The N224 Kinney Military set is the largest 19th century chromolithographed set from any of the large manufacturers of tobacco cards. The set numbers 622 different subjects, and, while the cards are easy to find, there are no known complete sets of the cards. To make it over 600 cards is the first big achievement in collecting this set. Each card above 600 becomes much more difficult until you reach the last 10-12 cards which rarely, if ever, come up for sale.

The cards were issued in thirteen series, most of which had 50 cards. Little is known about how they were marketed or how the series were issued and distributed. Some of the series are prohibitively tougher than others--particularly cards from series J and F. Series K and I cards are also more difficult. There are back variations to the cards for the completist and there are background variations for a number of the cards.

The state crests and decorations typically bring stronger prices although most of them aren't any more difficult than some of the regular cards. The three Vatican cards are more difficult and are always in demand. And finally the tougher NGSNY (New York) and England cards are among some of the toughest cards to obtain.

Advanced collectors track the cards in this set very diligently. Known groupings include sets of 621, 620, 618, 611, 611 and 608. The 621/622 set belonged to Sir Wharton-Tigar and now resides in a museum in the UK. That collection is missing only the Huzzar of France which is present in 2-3 of the other collections listed.

This near set totals 502 of 622 cards and includes (19) duplicates. When it comes to the technical grading of this near set, approximately 40% of the cards grade in a VG to EX range without regard to any pencil writing on the back. The remainder of the cards are pretty evenly split between Poor, Fair and Good grades with back damage, pen writing and light to heavy creasing moving cards into those groups. This is a pretty representative near set of these cards condition-wise and offers the winning bidder a chance to build on the set and upgrade the lower condition cards. All card fronts have been scanned and are presented here for verification. The cards are in numerical order to the checklist and have empty spaces where cards are needed.