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🌍 Forgotten Icons: The Murai & London Caramel “Old Planter” Cards
In the world of rare tobacco, cigarette, and non-sport trade cards, collectors chase scarcity, history, and visual storytelling. But once in a while, a card surfaces that checks all three boxes — and almost no one has seen it before.
Today, we’re diving into two of the rarest known “Old Planter” cards ever produced, issued not from the United States Allen & Ginter N33 set, but from Japan and the Netherlands — making them global treasures of pre-war ephemera.
🃏 Murai Bros. “Old Planter” — A Japanese Tobacco Rarity
Issued between 1895–1900, this Japanese trade card is part of a near-forgotten tobacco insert series by Murai Bros. & Co., one of Japan’s earliest cigarette producers.
What makes it special:
It portrays the iconic “Old Planter”, visually tied to the American colonial image of the wealthy tobacco grower.
The artwork clearly draws influence from the 1888 Allen & Ginter “Old Planter”, connecting American branding to Japan’s emerging tobacco industry.
This card is virtually unseen — fewer than 10 are believed to exist, and only one PSA-graded copy is confirmed worldwide (a clean PSA 4, held by the current owner).
No known eBay sales, no routine auctions — this is museum-level scarcity hiding in plain sight.
🍬 London Caramel “Oude Amer. Planter” — Dutch Trade Card Mystery
Sometime between 1905–1910, in Breda, Netherlands, the London Caramel-Works Ltd. issued a promotional card as part of a massive caramel giveaway campaign. But despite the scale of the promotion, almost no surviving examples exist.
This Dutch-language card features:
The “Oude Amer. Planter” — or “Old American Planter” — depicted in rich lithography, pipe in hand.
Back text promising prizes for consumers who completed the now-lost 120-card album.
Likely very few (10-20?) copies surviving globally, with none known graded by PSA or SGC
🧑🌾 Why These Cards Matter
These are not mass-produced parallels. They’re not speculative rookie flips.
They’re tangible artifacts from an era when:
Tobacco fueled global trade
Caramel companies incentivized collecting
American imagery traveled the world, reinterpreted in Japanese and Dutch culture
For advanced collectors, they represent:
Cross-cultural tobacco history
Non-sport ephemera nearly lost to time
A chance to own cards so rare, they’ve barely been documented, let alone traded
💡Final Take: Unicorn Cards in a Crowded Hobby
While today’s market is flooded with modern “1 of 1” cards, these Planter pieces offer true scarcity — where pop reports don’t exist, and ownership means holding a likely one-of-a-kind survivor.
As global interest in pre-war non-sport and obscure tobacco cards grows, cards like these could become cornerstones of serious collections or even public exhibits.
To the right collector, history — not hype — drives value. 📈
🃏 Murai Bros. “Old Planter” Tobacco Card (Japan, 1895–1900)
Estimated Produced:
🔸 500–1,500 copies (Likely issued regionally in limited tobacco packs, not a nationwide release)
Estimated Surviving Today:
🔸 Fewer than 10 known worldwide?
🧨 Why So Few Survive:
Disposable nature: Meant as a tobacco pack insert, often discarded
Pre-WWII Japan: Paper materials were lost to war, fires, and natural decay
Zero U.S. exposure: These cards were never exported or cataloged in early American non-sport guides
No collecting ecosystem in Japan for early tobacco ephemera until recent decades
🍬London Caramel “Oude Amer. Planter” Card (Netherlands, c. 1905–1910)
Estimated Produced:
🔸 200–500 copies (Part of a promotional campaign tied to a 120-card prize album, likely never completed by most consumers)
Estimated Surviving Today:
🔸 10–20 globally?
🔸 No known graded examples
🧨 Why So Few Survive:
Regional caramel promo: Distributed only in the Netherlands by a local confectionery company
Lack of preservation culture: European caramel/promo cards were rarely collected or protected
No collector documentation: This set isn’t cataloged by PSA, SGC, ACC, or mainstream European card registries
Prone to damage: Thin stock, chocolate/caramel residue, and child handling likely ruined most on contact
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