NORTHAMPTON AND DISTRICT CIGARETTE CARD CLUB (NDCCC)
Our featured card is by local manufacturer J. Lees, it dates from 1912, was issued in their hand-filled cigarettes, and the cards all show footballers from the Northampton Town Football Club, including Walter Tull. This was a series of 21 cards, but for some reason each of the card numbers are prefixed by the number 3, which makes it look as if there were over 300 cards in the set.
A list of all the cards may be found at:
We also love the back images of these cards, with their patriotic exhortations – “Smoke Northampton Made Cigarettes” – and “Support Local Industry”, so the back is also reproduced on this page; in fact, we were the first Society Branch ever to show the back of a cigarette card on our webpage - but then I went and lost the photo. I will get it again some time!
And to close, a warning... if you come across a card, or cards, from this set being sold cheaply do check it carefully, because this sought-after set has been reproduced as “The Nostalgia Classic Limited Edition Collection”. The makers have clearly marked their cards as being reprints on the bottom under the framelines, but this can be removed by cutting it very close to the picture.