Card of the Day - 2022-02-27

Here we have a very famous deaf musician, Ludwig van Beethoven.

He was not born deaf, but in his twenties he started to hear strange noises in his head. Some theorists think this was probably a form of tinnitus. However his hearing steadily became worse, until in his late forties he was completely deaf. However he still continued to write music and conduct orchestras even after that. 

This set was issued in 1961, too late to appear in our original World Tobacco Issues Index. And though I found other sets by this issuer in the Cartophilic World magazine, I did not find this one. However it does appear in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, where it is catalogued under British American Tobacco Co. Ltd.`s Section 2, these being "Issues quoting brand names. Series with or without B.A.T. name, inscribed with brand names."

This set comes under sub section 2J, which covers the issues of "Domino Filter" French language brand issues, without name of firm, in Mauritius, 1960-63. All small size 68 x 37" And it is listed as : 

FIGURES HISTORIQUES (Historical Personages). Sm. Nd. 
1. "Une Serie de 25" (25)
2. "Une Seconde Serie de 25" Nd. 1-25. (25) 

This is one of the more unusual cards for Beethoven, the usual one that appears for him being the W.D. & H.O. Wills “Musical Celebrities” first series (W675-.1 : W/83.A – April 1911 or November 1912) 5/50. 

Another scarce card is Godfrey Phillips “Busts of Famous People” (P521-130c – 1906/7). This set comes in three versions, hence the “c” suffix, one has a pale green back and black text to the front, one has a brown back and black text to the front, and ours has an olive green back and white text to the front with the addition of a patent number 20736. I am curious as to what this patent is for, but am not sure how to access the patent office records. Another curious thing is that this set has no title, “Busts of Famous People” was only what early cartophilists used to describe it. In addition the chosen title makes no reference to the fact that these cards are actually cutouts; if you look along the edge of the bust, you will see it is perforated to allow the head and socle to stand alone without the blue solid background. Several sets through the ages have been made in this form, though it is an extra process. What has never been explained is just why this cut-out was done. Any theories out there?