Here is an interesting set: the Turkish Trophies Fortune series, issued by the S. Anargyros Famous Cigarettes company in 1910 and designated T62 by Jefferson Burdick. At the time, Anargyros was part of the American Tobacco conglomerate. The cards themselves fit fit nicely in a 9 pocket page, being only slightly less tall than the standard modern card. As with most such tobacco cards, the back is an advertisement for the company.
This set, in it's own way, predicts the crazy parallels nonsense we see in modern cards. The whole set consists 101 different images, with each image being printed with 5 different fortunes on them, making for a 505 card set. Additionally, each card has a thin embossed gold line between the border and the image foreshadowing the gold parallels to come.
Not all of the images are horse themed, but I have identified a number (13, I think, but I am not at home to consult my checklist spreadsheet) and will certainly collect them. You can see the entire checklist here. It shows the description of each of the 101 main cards, with the first few words of the several associated fortunes underneath. As you will see, some of the scenes depicted run to the mundane (i.e. Bank depositor in top hat w/ friend making transaction w/ teller in cage and Business man at desk on telephone, blue suit) But that quirkiness does make it oddly appealing and I don't preclude putting the entire set together.
While I only have a few of these so far, most of the fortunes do give a positive message but, as you can see from the one immediately above, there is at least one that offers cautionary advice. Good advise, to be sure.
What I am listening to: When the Stars Come Out by Chris Stapleton
Those are certainly different! And here everybody that parallels were a product of the 90's :)
ReplyDelete