Lot # 2791: 1889 N85 Duke "Postage Stamps" Complete Set (50)

Complete set of fifty 1889 N85 Duke "Postage Stamps” cards, one of nineteenth-century tobacco-card collecting's most unusual and fascinating sets. Issued with Duke's Cigarettes, the popular hobbies of stamp collecting and card collecting inspired this unique set. The cards feature beautiful colorful lithographs related to the postal service, including real stamps from different areas of the world attached to the fronts of the cards. We can only imagine the logistics involved in the production of this set. Each stamp clearly had to be mounted at the factory by hand, one at a time, no doubt by many workers in an assembly-line process. This set was obviously the result of great vision and a tremendous desire to produce a product that stood out from the crowded field of card sets issued in the 1880s. Eight cards have been professionally graded and encapsulated by SGC: Country Post Office (EX 60), First Letter (VG 40), First Letter Carrier (VG 40), Just in Time! (VG/EX 50), Last Round (VG/EX 50), One for You Too! (VG/EX 50), Russian Mail (VG 40), and Spanish Letter Carrier (VG 40). The condition of the forty-two card balance is technically modest, with all except five cards showing a collector's hand stamp on the reverse. Without further reference to the backs of the cards, the fronts offer an overall Vg to Vg-Ex appearance, with a couple Ex and a few and lower. One of the most interesting and ingenious sets ever produced, Duke's "Postage Stamps" are rarely offered as a complete set and are highly prized by both stamp collectors and nineteenth-century nonsport tobacco-card collectors. Total: 50 cards.