Cigarette card

Cigarette Cards were issued by tobacco manufacturers in order to gain customer loyalty to their particular brand of cigarettes. Each set of cards typically consisted of 25 or 50 related subjects, for example Boy Scouts or British Butterflies. They were discontinued in order to save paper during the Second World War, and never fully reintroduced thereafter.

Perhaps the most famous, and sought-after, set of cards is the untitled series of cards issued by Taddy and known by collectors as Clowns and Circus Artistes. While not the rarest cards in existance (there are a number of series in which only one known example remains), they are still very rare and command high prices whenver they come up for auction.