What eBay Hath Wrought 90: 1938 Gallaher Dogs 2nd Series

It seems that a few bloggers, me included, have got dogs on the brain lately. I recently picked up a set of tobacco cards on eBay for about the price of a discounted blaster box. It shipped all the way from England and was printed in 1938. I don't claim to know a lot about old tobacco cards from England, but given that this is the second series I am assuming there is a first series. I may have been a detective in my past life. Anyway, there are 48 cards in the set. The first two, pictured above, are in vertical format while all the rest are horizontal. The cards are nice and colorful, without a lot of ornamentation.

The backs of the cards are similarly businesslike, with a paragraph describing the history and characteristics of the breed that is pictured on the front. Also on the back are the series name, the series number, the card number, and the name of the tobacco company, Gallaher Ltd.

Outside of Labrador Retrievers, my favorite dogs are the hounds, which are smelly, noisy creatures. It is fun to see many of the other breeds out there, though, even if I don't much care for the small fluffy dogs.

Speaking of tobacco cards, I went out in search of 2014 Allen & Ginter this evening. The stuff doesn't even release for a few days, but I was hoping that a local shelf stocker had got excited and put some out early. No such luck, so I had to settle for a discounted rack pack of last year's Allen & Ginter (the highlight was a Bryce Harper mini), a rack pack of 2014 Heritage (I got an SP I needed), and a value pack of 2014 WWE Chrome (I got some sweaty-looking wrasslers). Okay, I didn't have to settle on anything, but that's the stuff I picked out.

I do like the St. Bernard as a breed, but they are a bit large even for me. And about the only smaller dog I can stand is the Schnauzer. I like their grumpy little bearded faces. And their fur is so soft! Before I went to the store I watched the early part of the Astros-Rangers game, and it was nice to see the Astros batting around a bit early on. Granted, they weren't going up against a top-end pitcher, but a win is a win. Jose Altuve also broke the Astros record for hits prior to the All-Star break, so that was pretty cool.

After I got back from the store I had to work out, which is something I loathe. I've got a physical fitness test and weigh-in for the Army this weekend, though, so it's a necessary evil in my life. My push-ups and sit-ups weren't all that good today, but I had the fastest run I've had since I was in my 20s, so there was some good and some bad. My weight is almost where it needs to be to avoid the secondary weight test, which is a tape measure thing that I would have a hard time passing because of my skinny neck.

And finally in this group, we get to the breed of the two dogs that have been mine during my adulthood, the Basset Hound. The Basset Hound has very few redeeming qualities, being a noisy, smelly, and in my current dog's case, a food thief. They do have very soft fur, though, and a variety of physical features that make them irresistibly cute, like short legs on a regular-sized body, big floppy ears and loose skin, sad eyes, and a paintbrush tail with a very lazy wag to it. I can't help liking these dogs, and I am glad this set includes one.

And that does it for this set. It's not quite as old as the chicken cards from Allen & Ginter that I've been featuring lately, but it is fairly old, predating the 2nd World War and well worth the price of a few packs of modern cards.