JOHN BAINES CARLISLE RD MANNINGHAM LITHO BRADFORD, W N SHARPE PLAY UP FOOTBALL CARDS, J BAINES LTD, BRIGGS SOMERBY STREET LEEDS - WANTED - WE PAY CASH FOR THESE CARDS:ALSO ALF COOKE, ORMEROD BROTHERS, O'TOOLE & SCHOFIELD'S FLEECE HOTEL CARDS - BEST CASH PRICES PAID.

This page is a 'Rosetta Stone' for decoding the mystery of Baines' cards. This is not a sales page. The images and information imparted below serve for historical reference only. The cards seen below are in private collections.

On this page you will find a foreword and introductions, followed by a brief timeline and then an in-depth timeline, and much more on the wonderful cards by John Baines' Manningham Litho, latterly known as J.Baines Ltd, from Bradford, Barnsley & Gillingham.

Acknowledgement.

The information below was gathered by me from endless research which I carried out over 35 years of collecting Baines cards. The research was confirmed shortly before 2020 by a gentleman named Mr. Crick, the great, great grandson of John Baines Sr. He added a fair amount of invaluable knowledge to this page. It's thanks to him that we finally have been able to confirm some dates for the Baines timeline. Also, thanks go to Bill Duerden who was the foremost Baines collector in the 1980's and 1990's, perhaps the greatest researcher and expert of his time. I am grateful for all he passed on to me in 1998. 

Foreword.

Extant exemplars of Baines cards are few and far between. Earlier usually means rarer, so 1880's Baines cards are typically far rarer than 1920's Baines cards, although some later-era Baines cards may well be just as hard to find! For example, a later-era J.Baines Ltd card from 1909 of Billy Meredith, the celebrated Manchester United & Manchester City Welsh international soccer player is known by as few as 2 examples worldwide. You'll see one of them pictured on this website.

The earliest cards made by Baines Litho in Manningham (Bradford, England) include two different cards of W G Grace, made in 1883, and cards of Fred Spofforth and Jack Blackham, Australian Hall of Famers from the earliest days of Ozzie cricket! Such cards enjoy worldwide populations of 3 exemplars each (Grace) or less - only 1 of each of Spofforth & Blackham are known!  You'll see examples of such cards elsewhere on this website.

So, Baines started in 1883 with cricket cards, then by 1884 with rugger cards; and latterly golf, hockey, swimming, cycling and military cards too. Since 1886, Baines made soccer cards.

In late 1886, Arthur Wharton of Darlington FC became the joint-first soccer star to be featured on a card made by Baines.

Walter Sugg, the elder brother to future superstar Frank Sugg, is the other joint-first soccer star to be featured on a sports card. He is shown for Burnley CC but while he played cricket in the summertime (which dates this card to mid 1886, and so too the Wharton shield, which is of the same series) Sugg also played for Burnley FC during the cooler months.

While there remains a unique exemplar of the Walter Sugg card, showing him in cricketing kit  for for Burnley, there are two known exemplars of the Arthur Wharton Darlington card, also by Baines, showing Wharton in a suit, with the legends "Play Up Darlington" and "100 Yards Amateur Champion".

Wharton stayed at Darlington until mid-1887 when Baines reissued his image on a fan-shaped card.

A copy of the Wharton Darlington design by Baines is also known on similar, shield-shaped cards printed for Baines' competitor, James Briggs of Leeds. Two of those cards, issued slightly later than the Baines originals, are known to exist - and one of them sold in January 2024 for more than GBP £33k!

The hammer price for the pirate Wharton card was £28,000 with 20% auction commissions added on top, making a gross price paid by the buyer of around £33,500!

These shield-shaped cards celebrate Wharton's joint exploits: a world-record in sprinting as well as his footballing status as a goalkeeper supreme for Darlington FC.

The later fan-shaped card, of mid 1887, dropped the sprinting legend, as did even later reissues of the design for Arthur's move to Rotherham FC, by 1890.

Wharton also played for the greatest team in the land, Preston North End, in the F.A. Cup run of early 1887 but no cards of him from this period have been seen - yet.

Wharton's 10-second 100 yards sprint, a national news story and a world record achieved in summer 1886, is a sporting feat that can be compared to Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile in post-war Britain almost a century later. No wonder Baines made a card for this black man, a legend in his own lifetime.

Arthur was not the first multi-sports superstar to be featured on a sports card but he was surely the greatest, at the time, being a pro-soccer star, a world record runner and a rugger player and competition cyclist too.

As a star of multiple sports, Wharton would be followed closely by fellow British superstar Frank Sugg, also featured on Baines cards from 1887; and on cards by Bradford-based competitors W.N. Sharpe, in 1888

Wharton's earliest Baines card was preceded by the greatest cricketer of all time, W.G. Grace, who featured on two different Baines cards, as early as 1883.

Above, my own W.G. Grace cards, which both date from 1883, the Union Jack card being of an earlier series identified by the hand engraved typo "Bains", to the fronts of the cards in that series, rather than the corrected, slightly later "Baines" etching.

So, the Union Jack Grace card, above left, and the Gloucester County Cricket Club card, just as rarely seen, above right, are among the first sports cards ever made, anywhere in the world.

W.G. Grace was the legendary cricket captain of England, and a Gloucester County Cricket Club player. These cards are two of the rarest of all Baines cards. No more than three of each type are known. Two of each type have been recorded selling in recent years, one for AUD$50k! Yet, neither were as clean as these finer examples, from my own collection. Grace is to cricket what Babe Ruth is to baseball and what Pelé is to soccer. No sports card collection should be without Grace! 

Note the differences to the cards' backs, above: one has the sportsmen coat of arms (type 1 design - there was a slightly later re-designed variant, too) while the other is without the heraldic crest altogether. This is the earlier card, showing the Union Jack front. I was once told that the key-hole design on this card signified the key man, the key cricketer in the unlocking of Australia. When the initial run of cricket and word-making cards sold out, being more successful than Baines had ever expected, new designs were quickly made and circulated. Upon these, the sportsmen coat of arms was added.

So, cricket and rugger cards were made by Baines some 3 years before the first soccer card was made. That card, the above-mentioned card of Arthur Wharton, appeared in circulation by late 1886.

Baines's own football (i.e. rugger and soccer) cards, and cricket and word-making competition cards had followed earlier cards, which had been made with very naive designs and issued with blank backs, published as early as 1882. It's not known who published these cards but Baines certainly used then, applying his rubber stamp to their backs. These cards were, it is thought, issued in so-called Lucky Bags. These very early cards did not show sportsmen, just team names and ball or cup designs.

The 1883-issued cards of cricketers, on diamonds (or squares), clovers-and-triangles, and octagonal cards was the first series of sports cards to show nationally known and internationally known sports personalities. The name of Leeds printer Alf Cooke is shown on many of the cards. At this early state, Baines was a lithographer not a printer. He had the designs made and then took them to Cooke, in Leeds, for manufacture. Baines's own lucky bags are advertised on some of these cards.

There's much more to tell about these cards and the full 40+ years of Baines history is outlined further below, including photographs of the album whence many of the rarities seen on this page originated, an album collated in the mid-1880's, and dated such by its first owner. Read on and enjoy the history and the images.

Introduction to Baines cards and to their dating

Seen below, from April 1884, is a clipping from a Leeds Times newspaper article on the then new fashion, of spring 1884, of wearing sports cards at matches. The writer reports on the widely seen football cards of Bonsor, the team captain of Bradford, which decorated the raiments of the crowd that day. Men wore them in their hatbands on so-called billycock hats, and it's widely known that cards were also pinned to clothing, or insrted into buttonholes. in fact some 1880's cards were designed for just that, being made with a stem.

Seen below, next to the 1884 newspaper article on Bonsor cards in the crowd, an article which can be found online at the British Newspaper Library, is an example of a Baines Litho card of Bonsor, dating from the very time and mentioned in this newspaper article. The card is a typical early design, a pre-patent Baines card which advertises Pears Soap and says "Play Up Bradford, Bonsor, Capt." 

For the football-loving crowd at that very game, a rugby-football match to be precise, in springtime 1884, to be amply endowed with many suchlike Baines Bonsor cards, those cards would have had to have been printed and distributed, in massive numbers, some time beforehand. The fact that a firm of lithographers was so able in its production and distribution must take us back in time, by at least one whole year, into mid 1883. Further, it is quite reasonable to infer that Baines was printing and distributing pictorial sports cards well before 1883.  In fact he was! Shown below are some very early cards which we can now date to 1883, even to 1882 in some cases.

Here's a quick, general guide to dates. For further information please see further down the page:

If the card shows a "Ltd" mark after Baines, i.e. J.Baines Ltd, then the card must be no earlier than 1909. The "Ltd." suffix only appears on cards made between 1909 and 1926 - the end date for Baines production.

The Ltd suffix is often found on cards with Gold Medal backs.

It ought to be noted that during the years following 1909 cards were also made without the Ltd. suffix. Such cards, often with Gold Medal backs, were produced by a second branch of the Baines family. For more on this see further down this page.

Gold Medal-back cards were made as late as 1926 and since as early as 1898. But all Gold Medal cards with "Ltd" must be 1909, or later, and their dates can be clarified by looking at the various addresses on those cards, not least the player and team combination. For more, please read on... 

Very early cards can be easily dated by the address. If the address is 68 Carlisle Road the card is from before early-1886; while 72 Carlisle Road appears on cards from mid-1886 until 1888. Most of the cards made between 1887 and 1889 bear the double-address: 65 & 72 Carlisle Road; while cards from circa 1890 until around 1894-95 show yet another double address: 65 Carlisle Road and 15 North Parade - though not always! Some cards made from 1895 onwards bear simply a numberless "North Parade".

During the 1880's, and until the early 1890's, Baines' also had issued advertising cards which did not bear an address, per se. These cards simply show the maker as 'Baines Litho, Manningham'.

Until 1908, Baines cards bore no "Limited" ("Ltd") suffix.

From 1895 till 1908 Baines cards were all made under the family firm name J.Baines, and such cards were addressed as 15 North Parade, or, for a time in the mid-1890's as simply North Parade.

After John Baines senior's death in December 1908 the family split into two parts, each running a business in Baines cards, thus:

1. some cards were made by J.Baines Ltd, i.e. a "Limited" (or "Ltd.") company suffix was added to the trading name. This half of the Baines family remained based at 15 North Parade, in Bradford until at some time during World War One it moved to an address in George Yard, Barnsley.

2. some cards were made by the other half of the family omit "Limited" or "Ltd" from the Baines name. From 1909, the family firm (not the limited company) moved to an address at Oak Lane, in Bradford. It stayed there  until a little after World War One, transferring to 48 Nelson Road, in Gillingham, Kent. Such Kentish cards, much like the George Yard, Barnsley cards of the rival firm, may be found with dates. N.B. the dates are not the dates when cards were printed! The dates shown on such cards are the dates on fan-mail letters written to Baines & Baines Ltd. Thus a 1916- or a 1921-dated card may well have been printed as late as 1922 or even 1923!

That's a quick guide to dates. For more in-depth detail, with illustrations, please see further down this page.

Image below : a dated scrapbook compiled between the early-1880's and mid-1880's, at some point in its creation dated "1886". Many of my own Baines cards came from this tome.

The Seven Keys.

7 key points to understanding Baines cards.

1. Baines was a lithographer, not a printer. Misunderstanding this has sent collectors on wild goose chases for years.

As a lithographer, Baines employed designers & at least one etcher. He'd prepare up to 4 plates per image then send them to a printer. Then he's distribute and sell the finished cards which came back from that printer. One of the etchers employed by Baines is listed in trade directories of the time as living at one of Baines's own Carlisle Road addresses, in the late 1880's.

Early sports cards designed by Baines were printed by Alf Cooke, the largest printer in the area. Baines also used Richardson. another printer based in nearby Leeds. Richardson printed cards for other football card dealers too, and Richardson cards are known to have been issued until as late as 1891. 

Later on, Baines employed Berry Brothers printers to manufacture his cards.

The first Baines cards were issued in Lucky Bags, with World-Making competition cards, and other gimmicks. Later on they came to be sold in dedicated sports cards packets, for half a penny. Sometimes Baines produced runs of cards for merchants. Those third parties would distribute said cards in stores, circulating them as P.R. gimmicks advertising products.

2. Simpler tools cost less money; simpler cards last longer, and cleaner cards may be reused. Issuing cards of different shapes was appealing to buyers, at least during the 1880's when Baines had to compete with Briggs and other rival sellers of football cards but the more complex a shape was the less cutting life the die-cut tool had. Thus, octagons, club-&-triangle shapes and fan-shaped cards are among the rarest of Baines cards. Fewer were made and fewer still lasted the test of time. Rounder, 'easier' shapes such as shields and balls did better. Redeemed cards were reused by Baines thus cards were called in for prizes, encouraging children to buy more cards to save up the biggest number, to have more than their friends had, in a bid to win the best gifts from musical boxes to football jerseys, silver cups to leather footballs. The cleanest of the many redeemed cards were reissued, saving Baines money on printing costs. Cards of complex designs often bore faults and could not easily be resold. Cards in simpler shapes stayed in better condition for longer.

The most successful shaped card made was the shield of which 4 basic types were made: small, medium, large and extra-large. See the image below for the 4 types. They were issued alongside hearts, fans and hand-held-rugger-ball shapes. The original, 1880's shields were eventually replaced with newer shield designs in the later-1890's, and newer still designs in the 1910's and 1920's.

3. Dates. The Cards Speak! Don't ignore the language of the cards themselves in favour of all too often incorrectly compiled trade directories of antiquity. The cards know better! Books compiled for profit not for accuracy, by commercial records collators for whom cards meant nothing, know less than the cards! That is, the player-&-team combination on a card speaks louder than a dumb census. Equally as important are addresses found on the cards. Commercial directories of the 1880's and 1890's, much like the Yellow Pages of the 1990s, included many errors and omissions. Even census reports from the time are far from precise. There are all sorts of reasons why incorrect information was recorded as fact by such sources. Many people did not comply with censuses, failing to submit information or supplying obsolete and erroneous details. Likewise, commercial directories of trades and other municipal records include myriad errors committed by hasty clerks. Data was recycled from previous years absent fresh data. So, last year's entries would have been reused where updated information was not received. For instance, in the 1950's, in England, similar trade and census records show my family was apparently not at the business addresses they had occupied for some years. That's a good example of how trade directories are often wrong. My family lived at "X" but the history books say otherwise! Similarly, in the 1990's, London's EC-zones Yellow Pages directory continued to show my former office as occupied by me even 5 years after I had vacated it. Today, my aunt's house is not shown on the land registry of GB as her own house yet she's lived there since 1981! If this happens nowadays, as it did in the 1950's you can bet it will have been no different in the 1880s, so please read the cards instead of trade records which were created for profits rather than for the precise and accurate recording of a business community.

Many apparent rugby cards, with rugger designs, actually feature soccer clubs' names, such as Newton Heath and Wanderers.

4. Newspapers. The newspaper report, seen atop this page, dating from spring 1884 mentions a football match where the crowd was wearing the latest "football cards" in their hat bands. Notably, the cards mentioned showed Bradford FC's team captain, Fred Bonsor. Such cards of Bonsor are those which were printed by Baines Litho in Manningham, Bradford, less than 10 miles from Leeds. Thus, though the article does not mention the lithographer's name we can infer that it was John Baines. He was based in Bradford. The match was in Bradford. The cards the crowd carried were for Bradford. Though W.N. Sharpe was also a Bradford-based lithographer, Sharpe did not start issuing sports cards until the late 1880's, long after the aforementioned newspaper report from April 1884. The football crowd mentioned was amply coloured by Baines' Bonsor cards, in early 1884. For that to have happened, the cards would have needed to have been made and distributed in massive numbers some time beforehand. It's now easy to see Baines making cards in 1883, if not earlier, because it is reasonable to infer that Baines was printing and distributing pictorial sports cards at least 1 year earlier than the April 1884 match. So, 1883 for Baines cards production in some form or other is a sure-bet; The cards seen in the match in April 1884 were high-quality, full colour designs of a player. We know that the earliest Baines cards, those with rubber stamps on plain backs,were simple affairs. It's reasonable to put a couple of years between one and the other, taking is back to 1882, if not earlier.

5. Patents and Gold Medals. Patents help date Baines cards, such as the fan-shape cards bearing two patent numbers, the latter of which was granted in late 1887. Though the well-known Gold Medal design was used on the backs of Baines cards until the mid-1920's the earliest Gold Medal cards cannot be from before the late-1890's. Though some date to 1898-99  most gold medal cards date to the 1900's-1920's. To help date the gold medal cards, compare the style of fronts & backs to other cards. Similar styles usually mean similar dates. A card of W.G. Grace is known to have a gold medal back. It's perhaps his latest and final Baines card, from 1899 - dated thus by other cricketers in the same series.

Cards without patent numbers, such as the two types of sportsmen-coat-of-arms cards, like those with W G Grace, and the octagonal cards of Australian cricketers, came out well before 1886. Baines acquired his initial design registration numbers and royal crest between late 1885 and early 1886. Earlier cards bear no such number or crest. John Baines was very  proud of his Royal Patents numbers and his cards were printed with them alongside the Royal Beasts, a lion and a unicorn, as soon as he had the legal right to use them. N.B. Baines's advertising cards also mostly lacked patent or registration numbers, including those made in the late 1880's.

6. 1887-dated cards, such as the above-seen Bradford v Ossett cup card, were made for a big series of scheduled cup matches in early 1887. Others, such as the Baines 'Cup Tie Silver Cup' cards, which are competition end-dated dated on 9th April 1887, the likes of which may be seen above,  and cards which mention the Queen's 50th Jubilee, also in 1887, all bear sophisticated designs and are obviously the products of a long-established trade confident in its own wares and very able in its distribution. Dating was dropped after 1887 because dating makes cards obsolete all too soon. Baines was known for reissuing redeemed cards. You can only be current if you are not selling out-of-date dated cards!

This point, about the 1887 dated cards, is important because it shows that Baines was, of course, already in full production by this time. Some sources in the past claimed wrongly that this was not the case. So, Baines was running at full steam long before 1887. In fact, he had been in business for at least 5 years by then.

1887 was the 2nd year in which Baines had been granted patent numbers. His first  registration dates to late-1885 (applicated) and an early-1886 granting of a royal letters patent.

7. Baines' rivals, Baines' etching and lithography business and the printers he used. 

In the early 1880's Baines was merely a lithographer and not yet his own printer. Baines found artists to design cards and etchers to prepare them for printing. Then, printing works nearby printed the designs as bespoke cards for Baines. Dating from this period are the colourful rectangular-shaped cards better known as diamonds, such as the earliest Saul Wade cricket card, when Wade played for Hope Foundry CC. Though this card has a plain back, most from the series advertise Baines' Lucky bags. The diamonds can be dated to the end of 1883 by a Hunslet card of Gilston which states the new club has only played 13 matches! These cards were printed by Alf Cooke's printing works in Leeds, the largest printer in the area. Later on Baines would also use Richardson printers, also in Leeds. Eventually, cards printed for Baines by Cooke and by Richardson found their way to other sellers, to rival football card dealers such as Briggs of Leeds. Thus, some of Baines' cards came to be pirated, but eventually such bootlegged wares were recaptured by and over-printed with a Baines rubber stamp. The illicit stock of cards held by Briggs, along with other  firms' wares, including Arthur Cromacks' cards, were acquired by Baines in 1887. Alas, where one rival was removed another soon appeared, to challenge Baines, and in 1888 W.N. Sharpe, a very large rival indeed, set up its own football cards business.

In taking over early competitors and acquiring rival stocks of cards Baines added designs to his gallery,, notably the extra-large shield-shaped design once beloved of Briggs. This came to be added to the Baines family of escutcheons during 1887. A heart-shaped card, originally made for Baines by Alf Cooke, as early as 1886 (and bootlegged by Baines' rival Briggs) also became a staple design for the Manningham firm. Bootlegged Baines cards can be found over-stamped by rubber seal to the rear, advertising the Baines cigar emporium at 68 Carlisle Road. 

In-depth Baines Timeline, 1882-1925, addresses, designs, patents and illustrations of the various types of cards

The Oldest Cards. 

Out of obscurity, the earlies sports cards had basic 1- or 2-colour designs and plain backs. Such cards were made before 1883 and usually consist of a team's name and a ball, most often a rugby ball, or another simple graphic image such as a cup. They do not show images of sportsmen. Some of these cards, came to bear one of Baines' variously shaped stamp for "Baines Cigar Emporium". A typical oval-shaped rubber stamp is the most common type but fancier designs are known. These cards were not printed by Baines, though he may have designed the lithography. They were mostly printed by A. J. Berry in Armley. This firm became Baines' printer for many decades. Other, similar cards were printed by Alf Cooke and also by Richardson, in Leeds. Such cards were utilised by Baines to advertise his earliest "Lucky Bags". Baines eventually acquired a stock of these generic, plain-back cards and bespoke them with rubber stamps advertising his tobacco emporia. Baines also customized bona fide rivals' sports cards, after taking over those businesses, such as Briggs, a rival publisher of sports cards from Leeds. So, it's possible to find cards made by rival issuers which bear rubber stamps by one another such as, most typically, Baines overprints on defunct Briggs cards. Note: actual printer's marks would typically be to the fronts of cards, to be found in small lettering around the frame, although lithographers also used such devices. Further, the publisher's, or merchant's name, would be to the back of the card. Moreover, advertisers' names were also applied to the backs of cards. 

The images below show very early Baines cards, printed with a plain back upon which a Baines rubber stamp was applied. These cards had very basic designs and they were issued in the first years of the 1880's.

1882 and earlier plain back cards with simple designs featuring rugby balls or cups and without images of sportsmen, often overprinted with rubber stamp marks to the rear, such as the cards seen above.

1883 club-&-triangle-shape cricketers, no coat of arms, no reg.#, 68 Carlisle, like the W.G. Grace Union Jack card seen below - with "Bains" without an "e" to the front

1883, from the same series, the octagonal-shaped cards of Australian cricketers, Buy Baines Cricket & Word Competition Packets, no reg.#, 68 Carlisle, made to commemorate the 1882 visit of Australia and the first Ashes Test match, played at the Oval, like those seen below. Note: these cards also have "Bains" without an "e" to the front.

Later in 1883, club-&-triangle-shape cricketers, with a coat of arms, no reg.#, 68 Carlisle, like the W.G. Grace Gloucester CCC card seen below.  These have the corrected "Baines" with an "e" to the front.

1884 small shield with type I sportsmen coat of arms, no reg.#, 68 Carlisle1884 rugby-ball-in-hand shaped word-making cards with Pears Soap backs, such cards were used until the late 1880's with various backs, as seen below.

Images below : small-size Baines shields were issued for almost a decade, from the early 1880's until the start of the 1890's. Their history can be traced by designs on the back, let alone the player & team combinations on the fronts. 

1884 club-&-triangle-shape (also called clover-and-triangle, and star-shape) cards advertising for Pears Soap, baby back, no reg.#, no address just Baines Litho Manningham. Such cards were used until the end of the 1880's, with various backs.

1885 ball-shape with a cricketer's name & no image cricket-ball-design reg. #71204, type II sportsmen coat of arms, 68 Carlisle.

Image below : showing an 1895 ball-shape card for Kent (with a type II sportsmen coat of arms, different to the earlier, similar sportsmen coat of arms) and comparing it to a ball-shape card from circa 1920, , for Dudley Hill, when the Baines family rediscovered the design and reprinted it en masse.

1885 heart-shape advertising for Pears Soap, baby back, no reg.#, no address just Baines Litho Manningham. Such cards were used until as late as 1891, with various backs including the "Mr Lewis, trainer of Wolves" back 1890-91 .

1885 small shield, advertising Good Morning Pears Soap back, no reg.#, no address just Baines Litho Manningham. Such cards were used into the early 1890's with later addresses and various backs.

1885 medium shield, advertising Good Morning Pears Soap back, no reg.#, no address just Baines Litho Manningham. Such cards were used into the 1890's with later addresses and various types of backs.

1885/6 (most likely early 1886)small shield, no reg.#, "Cup Ties" back, yearly competition ends "April 9th, 1887", 68 Carlisle Road.
1885/6 (most likely early 1886) medium shield, no reg.#, "Cup Ties" back, yearly competition ends April 1887, 68 Carlisle
1886 heart-shaped card,, no reg.#, "Cup Ties" back, yearly competition ends April 1887, 68 Carlisle

1886 club-triangle, reg. #80607, 68 Carlisle

1886 medium shield, reg. #80607, 72 Carlisle. Such cards were used into the early 1890's with later addresses and various backs.

1886 heart, reg. #80607, 72 Carlisle. Such cards were used into the early 1890's with later addresses and various backs.

1886 small shield, reg. #80607, 72 Carlisle. Such cards were used into the early 1890's with later addresses and various backs.

NOTE the 68 Carlisle Road address remained a Baines property into 1887, and maybe later (Bradford newspapers of 1887 show it as a Baines correspondence address) even though it was replaced on cards with 72 and then with 65 & 72 together

1887 1st series fan-shaped card, small lion & unicorn, £100 a year prizes, 'cricket & football', reg. #80607, 72 Carlisle.

1887 1st series fan-shaped card, medium half-lion, half-unicorn, 'football cards' reg. #80607, 72 Carlisle.

1887 largest shield, upturned corners, advertising Good Morning Pears Soap back, no address, Baines Litho Manningham. uch cards were used into the late 1890's with later addresses and various backs.

Images below : typical 1st, 2nd & 3rd type backs for the 1887-1888 fan-shaped cards. Baines' second patent number, 13173, was obtained in late 1887 and it dates later-type fan-shaped cards absolutely. See also advertisement variations, below

1887-88 2nd series fan-shaped card, large full lion & unicorn, protected patent no.#13173, 'football cards', reg. #80607, 72 Carlisle.

1887-88 club-triangle reg.#80607, and with both 68 & 72 Carlisle double-address card

Images below: Pears Soap ("Good Morning" variation) and Halstead's Ointment (non-Lewis variety) from 1887-1888.

1887 medium shield, reg. #80607, 72 Carlisle. Such cards were used into the 1890's with later addresses and various backs, the last known usage being in 1899 for a series of cricket cards featuring Rhodes of Yorskhire and W G Grace of 'Gloster'; some bearing recently tooled Gold Medal backs.

1887 Large-size shields, various backs, used into the 1890's.

1887 Extra-large-size shields, various backs, used into the 1890's.

In 1890, Baines issued rectangular cards with golden borders, each showing four international rugby players, some of which also featured the Queen. These cards bear the joint 65 & 72 Carlisle Road addresses. They date from the time of the Baines horse-drawn carriage of cards, which bore the very same address. These cards were once thought, by some people, to date from 1887, a year of great celebrations for the Queen's 50th Jubilee, for half a century on the throne of England, yet they are in fact from 1890. The cards were made to commemorate England's return to the Home Nations tournament, in 1890. They are dated to 1890 because they feature players playing their first caps in 1890, such as Piercy Henderson Morrison and Jim Valentine. In the same series, the Scotland card features Bill MacLagan, Don Wauchope, Charles Reid and T.W. Irvine. Some of them were not selected to play in 1890 but they had been regular choices for Scotland during the previous years. The fact that Valentine and Morrison appear on the England card absolutely dates it to 1890, at the earliest.

The use of 72 Carlisle Road has been seen on cards made since late 1886, and appears on cards made until 1888. Cards bearing 65 & 72  Carlisle Road, together, date to as late as 1890, and may have been used until 1891.

On larger, rugby rectangular cards Baines decorated himself with the title,  the 'Football Card King'.

Advertising cards issued with just "(J.) Baines Litho, Manningham" were issued throughout the 1880's, alongside fully addressed cards. Adverts for Pears Soap, Halstead's Ointment and other wares have been seen on extra-large-size shield cards, on large-size shield cards, on medium-sized shield cards and also on the smallest shields; as well as on the other shapes issued, from heart-shaped cards to fan-shaped cards.

Defunct by the end of the 1880's were these shapes:
-club-&-triangle-shaped cards
-octagonal cards
-cricket ball cards with the 'cricket-ball-design reg. #71204' back
-fan-shaped cards
-handheld-rugger-ball-shaped cards 

Defunct during the early 1890's were these shapes:
-rectangular cards
- heart-shaped cards:

Extra-large shield-shaped cards became defunct by the end of the 1890s. 

Oval-shaped cards (i.e. oval, not rugby ball shape) cards appeared, albeit briefly, in the 1890s but from the late 1890's onwards only the large-size shields were produced, becoming the generic Baines shape for two decades to come.

Image below : typical shield shapes from the turn of the 1880's-1890's and early-mid 1890's

Images below : a pair of typical mid-1890's cards, note the pair of addresses on each card. Most 1891-1895 cards used this dual address but some are known with simply "North Parade", and no shop number at all! For an example, see the Gregor MacGregor Middlesex crickets cards, from c.1895.

N.B. the image dates below, in yellow, are 1 or 2 years too early. The image was made before the latest research put these cards as realistically being 1895 and 1896.

The 4 cards' backs seen below : 3 are typical 1890s types and 1 is a trick, a regular trip for collectors! It's a much later card which often confuses collectors because it bears an 1897 patent number! The others, including the extra-large shield, are typical of the late 1890's. This is a very small sample of the backs used by Baines in this period. Cards bearing patent number 197161 are no earlier than 1897 - the year when Baines first applied that number to his cards - and they were used until two decades later (Note the Charlie Roberts FA Cup 1909-1910 Man Utd card, it has such a back side, patent number and 15 North Parade).  The later incarnation of the firm, known as Baines Ltd., from the end of 1909 onwards, and its concurrent post-Edwardian 'rival', named simply 'Baines', both used this patent number, even decades after its issue. Another trap collectors fall into is the "gold medals" trap. The Gold medals were won in the mid 1890's but there is a debate, partly fuelled by lousy wikipedia data which is wrong, about when they were first used on the backs of Baines cards. Most gold medal cards seen are certainly from long after 1895. For example, "Baines Ltd". cards from 1909 used such backs, as did "Baines" cards from 1910, well into the 1920's! The Glasgow Rangers McCreadie card has misled some into thinking the back was in use from 1894 because this player "stopped" playing in that year. Believe wikipedia at your peril! That datum is very much wrong The gold medal backs came into use, it seems, by around 1898 but most examples found date assuredly to after 1900. A noted 1899 example is the W G Grace for 'Gloster' re-tooled shield-shape card issued alongside Rhodes of Yorskshire, et al, for the 1899 cricket season and Test series against Australia.

Image below : typical backs of Baines cards from the mid 1890's before obtaining the patent number 197161 in 1897.

Image below : typical backs of Baines cards from the later 1890's and 1900's with the patent number 197161 obtained in 1897.

Images below : a pair of 1890's types, an example of how to differentiate. Remember, various shield-shaped cards were used simultaneously until the late 1890's, it's the address, patents and player/team combinations that'll be most useful in dating cards

Images below : typical Baines cards designs & backs from the 1900's

Following the death of John Baines Sr., in December 1908, cards would continue to be made in the typical large shield of the late-Victorian and Edwardian years. Both wings of the family, two distinct businesses, made such cards from 1909 until around the middle of World War One when both firms switched to narrow-shaped shields and ball-shaped cards: cricket, golf and rugger as well as soccer balls.

Pictures below: Bradford City players used to help date the very similar cards. The one card is easier to date than the other, being "Ltd" it must be 1909 or later. It is. Harry Mart Maskrey, the goalie, joined Bradford City in 1909 and stayed at the club until 1911, so the card is dated to 1909-1911. The smaller card, which is only smaller because someone hand-cut Maskrey from a printer's proof sheet, of Johnny McMillan looks very similar in design. Yet, the is no "Ltd". As it's North Parade without "Ltd" it's before 1909. Looking at McMillan's career we see he was at the club from summer 1903 until 1906. The card  is probably from 1904, when he was celebrated as top scorer. Note how 200 free jerseys per week in 1904 had been reduced to only 50 per week in 1909, suggesting less cards were in ciculation and harder times at Baines.

Images below : J. Baines backs, two samples of many known, from before and after the 1909 family schism, after which J.Baines Ltd was formed, a private company limited by shares, which remained at North Parade; from where the J.Baines family firm (not a private company limited by shares) changed address to Oak Lane. 

Images below : J.Baines Ltd. (not J.Baines) cards, North Parade, Bradford address, from c.1909 to c.1916. A very small selection of types and backs. There were many more types of these Baines Ltd cards & different backs made!

Note: after 1908, the "J.Baines" part of the family made cards in the same style as those shown above, made by "J.Baines Ltd.".

During the years from the middle of World War One onward both wings of the family changed designs to more contemporary, narrower shields and ball shapes. Wider shields would eventually be reintroduced in the early 1920s.

Images below : J.Baines (not J.Baines Ltd) cards, Oak Lane, Bradford address, from c.1916 to 1923, most are dated by letters received and printed on the backs of the cards

Images below : J.Baines Ltd. (not J.Baines) cards, George Yard, Barnsley address, from c.1916 to c.1925. Note: the shields were issued between 1922-1925; the ball-shaped cards came earlier but were issued until c.1925, e.g. Frank Roberts of Manchester City, 1st Division golden boot in 1924-25. Ball-shape cards also came in thicker cardstock, like some of the shields but thin paper is the commoner material you'll most likely find them in.

Image below : the backs which bear the 48 Nelson Road, Gillingham, Kent address are the last known cards made by the family firm J.Baines (not the "J.Baines Ltd" company, by this time based in Barnsley) and these are some of the rarest though least attractive Baines cards made, circa 1922-1925.

By 1926 neither side of the Baines family was in cards production and 45-years of shaped, fancy sports cards came to an end. The very first sports cards in the world, the first packets of sports cards and the first collecting era of sports cards was over but, in 1926, Boys' Magazine celebrated the history of the firm by making its own shield-shaped cards in memoriam to Baines. Later in the 1920's other firms also joined the celebration of Baines and until the very early 1930's shield-shaped cards were made by producers across the British Isles in homage to the much-missed makers of the earliest sports cards. 

My History.

I have been working on this timeline for Baines cards since the mid-1990's, a decade when I created, published and edited 'Football Card Collector Magazine', a quarterly journal which was printed and distributed in Great Britain. I published 12 issues before passing on the rights in 2000. After that point, under a new editor and owner, it stopped researching Baines cards but I carried on collecting and studying them until I had amassed almost 5,000 different types. At a given point, due to moving abroad and changing lifestyle completely, I agreed to part with them and a vendor in London took them from me and donated 500 of the best cards from my former collection to the National Football Museum, in England. During the past 20+ years this small part of my former collection has been on display in  Preston and Manchester, at the aforementioned national soccer-history museum, and in London, at the Design Museum.

These days, Baines cards are widely collected by people all around the globe. It was not so in the 1990's. Since then, I have regretted letting go of my cards and have spent the last 20+ years trying to collect more but, these days collecting Baines and similar Victorian and Edwardian trading cards is much more difficult than it was in 1995 and, so far, after 20 years collecting I have only acquired a few hundred Baines cards.

Thanks again to the great-great grandson of John Baines Sr., to Mr. Crick, for giving me information from his family's records. The details he shared with me helped me to write this page and to complete the timeline.

Eternal thanks to him and to Bill Duerden and kindest wishes to all collectors of these wonderful cards from me, Carl Wilkes.

We would like to buy your Baines cards, and Briggs and Sharpe cards of soccer, rugger, golf, cricket and other sports. All collections, whether huge or modest, considered. If you have cards with 65 & 72 Carlisle Road, or 15 North Parade, or 32 Oak Lane; or cards issued under the Pears Soap moniker; by Briggs of 8 Somerby Street Leeds, Alf Cooke of Leeds, W N Sharpe of Bradford, also in Manningham; cards from George Yard Barnsley or Gillingham. Loose cards or cards in scrapbooks / albums we'll also buy them - cash.

Top prices are paid by us because we are a collective of collectors, so we can afford to pay you more.