Card of the Day - 2021-12-19

Our second clue here was that these are the arms of NATAL, a place "discovered" by Vasco da Gama on Christmas Day, 1497.

If you were in Indonesia at Christmas you might well say "Selamat Hari Natal", though some areas of Spain also use Natal or Nadal in their greetings. And if you went to Italy, "Buon Natale" is only a skip away. 

The galloping animals are actually wildebeest, and they had been used as the badge of the colony from 1846, becoming the coat of arms from 1905, though the Royal Warrant to use them did not arrive until 1907, and they were also retained when Natal became part of the Union of South Africa in 1910, and they remained in use until 1994 when KwaZulu and Natal Province merged to form KwaZulu-Natal, and they took a new emblem with a lion and a wildebeest rearing to each side of a shield.

This set was originally recorded as W/40A in our Wills Reference Book part III (1949) as "Fronts lithographed in colour; backs with descriptive text. Issued 1910" (later recorded as October - but it was a short run as it was replaced in Dec with the calendar for 1911). The home issue had backs in grey with the Imperial Tobacco clause down the sides. A 'similar' set, classified as 'B', was also issued overseas with black backs and no ITC clause, and there were two 'similar' sets issued in Australia, neither of which had ITC clauses, and which are marked as having been redrawn. These were classified as 'C', branded for 'Wills's Specialities' - and 'D', for 'Havelock'. One rather odd fact is that both of these final sets have a substitution for card 1, instead of Hudson Bay Company they have Hong Kong.

It was also discovered, just as the part III went to print, that the same subjects had been seen on satin. This was further explained in our Wills Reference Book part IV, (1950) where they are given the reference code W/126, and also amended in our original, and very scarce, Reference Book 21, the first ever British American Tobacco Company Booklet, dated 1952, where it is RB21/200-126A. In the Wills book, it is described as "Fronts printed on satin in colour. Backs on thin board, with instructions for removing satin. Many of the subjects are based on similar originals to those used on item 40. Australian issues, between 1910-15". In actual fact there were various satins, 40A being "medium cards, 70 x 48 m/m. Backs in black, inscribed " W.D. & H.O. Wills". Numbered on backs." - and - 40B being “large cards, size 82 x 55 m/m. Backs in blue, anonymous. Numbered on fronts." It was also noted that "The numbering differs in the two sets ; although cards seen are similar, the complete 50 have not been compared card for card and there may be differences."  Whilst the amendment reveals that there were three distinct anonymous issues; two had backs in blue, one numbered to the front and one numbered to the back, and then there was a set with the back in brown, numbered to the front only.

In 1931 a new Home issue, also called "Arms of the British Empire" was issued, this was given the reference code of W/127, being "Large cards, size 70 x 62 m/m. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text." The month of issue does not seem to have been recorded by Wills as it was not included in the listing of issue dates which appeared in the Wills works magazine in 1936, and it was not supplied to us in the regular updates they sent us afterwards. However the second series of large cards, W/128, did appear in the works magazine listing, so this can be dated precisely to April 1932.