Set of the Week: N370 Lone Jacks

Here's a set I haven't seen or heard much about lately, the n370 Lone Jacks set. This a 13 card set issued by Lone Jacks Ciggarettes out of Lynchburg, VA in 1887. The set consists entirely of the 1886 St Louis Browns that won the Championship that year. The photos used are the same ones used in the Old Judge Browns Champs subset.

Cards emasure 2.5" x 1.5" with a sepia tone photo on front and blank back. Players in the set include:

Bushong
Caruthers
Comiskey
Foutz
Gleason
Hudson
Kimler
Latham
Nicol
O'Neil
Robinson
Von Der Ahe
Welch (mispelled Welsh)

Legend has it that the Lone Jack Ciggarette Company was won in a poker game with the winning hand being Jack high.

Lone Jack is my favorite cigarette pack I've ever come across. And as luck would have it, I ended up tracking down an original, full cigarette pack (including its original card, but alas - not baseball). Also, to add a bit to Jay's story... this is how Lone Jack came to be:

About 1850, when his fortunes were at a low ebb and success in the tobacco business seemed doubtful, he sat down with a friend to play a game of “Seven Up”. Each staked a dollar on the game and through a long series of games, Carroll was a constant loser. It was late and with a feeling of chagrin, he pulled out his last dollar and placed it on the table. The critical moment arrived when his adversary stood six to three and had the deal. Diamonds were trump and Carroll held only one – a lone Jack. He looked about in desperation. If his opponent held a single trump, he was beaten. He hesitated but then gallantly took his stand. As fortune would have it, Carroll’s lone Jack turned out to be the winning hand and he scored high, low, Jack and the game. The lucky turn of events made such an impression with Carroll, he decided at that moment to name his best selling smoking tobacco “Lone Jack” and eventually the same name would be used as he moved into the emerging cigarette market in the 1880’s.

- “The History of Lynchburg Virginia" by Philip Scruggs, 1946

Jon - Thanks for sharing that great story.