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.

The condition of most any lot or near set of N224 cards can, at best, be described as a 'mixed bag'. This near set is no exception. Old time hobbyists frequently wrote the card number from the known checklist on the back of the card and a number of these cards have that number written primarily in pencil but a few in pen. Approximately 5-10% of the cards also suffer from some amount of paper loss which is entirely common for a grouping this large. A similar number suffer from some type of creasing from just a small crease to moderate creasing. This lot of (257) cards features only a very light amount of duplication throughout and the overall condition is decent for the most part. All card fronts have been scanned.