Marcus & Co Footballers & Club Colours

An unnumbered card from Marcus & Co's Footballers & Club Colours. This is regarded as being the very first set of football themed cards ever published, believed to date from around 1896. Their age makes them extremely rare and expensive to obtain, and there are only 25 known different cards. There are two versions of the Forest card, and images of all known cards can be seen on Alan Jenkins's football card website. Marcus & Co was a cigarette manufacturer based in Manchester.