Card of the Day - 2021-12-26

Our second clue card referred to another breed of dog, the noble and stately boxer.

We threw you off the scent a bit, with this man, who is James John "Jim" Corbett, a sporting sort of boxer. He was an American professional and World Heavyweight Champion, best known as the only man who ever defeated John L. Sullivan. I am not sure why he is featured getting on a bus? But I bet the guys at Fight City know, because their web page on his is just exhaustive, it even includes a link to watch footage of him sparring with Gene Tunney in 1925.

However I bet they dont know that he appears in John Player`s "Dandies" - take a look at the card at the New York Public Library. 

This is a three part set, 420.1 are these cards numbered 1-100, 420.2 are all Army boxers, and are numbered 101-125, and 420.3 is just a single card, presumably un-numbered (?), of the "New World's Champion", who was the heavyweight Jess Willard, renowned for beating both Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey. 

Now you may have noticed that the date on our heading now includes not just a month, for the first time, but now a day date. That is courtesy of George Gilbert, who recorded the day of issue of seven sets in "The Cartophilic World", volume 3, number 33, in the edition dated for November 1945, three of which were by Cope, two by British American Tobacco, and two of which by Gallaher. And I only stumbled on them as I was looking for the original write up of Smith`s Derby Winners.