If you can provide scans of other N283's, please contact me!
This unique collection of 200 "offenders" - murderers, confidence men, poisoners, pickpockets, etc. - is probably the most interesting of all 19th century non-sport sets. A short biography of each criminal's activity is displayed opposite a detailed lithographic portrait. The fragile cards are printed on a thin stock that was folded over in the packaging. Because they were redeemable for prizes, these cards are now extremely scarce, with no more than 2 or 3 showing up each year on eBay. The second most expensive prize of four was a full album showing the 200 criminals as well as 10 police "Defenders", likely the first ever mug shot book. The book regularly exceeds $1000 when auctioned.
The pictures below show the 2 different N283 backs (one with a list of prizes, one without), 8 N283 'offenders' cards and several pages from an A70 album. The police portraits in the book are some of the same ones used in the N288 Police & Fire Chiefs set. Both sets were issued by Buchner.
