Old Baseball Cards Photographs - Hassan Triple Folders (T202) Series - Super High Resolution DVD
	This DVD contains over 450+ rare and priceless baseball cards issued by the Hassan Cigarette Company in 1909 and are a treasure trove of baseball history that no baseball fan can afford to overlook.

These scans of authentic original cards are invaluable collectors items, as they represent a portion of the cards that have survived the passage of time and careless handling by amateur collectors. Although time and tide have left indelible scars on some of the cards, most are in top condition. The provision to zoom in and out allows for a detailed examination of these vintage masterpieces. Besides, each image is fully printable and thus offers a fabulous opportunity to vintage card collectors to build an album or frame posters of their favorite baseball legends from the past.

The original Hassan Triple Cards, codenamed T202 - Triple Folds, measure 5-1/2" by 2-1/4" and carry the concept of multiple-player cards even further than the previously issued Mecca set. The two end cards, which are full-color and very close to exact duplicates of T205 "Gold Borders", fold over the black and white center panel, making the Hassan Triple Folder appear like a booklet when closed. The two end cards are individual player cards, while the larger center panel contains a black and white action scene. The unique Hassan Triple Folders feature player biographies on the back of the two individual cards with a description of the action on the back of the center panel.

As baseball grew in stature in the middle of the 19th century, it wasn’t only sports lovers who were drawn to it. Innovative traders sensed in baseball’s popularity a unique opportunity to promote their products. Among these were sports goods manufacturers and oddly, Tobacco companies. In the late 1860's Peck and Snyder a sporting good company, came up with the ingenious idea of printing baseball cards and using them as advertisements for their products. These cards, which featured the picture of a baseball team on one side and an advertisement on the other, became an instant success. These were the first modern baseball cards and were called "trade cards." Cigarette manufacturers, who were constantly on the lookout for new promotional strategies, quickly followed suit.

The 1880s witnessed a boom in the use of creatively designed baseball cards, which were distributed nationwide. This era produced many eye-catching cards, which are still popular among collectors. By the late 1890's, however, many tobacco companies merged to form the American Tobacco Company. This marked the end of a very competitive era in the history of tobacco marketing and the lack of serious competition convinced several companies that insert cards were not necessary as a promotional tool. From this time to early in the 20th Century, relatively few baseball cards were made.

Among the companies that continued to use cards as a promotional tool was the Hassan Cigarette Company which issued a series of brilliant color lithographs that were unique in design if not their content. Popularly known as the Hassan Triples, these cards, as the name suggests, contained three sections. The centerpiece contained black and white image of an action from one of the games, while the sections on either side carried colored posters of two baseball superstars.

A2ZCDS.com has done well to preserve 450+ classic vintage baseball cards issued by the Hassan Cigarette Company in 1909.

Sample thumbnails taken from the collection. Click on image to view larger picture.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:

It is difficult to find a better example of synergistic growth than that of baseball and tobacco companies from the late 19th century. While both baseball and tobacco enjoyed a steady following before the 1870s, their popularity skyrocketed when tobacco manufacturers decided to piggyback on the lure of baseball to boost their sales. This they did by including posters of the most admired baseball players in cigarette packets. This was not only a daring, but also an ingenious and highly successful strategy, and one in which both baseball and tobacco emerged winners.

The credit for this stroke of wizardry undoubtedly goes to James B. Duke, who initiated the use of baseball cards in the 1870s. This enterprising businessman revealed his marketing genius with the creation of a whole new way of advertising tobacco and cigarettes. Instead of inserting a plain piece of cardboard to lend strength to the cigarette cases, Duke printed pictures and other baseball trivia on them.

What Duke probably did not realize, was that he had also made a significant contribution to the preservation of baseball history and for this baseball devotees owe him and others such as the Hassan Cigarette Company a huge debt. Had it not been for these invaluable records, the history of baseball would have been that much poorer and the achievements of several legends been lost to the world forever.

A2ZCDS has done a marvelous job of preserving over 450+ of the best surviving Hassan Triple Cards, giving baseball fans a great reason for rejoicing.

CUSTOMER'S REVIEWS:

"I am a die-hard baseball fan and an enthusiastic collector of baseball memorabilia and was thrilled to find color images of more than 450 baseball legends on this DVD. Many of these posters are rare and very difficult to locate. Thanks A2ZCDs.com for his treasure-trove of baseball collectibles."

Customer's Name: Bob Henderson (Miami, Florida)