Card of the Day - 2022-02-11

Arthur Bell &  Sons was founded in 1825 in a tiny shop in Kirkgate, Perth

They started issuing these tags in 1969, they came swinging around the neck of a bottle of Bells Whisky, hence the fact that they ought to have string through the hole at the top. However some collectors remove this because it is not only harder to store, for if it crosses the tag it can dent it, but also because if you catch the string it can break the top circle. Most of the bells are black wording on a gold backround, and all are more or less shaped like a bell.

Forty-two make the complete first "standard" set, and actually the title recorded is wrong, it should be “Other Famous Bells”, referring to the thought that Bells Whisky was the most famous bell and these were other ones. These tags fitted into a blue corner slot album which, when fully completed with every bell in place, was to be returned to Bells. It would be checked to ensure that you had one of each not a 42 in place of a missing 3, and you would be sent a little parcel containing a book, "Pride of Perth" about the maker, a key chain shaped like a bell, and also your completed book would be returned. Also available was a "Bell`s Collectors Certificate" to prove that you had collected the complete set.

Several special tags were issued, including a silver one in 1977 for the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. And you could get beermats showing the bells, though slightly boringly these were square.

One odd fact was that in official company documentation these were called "swing tickets" not tags.