Background
The 1896 Kinnear & Co. set is one of the earliest soccer card creations in the history of the hobby.
Similar to baseball cards, soccer cards began in the form of cigarette cards that were included in packs of cigarettes. Sets of different cards were created for smokers to collect and set build.
This set features images of footballers in the respective kits of the clubs they represent. The design is very simple and below all of the cards in the set are included.
On the PSA registry, this set is the earliest set to have been graded in the soccer card section.
Pop Reports for Grading Companies
Scan of the 1896 Kinnear & Co./ Marcus - "Footballers & Club Colours"
Checklist
Army (ball at feet)
Army (ball in hands)
Aston Villa (ball in hand)
Aston Villa (ball by left foot)
Casuals (ball at right foot)
Casuals (ball at left foot)
Clapton (ball at feet)
Clapton (ball in hands)
Corinthians (ball in left arm)
Corinthians (ball at feet)
J. Davey (no team - Aston Villa)
Ilford (holding ball)
Ilford (ball held to thigh)
Kings College Hospital (ball in left hand)
Kings College Hospital (ball in both hands)
London Caledonians (ball behind left foot)
London Caledonians (ball behind right foot)
Notts Forest (ball in left hand)
Notts Forest (ball held by strings in left hand)
Oxford University (right hand at side)
Oxford University (arms folded)
Suffolk (ball at left foot)
Suffolk (ball in right hand)
Sunderland (ball by left foot)
Sunderland (ball in left hand)
Hi, I just wanted to make one minor correction to the write up. The company is actually originally Marcus and Co. which came into business in 1895. The company incorporated in 1897 to become Kinnear Ltd. The set straddles both 1896 Marcus & Co. and 1897 Kinnear Ltd. as there are both cards with and without a purple Kinnear Ltd stamp on the back.