The W516 series of baseball cards were produced by the William Fuld Company between 1909 and 1911 and are considered one of the most historically significant non-sports issues of the early 20th century. What sets the W516 cards apart from most other issues of the time period is their portrayal of accomplished individuals from a wide range of fields beyond just baseball and sports.
The William Fuld Company was a German-American tobacco manufacturer based in New York City that produced various candy, gum, and cigarette brands in the early 1900s. In an effort to promote their more premium line of cigarette cards around 1909, Fuld decided to commemorate famous and inspiring people from diverse backgrounds who could serve as role models, rather than just ballplayers. They recruited the preeminent portrait photographer William Kaiser to capture headshots of each subject.
Some of the notable names featured in the initial 1909 W516 set included presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, author Mark Twain, industrialists John D. Rockefeller and Thomas Edison, opera singer Enrico Caruso, and sculptor Auguste Rodin. Each gum or cigarette package contained a single card stock portrait with identifying text on the reverse side. Subjects were chosen to represent major accomplishments in fields like politics, science, business, literature, music, and art.
The first series was a major success and helped raise Fuld’s brand profile, so two additional sets were issued in subsequent years. The 1910 set focused more on renowned inventors, engineers, and innovators such as Orville Wright, George Westinghouse, Guglielmo Marconi, and Alexander Graham Bell. Meanwhile, the 1911 collection highlighted acclaimed performers, entertainers, and athletes beyond just baseball. Figures like boxer John L. Sullivan, actress Lillian Russell, and aviator Glenn Curtiss received commemorative cards.
In total, the three-year W516 run resulted in over 200 unique cards honoring preeminent individuals from around the world. While most sets from the era only featured players on professional baseball teams, this non-sport set treated its subjects more like historic figures. The portraits and backgrounds captured by William Kaiser elevated the cards beyond basic commodities into small works of art. They conveyed a sense of respect and admiration for the achievements of luminaries in multiple domains.
As a promotional novelty embedded in tobacco products, the W516 series was not intended or assessed as a collector’s item. They have survived over a century due to the enduring significance of the human depictions. In the ensuing decades after production ended, the cards transitioned from consumer good to historical artifact. They provide a snapshot of early 20th century ideals and who/what societies deemed worth commemorating at the time.
Today complete runs of the W516 sets from 1909-1911 in high grade are among the most valuable and sought after items in the entire world of pre-war sports and non-sports memorabilia collecting. Individual cards also command top prices according to their subject, condition, and rarity within the sets. A PSA/DNA Gem Mint 10 1909 W516 card of Theodore Roosevelt recently sold at auction for over $100,000, setting a new record. Other well-known names consistently realize five-figure sums.
While the manufacturing purpose and original context of the W516s has come and gone, the portraiture, lineage of important personages, and enduring mystique all combine to keep this non-baseball set in a league of its own amongst early twentieth century tobacco cards. From the scientists and innovators to the artists and leaders depicted, the series perfectly reflects its era and captures immortal likenesses deserving of appreciation across generations. No other product so effectively fused portraiture, history, and collectibles in this timeframe. Thus, the W516 cards stand as one of the crowning cultural artifacts from that period in American life.
The William Fuld Company W516 sets spanning 1909 to 1911 have come to symbolize far more than just a novelty cigarette promotional item due to the iconic portraits, unprecedented subject matter spanning multiple fields, and rarity of this early non-sports collectible issue. Although not a baseball card set per se, the W516 series has grown to represent the absolute pinnacle of pre-war card collecting based on the high worth of complete runs or individual pieces today. No other product so thoroughly captured the zeitgeist of the era or merits the historical prestige associated with the renowned people it featured through the lens of William Kaiser’s talent. That is why the W516 remains unique amongst all early 20th century memorabilia over a century after production ended.