Early Tobacco Cards

This is an entire sheet of Duke's Cameo Cigarette cards from the late 1880s, I believe. This was one of my favorite items at the Society of California Pioneers. If you're like me, you associate tobacco cards mainly with sports cards, not scantily clad women.

The handwritten inscription says that from now on Duke's Cameo Cigarettes will include one of those cards in each pack, with the cards being of some of the most beautiful women in the world. In fact, it goes so far as to say that it was difficult choosing which women to include. I guess standards of beauty have changed over the years or something, because while some of them are gorgeous, some of them definitely aren't.

From my recent trip to the Society of California Pioneers...