Last week I showed you some of the more inexpensive tobacco premiums, and today I have some of the very rare and expensive premium items to show you. It appears that in 1914 the tobacco companies stepped up their game and created some more expensive items. All of the premiums today are from Murad Cigarettes.
For example, instead of using silk or leather, they produced one series that was on paper. [click on any image to see details]
This was called the “Duck Hunter” and is printed double sided on a heavy card stock. The ink and foil combination is very well printed with no bleeding or other signs of sloppiness in production. The foil makes it very hard to make out, but around the outside it says “Murad” in purple behind the sparkly gold. Because of the foil / sparkles no scan came out well. Sorry about that. The card is just under 2 3/4 in by 2 1/8 in in size. This card is identified as a T51 card and is part of the “College Series” which was composed of the following cards.
As you can see, Knox was only one of 150 colleges represented. Why they chose a duck hunter for Knox’s image is anyone’s guess.
Finally, we have the most fancy tobacco premiums, the felts. I have to admit, I do NOT have the complete collection of these. These felts were rare in 1914, and today they are extremely rare. I have 4 of the 9 sports.* I know for a fact I am missing hockey and tennis. I have seen both of these come up for auction and passed on the $70 price tag only to have someone else get them. They measure 3 in by 4 1/2 in plus the fringe sewn on top on bottom.
You have to look at these large and see the detail in them. Knox was one of only 15 colleges that were represented on the felts. That brings to mind why only 15, and what was going on in the US to make Knox so well known that it was one of 15 that people would seek out. Very interesting.
That is all the tobacco premiums that I know of connected to Knox. I can’t see Knox agreeing to this now or anytime in the recent past, but in 1910 – 14 it was a different time and I am sure the advertising helped Knox just as much as it did Murad cigarettes.
————-
* The info on 9 sports and 15 schools came from here: http://cigarhistory.info/Premiums/Felts_and_Flannels.html