Cigarette cards

I see we’re getting questions now. A reader of this site asked the following:

Question: I have a set of Lambert and Butler Cigarette cards, a series of 1 – 50 of Worlds Locomotives, in mint condition which have been kept in a card display photoframe. They are originals and not reprints. Please could you let me know how much I could expect if I were to put them up for auction. Many thanks. Chris N.

Answer: Well, we did find one site, that is offering them for sale at www.franklyncards.com – Lambert & Butler cigarette card prices. The suggested price there is 200 pounds, or about $320 U.S. for the 1912 set of 50 – of course there is no mention of condition. The site further mentions that there is up to a 40% discount, so that would make the price about $180.00.

Now, what you’ll end up with auctioning them is a different story. a quick search of completed listings on eBay reveals the following:

A set of 50 Lambert and Butler cigarette cards, Motor Cycles series in very good condition went for $97.00.

Set of 25 cigarette cards issued in 1934 by Lambert and Butler, ‘Motor Cars A series’ went for $72.00.

A full set of 25 cigarette cards issued in 1923 by Lambert & Butler and entitled: Motor Cars 2nd Series (26 – 50) – $50.00

From the locomotive series – 12 scarce cigarette cards issued in 1912 or 1913, depicting railway trains. Comprising from a series of 25, no. 6,19, from a series of 50, no. 20,24,26,32,38,41 and from an additional 25, no.14A, 18A(creased), 19A, 24A. Generally good to very good condition – went for $10.00.

Given that your cards are in mint condition, we would hazard a guess that if there’s a demand for that series, you could expect anywhere from $150.00 to $250.00.