Monday 16 January 2012

Manchester City Postcards early 20th century




Postcards from around 1902-03,  published by Valentines.  This is when City played at their Hyde Road ground. These postcards have recently been on ebay with a starting price of £95 each!

Manchester City Baines Card




J. Baines Ltd of Bradford began producing collectors cards in 1887. Rugby, Football, Golf and Cricket were all featured. Millions were produced with even the most obscure teams being represented. Sold in packets of six, the cards were avidly collected. At the height of their popularity, around 1919-20, a staggering 13.5 million cards were sold across Northern England and Scotland. Baines retired when he sold his business to a Barnsley concern in the early 1920s. The cards are now highly collectable.

Bert Jackson played 101 times for Manchester City (1907-11).

Thursday 5 January 2012

Max Woosnam Cigarette Card 1920s



Max Woosnam (6 September 1892 – 14 July 1965) is often called the  'Greatest British sportsman' in recognition of his achievements. In an amazing career he won an Olympic gold and silver at the 1920 Summer Olympics, winning the doubles at Wimbledon, making a century at Lord's Cricket Ground, captaining the British Davis Cup team, captaining Manchester City and ultimately finishing runners-up in the Football League Championship of 1920-21 and the only amateur ever to captain the England national football team.
Woosnam's life story is told in  the book  'All-Round Genius : The unknown story of Britain's greatest sportsman'  by author Mick Collins.

6 -1 Bloodbath


A wonderful historic day.

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Classic Coffer Badge


A Manchester City badge made by Coffer from the 1970's. I was looking for a history of this firm, but only found this on Google answers......

Coffer Sports did not manufacture badges. They commissioned them from
firms in Birmingham's jewellery quarter and distributed them to
traders across the counntry. I dealt with Coffers from 1972 to the
early 1980s. The last contact I had with them was a conversation with
Malcolm Coffer on Wembley Way before the FA Cup Final of 1985, but by
that time the firm had gone into liquidation. Some of the dies were
sold and used by other people to make badges, usually in soft enamel.

1978 Pennant


This is a classic pennant from around 1978 when I started supporting City.

City v Bolton FA Cup Final 1904



Another railway poster for the 1904 FA Cup final, showing the match in progress between City and Bolton.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

City use Oxo to win the FA Cup!


Another poster from 1904 describing the benefits of Oxo as used by the City team during the season. Billy Meredith is featured again holding the FA Cup, as well as a cup of Oxo. The original poster was in black and white and has been coloured by myself using Photoshop.

Railway poster predicts cup final result!



This is a poster from 1904 which correctly predicted that Billy Meredith would win the cup for City in the FA Cup final against Bolton Wanderers.  I've only ever seen the black and white picture of this poster in the book about Meredith called 'The Welsh Wizard', so this version had to be drawn and coloured using Photoshop.  This is NOT a copy of the original poster, as many people who have 'borrowed' it for their websites (including the official City site!) seem to think, only my version of it!

Ardwick Association Football Club Art Print


A one off print by myself  using Photoshop (and coffee to 'age' the paper!)