Card of the Day - 2021-12-31

This Gordon or Black and Tan Setter "leads" us to the end of our week. Seems to be rather a Scottish theme, doesn`t there, and this card tells us that this is a strange dog amongst the setter clan for “This Scottish variety is heavier . . . and shows more of the Hound and less of the Spaniel”.

There are actually two sets of cards entitled “Dogs; one shows the dogs full length, and can be found with the series title in a box or just as text – whilst the other are only dogs heads and shoulders, but again there is a variant, the advertisement, which either says “Dogs Love Vims” or “Vims-Pet Dog Cards”. A corner slot album was issued in which to keep the cards, I presume that is for the two sets, hence the single title. If anyone has one do share some info.

Molassine was based in Greenwich. Their main business was dog biscuits. Their first cards were advertising postcards, and they started to appear in 1905. The earliest set of what we consider trade cards was “Dogs of all Countries” issued in 1925, it says “Series 1”, but there is no series 2. After that there was a gap until our set, followed by the dogs heads in 1964. In 1966/67 there was a set of “Puppies”, with two distinct printings. Their last set was “Dogs at Work” in 1970.