very sought after.
_________________
Not Forgotten; Allwright, Greechan, Hagan, Kennedy, Littler, Purver, Robotham, Saunders, Shields

[wandererpaul]

manchesterunitedman1 wrote:

here are a few of the ones i have https://flic.kr/s/aHsjgbqEwY

Some nice cards there Leslie.
_________________
Not Forgotten; Allwright, Greechan, Hagan, Kennedy, Littler, Purver, Robotham, Saunders, Shields

[Fishy]

Totally agree with Paul - some lovely cards Leslie.

[jockdodds]

BisphamSeasider,

I have the two BFC Baines shield that you have scanned in, along with 29 other BFC Baines or similar cards .. I'm always keen to add to this collection


Up The Pool !

John

[manchesterunitedman1]

jockdodds wrote:

BisphamSeasider, I have the two BFC Baines shield that you have scanned in, along with 29 other BFC Baines or similar cards .. I'm always keen to add to this collection Up The Pool ! John

Eve of the Final 1948 STILL got it after all these years!

[jockdodds]

Leslie,

Yep, I'm still on the lookout for the 48 Eve Of The Final prog but sadly don't have anything interesting on MUFC to offer you to temp you to part with it

I'll keep my eyes peeled for something decent on Utd

All The Best

John

[bisphamseasider]

jockdodds wrote:

BisphamSeasider, I have the two BFC Baines shield that you have scanned in, along with 29 other BFC Baines or similar cards .. I'm always keen to add to this collection Up The Pool ! John

Souinds like a great collection John.

How many of these are Baines and how many are others such as Sharpes?

[jockdodds]

BisphamSeasider,

They are a nice collection .. 21 of my cards are Baines, the other cards are anonymous

John

[ntw]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I thought there'd be a few people who shared my enjoyment of these Some nice examples above/on the links, so thanks for sharing.

I was aware of the website Leslie referred to. The ones I have are certainly Baines cards (as they say so). There is a player listed on a couple, but it's the same fella, and he played a long while.

I'm trying to do two things: firstly, get an idea of what is available for my club; secondly, and more importantly, date them - partly out of interest, partly to help with research I'm doing on jerseys. In terms of this, would people consider them accurate in terms of the replication of playing kit at/around the time of issue? I've heard reference to the fact they may use a 'generic footballer', so would it be wrong to assume that a white jersey for example 'proves' that this is the kit a team was wearing at the time?

wandererpaul wrote:

There are different addresses on some, which help to date them, and some styles can be dated too.

I assume you're referring to this Paul: "the original cards carried John Baines Ltd and Manningham as the address, this was then followed by 63 (Typo ?), 65, 68 & also 72 Carlisle Road often with the Ltd dropped , then 15 North Parade with and without Ltd, then 32 & 34 Oak Lane, then 48 Nelson Road Gillingham and then finally in 1921 we find George Yard Barnsley. " Anyone any idea as to anything more specific than this, as this is helpful in knowing which of a couple of cards is oldest, but not a lot else - any ideas when Baines moved around these premises?

I think part of the appeal of these is this mysterious aspect - they are just so old that a lot of this info is very difficult to come by.