Things To Know About The Murad Basketball Cards
The Murad Cigarettes College Series is a 150-card set. It was released in 6 series of 25 cards each. The first two series included two editions, with the second edition having slight modifications. Williams College was in the 1st series of 25 (in two variations) and has two editions. Northwestern University was in the 2nd series and also has two editions. Luther College was in the 5th series, and Xavier College was in the last series.
The vibrant chromolithograph set features various universities and colleges and a multitude of sports, including 4 basketball cards (with variations and second editions the total in the set is 7). The small 2″ x 2 5/8" cigarette cards are known by the description T51. The set was produced by S. Anargyros Tobacco Company and inserted in its Murad Turkish Cigarettes packs between 1909-1912. Apparently it realized that college campuses were smart place to acquire new and young customers, and this set played on collegiate pride. In 2008, Topps paid homage to the 1909-1911 Murad T51 set by releasing a replica set with NBA superstars of the then-present time.
Many of the cards have a black Packer's stamp on the pack. These were added for quality control and denoted the number of the packer who approved the card for distribution. If you see a card without a packer stamp, I would give it a good look to make sure it was not rubbed off. Also, PSA will sometimes grade the card with a MK qualifier. You can try and dispute it in such a case as the packing stamp was placed on the card by the manufacturer.
The Williams College card 1st edition is the scarcest one in the set and it comes in two varieties: One variety has the number 14 in the lower right corner of the inside of the frame and the other does not (i.e., no nothing on front or "NOF"). The former is MUCH scarcer.
Interestingly, back in the day, collectors could obtain an oversized version of the Williams College card and 24 other oversized cards (known as a T6 or "cabinet card") by sending in 15 coupons. The T6 Williams card is 5" x 8" and looks similar to the Williams 1st Edition (NOF) with the big difference being that the two have discrete border artwork. The Williams cabinet card comes in two variations.
For PSA set registry collector's, you should know that PSA treats these cards as two sets: 1909 Murad and 1910 Murad. Further, PSA has not properly assign all of the cards to the correct year.
As of June 30, 2024, combining the 1909 and 1910 pop reports, the total pops in the PSA registry are as follows:
Luther - 43
Northwestern - 47
Northwestern 2d - 28
Williams 1st - 24 (No 14 and NOF combined)
Williams 2nd - 38
Xavier - 35
The breakdown of these pop reports by year assigned by PSA is as follows:
Luther 43 - 1909
Northwestern 47 -1909
Northwestern 2d 3 -1909*
Northwestern 2d 25 - 1910
Williams 1st 5 (#14) -1909
Williams 1st NOF 20 -1909
Williams 2nd 38 -1910
Xavier 31 - 1909*
Xavier 4 - 1910
*Arguably should be part of PSA's 1910 Murad set population.
