Newsletter - 2021-10-15

Saturday, 9th October 2021

Saturday's card was PRI-25 [trade : UK] Primrose Confectionery Ltd “Football Funnies” (1974) 8/25 - and this set is too late for our most recent Trade Index, which stops at 1970, so the code comes from our vintage version Part Three. This is a set I have not come across much, and I don't think it is particularly funny for the person run through with the arrow. This card has sometimes been said to represent King Harold, but it almost certainly does not. For starters, the text mentions football between Saxon serfs and Norman soldiers taking place less than a hundred years after the battle, and also because, as we all know, King Harold was struck in the eye, with an arrow which reputedly had a note affixed to it that said "To Harold's Eye".

Or do we? For according to modern research there is no proof of any of this, and even the wording on the Bayeux tapestry does not specifically mention which person is King Harold, it just says the words "Hic Harold Rex Interfectus Est" {Here King Harold was killed] above several people, one of whom just happens to have an arrow in his eye, but the King could equally well be the soldier who has slumped forwards on to his horse's withers, or the one falling to the floor at the horse's hooves. And then there is another theory that none of these people are King Harold, for the Latin word "interfectus" does not only mean killed, it also means destroyed or defeated, so perhaps it means simply what happened to his forces or his kingdom through the Battle of Hastings. Lots to mull over there!

Our original British Trade Indexes say that Primrose Confectionery was based in Argyle Avenue and Farnham Road Slough, the change occurring during the issue of "Space Patrol" in 1970, as that set can be found with four different address variants. According to the reverses they started out in Argyle Avenue offering an album for 9d, then Argyle Avenue was removed, then the album price was altered to a shilling but there was no mention of Argyle Avenue, and finally a new address in Farnham Road was added. It says that you can also find a printing of Popeye which misspells the address and reads "Argyll Avenue". However, a quick search of a Slough A-Z shows that actually this is the correct spelling, it is "Argyll" and not "Argyle". Curiouser and curiouser...

Primrose cards were mostly given away with what we used to call sweet cigarettes but are now sanitised and Americanised to candy sticks; they still remain cigarette shape, but sadly no longer have the great fun of having those lipstick red coloured ends to simulate the shimmering glow of an actual cigarette. If you are just starting out as a Primrose collector, do note that their 1961 "Famous Footballers" set was only printed with "F.B.S.1" not their name - and their "Cowboy" cards (1960) had neither name nor initials. Most of their sets are film and TV tie ins - including Amos Burke / Burke's Law, Andy Pandy, Batman (these being tattoos not cards), Bugs Bunny, Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dads Army, Dr.Doolittle, The Flintstones, Joe 90, Laramie, Laurel & Hardy, Popeye, Quick Draw McGraw, Space Patrol, Star Trek, Superman, Tarzan, and Z Cars. In 1968, they also produced a set for the Beatles animated adventure movie "Yellow Submarine", and, according to https://pleasuresofpasttimes.com/popt-shop/the-beatles-yellow-submarine-1968-primrose-confectionery-8-5cm-badges-set-of-4/ badges and mirrors were also available. With my "badge dealer" hat on, I can say that what are known as "button" badges and mirrors are not at all dis-similar, all the maker would do is insert a mirrored surface in the back area, rather than the pin and clip for the badge.

Sunday, 10th October 2021

It was also available in large size as two sets of twelve,and he is number 11 of the first series. Why we included him is that his full name was Cyril James Hastings Tolley. He actually appears on several other golf related cards, including Wills "Famous Golfers" (1930) 21/25, the reverse of which tells us he served in the Tank Corps during the First World War, and was decorated for bravery. Actually he won the Military Cross, at Ypres, and you can read more about that at https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/231775-major-cyril-j-h-tolley-17-company-tank-corps-1917/.

Something that you may not realise is that in the 1920s, he brought a court case against Fry`s Chocolate - see https://yourcaptaininfo.blogspot.com/2018/07/cyril-tolley.html.

During the Second World War, he commanded a company of the Royal Sussex Regiment, and after the war he became a Liberal politician. However it is golf that he is most remembered for. He appears in Millhoff "Famous Golfers" (1928) 9/27, Churchman "Prominent Golfers", a series from caricatures by "Mel" (May 1931 - small size) 40/50, whilst in the large size cards, issued in August 1931, he is 8/12. He also appears in Gallaher Ltd "Champions" second series (1935) 47/48, you can see the front at https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp165548 - modern cards are harder to source, but I know he appears on G.B. Cards and T.W. Cards` "Golfing Greats" (1989) a large sized "commercially sold" set of 20 cards.

Monday, 11th October 2021

This card is described as the Battle Abbey auction sale notice from Fleet Street. We did some digging and found out that the Abbey was built on the very site of the Battle of Hastings, under order from the current Pope, Alexander II, as penance and remembrance of those killed by the Norman invaders on that day and also in the times which followed as they conquered the Country, and that the altar was to be placed directly above the spot where King Harold had died. The Abbey was complete by 1094 and remained a religious building until the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, but instead of destroying this one, gave it to a friend, who still demolished the Church and converted other parts into his country abode.

The first time it was sold was in 1721, by a relative of the first owner. The purchaser was an M.P., Sir Thomas Webster. It remained in his family until.1857, when it was sold to Lord Harry Vane, later Duke of Cleveland. On the death of the Duchess of Cleveland in 1901, the estate was bought back by a relative of the Webster M.P. It remained with them until he died in 1923, and then it was sold, but to the British Government, who turned it over to the care of English Heritage. They in turn allowed it to be used as a school with some kind of association with a Canadian base in the Second World War (Canadian records are very hard to access, unfortunately, as I am trying to access them at the moment - the reason is that a lot of them were destroyed). Strangely it is still being used for educational purposes as it is now Battle Abbey School.

Tuesday, 12th October 2021

In their 1950 catalogue, The London Cigarette Card Company quotes between 5/- and 15/- for odd cards and £37 a set, but does not mention a very important point - that there is more than one back printing. Actually there are fifteen, as follows : Albion Gold Flake Cigarettes, Auld Brig Flake, Cut Golden Bar, Glasgow Mixture Cigarettes, Glasgow Mixture Tobacco, Goodwill Virginia, Kashan Cigarettes, No.1 Mixture, Orchestra Cigarettes, Pinewood Cigarettes, Pinewood Mixture, Squaw Thick Black Tobacco, Studio Cigarettes, Sun Cured Mixture and Wild Geranium Cigarettes.

Wednesday, 13th October 2021

This set was recorded in the first Wills reference book as W/9 and already there were many distinct versions known. The first set, W675-082A was believed to have been issued in 1897/1898, these are "short" cards with backs in either (a) grey or (b) brown. These were followed in 1902 by W675-082B, "long" cards (2mm higher) which include the addition of the date of death of Queen Victoria, and either are (a) a set of 51 cards with "Wills's Cigarettes" at the bottom, or (b) a set of 50 cards with "Wills's" at the top and and "Cigarettes" at the bottom.

This is the first card we feature which mentions the fact that his father was Godwin, which is the root of where we get Harold II`s alternate name of Harold Godwinson (Godwin's Son). Godwin also had a daughter, Edith who was the wife to King Edward the Confessor. Now Godwin was the Earl of Wessex, and very powerful, as well as ruthless. You can read about him and some of his doings at https://www.hampshire-history.com/earl-godwin-of-wessex/. Some say that it was as a result of these things that Harold may even have been killed, with the Battle of Hastings providing a cover...

Thursday, 14th October 2021

This is one of the issuers from which it is more usual to buy complete sets than make ones up from odds, most dealers only giving an odds price on fifteen of the forty-four sets. The exceptions are "Aircraft of the World" (1958) and "Football Clubs and Badges" (1961) of which complete sets are said to be quite scarce. The football set is quite an interesting one as you will often read that it is the same as was issued in 1958 by Lamberts of Norwich, but that is not the whole story as there are many issuers of this single set, which you can read about at https://cartophilic-info-exch.blogspot.com/2014/02/lamberts-of-norwich-amalgamated-tobacco.html.

One of these issuers is actually more relevant to us than the rest, and they were responsible for two versions. This was the Universal Cigarette Card Company, who issued a standard set with their name on and also issued ones that were used as promotional material for a limited time and invited the collector to "Visit Universal Cigarette Card Co at the Ideal Home Exhibition". Universal Cigarette Card Company are still going strong, since 1946.

This portrait of Harold II with the cloak pinned to his shoulder is used on many of the cards of him, I did try, and fail, to find out from where it came originally. Anyone out there fancy a challenge and cam track it down do please let us know

Friday, 15th October 2021

These were originally given the reference code of W6 in our first reference book to the issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills. You find that whenever there is an actual Coronation of a King or Queen, many issuers bring out sets of Kings and Queens or Coronations. If you look at the side of the text on the reverse you will see that there is an arrowhead design, and this varies, so the set is usually described as having "wide" arrows (2mm across) or "narrow" arrows (1mm across). The cards with the narrower arrows are scarcer.

This was the first coronation to take place in West Minster Church (later to be renamed Westminster Abbey), which had been founded by the current King Edward the Confessor. When he died, childless, there was no immediate heir, though there were several people who could have easily been crowned the next King. However, Harold had already decided it would be him.

One of the reasons he gave was that his sister had been Edward's wife, so that was a blood link between him and the throne. He had also been busily spreading a story that Edward the Confessor had actually secretly named him as the one person that he wanted to follow him on to the throne. Then the moment that Edward died, Harold just said he was the new King and would not be dissuaded. Worst of all he then decided he would be crowned on the very same day the old King was laid to rest. This was not popular, as usually there was a period of grace and mourning between one King and another, and some times this was several months.

So when the text on this card says that instead of waiting for the Archbishop of Canterbury to perform the ceremony of officially crowning him, Harold reached over and just put the crown on to his own head, perhaps he was expecting the whole thing to be interrupted and cancelled at any moment. As it may well have been.