2. The Only True "N-card" Baseball Card Sets?

Soon after the last edition of the American Card Catalog was printed in the late 1960s, hobbyists made at least one significant change. All nineteenth century cards, which are listed in the ACC without any alphabetic prefix, were reformatted to include an "N" prefix before the number. Thus, all hobbyists now refer to the popular Old Judge set as N172--not just 172 as listed in the catalog. Likewise, 1888 Allen and Ginters became N28s, Kimball Champions are now N184s, etc.

1924 "N258" Diaz Cigarros (Cuba) (shown at approximate actual size)

The change provided consistency with other baseball "T" cards, "E" cards, "R" cards, and so on, that were coded with an alphabetic prefix. However, "N" cards were listed elsewhere in the ACC and defined as another unique category. The ACC's editor Jefferson Burdick defined "N" card sets under Section 8 of the catalog to be "Central and South American Tobacco Cards."

All of that is well and good for today's collectors of vintage baseball cards--except for a couple of relatively minor (and little known) details: there are two baseball card sets listed in Section 8 of the ACC. According to Burdick's numbering, both sets carried an "N" prefix. The two sets include a Cuban set produced in 1924 and now referred to as the Diaz Cigarros set and a Venezuelan set from 1931 now known as the Diana Cigarrillos issue. While there are many other non-baseball issues in Section 8 of the catalog, the N258 Diaz Cigarros and the N561 Diana Cigarrillos sets have the distinction of being the only sets that feature baseball players.

The black and white Cuban Diaz Cigarros set (see example above) contains only pitchers from the American Major Leagues and carries the designation N258 in the ACC. There are a total of 136 players in the set.

The player's team is printed across the top of each card in the Diaz set. The player's full name and a "Pitcher" notation is found across the bottom of the card. Cards are numbered on the back followed by a sponsor message: "Fume Cigarros Tomas Gutierrez" (Smoke Tomas Gutierrez Cigars). A message in Spanish then offers an album premium. The cards in the set measure approximately 1-3/4 x 2-1/2 inches.

1931 "N561" Diana Cigarrillos (Venezuela) (shown at approximate actual size)

The second true "N-card" set was produced in Venezuela by the Bigott Company under their Diana Cigarrillos brand is designated as set N561 in the ACC.

The Diana Cigarrillos cards (example shown at right) measure about 1-3/8 by 2-5/8 inches. They are numbered and bear the player's full name on the front and back. The card backs also list the player's position and team as well as a sponsor message printed in Spanish.

Because of the obscurity of each of these sets, it is unlikely that their ACC number will be causing any mass confusion among today's vintage collectors. However, it is interesting to note for the numbering purist that these are the only true "N-card" baseball cards according to Burdick's Catalog. Might make a good trivia question at your next gathering of vintage card collectors.