Baseball cards evolved from advertising cards in tobacco and other products. Here are some cards that honor Abraham Lincoln from Gridley dairy products.
Gridley: F130 Heroes of History (1920s)
Gridley Dairy, based in Wisconsin, issued the Gridley Butter F130 Heroes of History 48-card set in the 1920s. The cards featured a historical person on the front and an ad for various dairy products on the back. Many of the cards fronts were similar to the T68 Men of History set (the biographical information on the back being replaced by the Gridley ad).
The cards were free with every pound of butter purchased, and you could also get a free album to paste them into. (See the SGC Card Registry for more information, including a link to a very cool ad for the series in the Milwaukee Sentinel in 1928.)
In February 2013, bidding on a complete set of 48 F130 cards plus two albums (one containing another 47 F130 cards) ended at $1,912 (including buyer's premium) at Legendary Auctions.
Number 35 is the Abraham Lincoln card. (General Robert E. Lee is 36 and General Grant is 37.) The cards are hard to come by in good condition because they were printed on thin paper similar to today's construction paper. The backs are frequently damaged because of pasting into the free album.
eBay seller probstein123
(who is actively accepting consignments) listed this F130 #35 Abraham Lincoln
card with a PSA grade of 8 in early August 2013, with a starting bid of $895.
