[Joe_G.]

Thanks for chiming in Kevin. Not expecting a lot of responses since only a couple of us have likely taken an interest in these inserts, but hoping for more.

The albums themselves deserve a little more love. In each and every case the albums celebrated a card set issued by Goodwin & Co. This leads me to believe that there could be many different versions of the slips/certificates/tickets/coupons as they were likely included in all the different packs that distributed each card set. There may be dedicated ticket design for each album (similar to the BASE BALL album ticket I posted). For example, a Flower certificate may have been in the packs that distributed N164s, a Sports and Games certificate in packs that distributed N165s, etc. The certificate variation I posted above provides insight into when each album became available. Here they are, listed in the order found on the certificate:

Champions (A36, based on N162) => 50 certificates in 1889, first issued on or before 1889
Flower (A37, based on N164) => 50 certificates in 1889, first issued on or before 1889
Sports and Games (A38, based on N165) => 75 certificates in 1889, available Aug. 15th 1889
Base Ball (A35 Round Album, features color lithographs of N172 poses) => 75 certificates in 1889, available July 15th, 1889

I find the Champions album, as an 1889 offering, to be interesting since it is based on the 1888 N162 cards with the likeness of all 50 N162 cards found within. There were some player movements between 1888 and 1889, Brouthers from Detroit to Boston and Andrews with a mid-season move from Philly to Indy. Perhaps they had a surplus of the 1888 albums and continued to offer them into 1889 or simply kept printing what they felt was a beautiful album without updates at a lower certificate requirement (50) than the newly issued albums (75). I wonder if N162 production, likewise, continued into 1889?

The Base Ball Album (A35 Round Album) was a popular album back then and today. It is easy to understand why it is far more common than the Sports and Games Album which was based on their generic N165 set. I’ve attached some random pictures of each album (while I own all the certificates I posted, I do not own the albums).