What are the top ten most popular sets - cigarette cards and trade cards?

[loose cannon]

Which do you think are the most popular, most desirable, best sets ever produced in the categories 'cigarette cards' and 'trade cards'?

Nominate as many sets as you like and then perhaps we could have a vote to determine the top ten hit parade of cartophily...

[Captain Pugwash]

I will kick the trade section off.

The most popular:  A&BC Gum  Civil War News

Best Produced:  Cadbury's  British Birds & Eggs

[Gum man]

no contest for me....

John Sinclair set of British Sea Dogs   --  great design, good use of colour and a extremely informative set

Typhoo Tea set of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men is a close second  -- different type of card size wise and design.

Took me years to complete to a excellent condition -- but worth the time looking.

[fossil]

to me, its the plain old brooke bond tea sets, british wildlife, and bird portraits.
amongst all of my sets, these are the two sets that transport me to my childhood days, and my lifetime career, working in the field of natural history

[lachlan]

For me, it's generally some of the pre-WW1 sets. The very first cards i was given were from Wills 1908 Time & Money set, and their appeal as well as others of that era has just stuck with me.The use of thicker card, the colour-printing techniques, the subject-matter. Can't beat them.

[morph]

Hello and good question. Here are my faourite 10 sets.
1. Billiard terms by Salmon and Gluckstein  2. Taddy VC Heroes 21-40 3. Huntley and Palmers Travelling in 20th C 4. War Pictures by Home & Colonial (40 set) 5. Maynards football clubs 6. Wills locomotives 1901 7. Maynards European War series 8. CWS British Sports series 9. Faulkner Golf terms 10. Murray War Series K.
Some of the nicest cards in my opinion - anyone agree?

[bri.d]

for me players animals of the countryside very nice set and gallaher british birds by george rankin

[fossil]

i must admit, that i too, find players animals of the countryside, very high in my list of favourite sets, it is almost, to me, comparable to the brooke bond british wildlife set

[bri.d]

did you get a reply of walter pgtips

[fossil]

sorry, i forgot to mention, i did receive a reply.
he said that a few sets were printed, ( i assume he referred to the collective nouns of birds), he wasn't too clear on any other questions i asked him.
he said he took much of his material from the ;pulp' bin, , the scrap material that printers use before the initial print process begins, to ensure that the print run is running perfect

[bri.d]

he was very friendly with andrew waterhouse and bought a very big part of is collection
when he sold it

[Sam Salt]

I would nominate Players Ships figureheads of 1912 as one of the nicest sets of all time. Just my personal taste.