Today we feature two non-sports cards that are more than 100 years old and also one of the most personal cards I own in my non-sports collection. These two photo cards showing the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens, Greece come from the 1911 American Tobacco Sights & Scenes of the World. The gold border is reminiscent of the famous T205 baseball set, also issued by American Tobacco.
As you can see on the reverse, there are actually two tobacco advertisements on the back which were both American Tobacco brands. The product name "Royal Bengals Little Cigars" gives you a pretty good idea as to what you would be getting when purchasing it but "Pan Handle Scrap" might confuse you a little.
"Scrap" was a term used for chewing tobacco as I imagine it was of a lower quality than the tobacco used for cigarettes and cigars. Here's an example of the Pan Handle Scrap packaging I found on eBay and you can see it was literally a paper bag of chewing tobacco with a card inside.
I picked up these two cards specifically because of the sentimental value the Acropolis has as I went on my honeymoon there during the spring of 2013. My wife and I visited Athens and then a few of the islands in the Aegean Sea.
We stayed in an apartment in Athens within walking distance of the Acropolis and it was amazing as we walked along a street market and all of sudden there it was.
You might notice the cranes from the previous picture and the Parthenon was undergoing some stabilization and repair (as much repair as you can to ruins I guess) and it certainly gave us a unique experience while visiting the site.
Here's a closer look at the repairs being done along one of the set of columns.
The Parthenon also was the setting for one of the favorite photos I took during the trip. Here is what I call "The Parthenon Cat" enjoying some sun at one of the most sacred places in the world.
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