Card of the Day - 2022-03-16

These cards were issued with “Mitcham's Cigarettes”, and it is another of those sets which has no title on the cards, and so one was provided for it by early researchers in order to list it in a recognisable way. For some reason, the name chosen was "Comic Phrases", and I am not certain that really fits the bill, for not all the phrases are humorous, but it is an unusual set which contains several cards that fit neatly into thematic collections if you only knew they were there. Ours is a football card which is not so known of, and which might well be added to a few more wants lists now.

There are also several cards in the set which feature smoking either overtly or covertly, and also cards which feature branding for Mitcham Cigarettes on the front, hence “Beautiful Aroma” has it on the side of the carriage, “First Favourites” on the paper of the hoop, one card is simply titled on the front “Smoke Mitcham's cigarettes”, and another “Stick to Mitcham” with an additional “Notice Mitcham Cigarettes” on the sign to which the desperate man clings). Oddly, the words “Mitcham” and “Mitcham`s” are both used within the set. One of their other brands was called “Mitcham Cricket Green”, which is reputedly the oldest still operational cricket ground – its first match being bowled in 1685.

If this sets you wondering why Rutter was so fixated by Mitcham, it was that their address was Ravensbury Mill, in Mitcham, Surrey, though they also had an address of 66 Great Queen Street in Central London. They were founded in 1767, and most of their output was snuff and shag, as it says on the card.

"Mitcham Shag" as mentioned on this card was tobacco, and it was available in green packets containing half an ounce, yellow packets containing an ounce. Both these were described as being "Full Flavour", but you could also buy it in red packets, which were but "Medium Flavour", however no size is given for that. 

Ravensbury Mill had been a mill since just before the turn of the seventeenth century, but not for tobacco, it made calico. Manufacturing snuff there instead seems to have begun in 1758. The first name I have found so far is Latham Arnold, a tobacconist, listed as trading from Newgate Street in London. Mr. Arnold was thought, at least by his rivals, to be pulling a bit of a swiftie with the mill, registering it only as a snuff mill, hence paying less duty, but making tobacco on the side.

Then, in 1775 there are suddenly records of alterations, and the premises license is altered to being a tobacco mill. Most sites say that the work was done by Mr. Martin Peakes, but he was not a builder, he was a tobacconist, of Martin Peakes & Co, of 6 Newgate Street in London. Mr. Peakes added new buildings, and better equipment, and doubled the production capacity. It seems more likely that he bought out Mr. Arnold, especially as Mr. Arnold died in 1781, and in 1789 Mr. Pearkes entered into partnership with a Mr. Spencer. 

We are not sure what happened to Mr. Spencer, but by 1810 he has gone and Mr. Peakes has a new partner, John Rutter. Now he was well known to Mr. Peakes, as Rutter`s shop was just three doors away from Mr. Peakes`.

At first Rutter too made tobacco and snuff, but the popularity of the latter declined after the 1900s. And when they won a gold medal at an exhibition in 1906, snuff was phased out completely. 

They left the mill in 1925, and it was bought the following year by Whiteleys. They specialised in making rubber goods - for sports purposes, skipping ropes, mats, etc. This has led to more confusion, as our original World Tobacco Issues Index tells us that Rutter was "taken over by Anstie in 1925", but I can now clear that up too, as the building was sold to Whiteleys, whilst Anstie kept the name of Rutter, and their trademarks, but changed the address to their own, so after this date the packets all say "I. Rutter & Co Ltd, Devizes, Wiltshire."

Our set is described in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as : 

• COMIC PHRASES (A). Sm. 62 x 34. Unnd.(54). See H.223 ... R66-3

This is the only set of theirs to be available as a set in the 1950 London Cigarette Card Company Catalogue, where it was priced up at £40, the odds ranging from 5/- to 15/-. Usually a straight third raise in this context means the ends, but these cards were un-numbered, so it must have been based on condition. The rest of the cards they issued were priced as odds only, mostly at 25/- to 75/-, though “Shadowgraphs” were listed at 30/- to 90/- and both “Actresses – Rutan” (the version with the rubber stamping to the back) and “Boer War Celebrities” at 40/- to 100/-

These cards were also issued within the United Kingdom by Hudden & Co. Ltd of Bristol (H766-175 : H68-5), also in 1900, and measuring 64 x 34 m/m. These cards have captions, but they are slightly different, for on all the cards which said “Mitcham” it now says “Hudden”, on both sides. This is a set which was so incredibly scarce that to this day just twelve have been seen, and this amount has not been raised since a card from the set was shown in Cameric “Notes and News” New Series, Volume 2, No.7 – that card is reproduced here, though there does not seem to be a word about the set in the magazine… 

Last, but most intriguingly, this set was also issued overseas by Murai of Kyoto in Japan, still un-numbered, but without captions. It was thought that 24 cards were issued, but two more have turned up since 1956. Confusingly it was recorded as “Comics” not “Comic Phrases”. And most thrillingly of all, this set must have come first because some of the versions are inscribed with a two line name to the fronts “Murai Bros & Co. / Cigarette Factory” at base, a name which had Ltd. added after it in 1899. There are two distinct versions of this first printing - M953-025 : M156-3  measures 60 x 35 m/m and it can have the back in (a) blue – or (b) brown – whilst M953-120 has a different back design, only in blue, and measures 60 x 35 m/m. Then there is M953-220 : M156-18, which is both anonymous, and plain backed.