Card of the Day - 2022-03-20

The reason for the tulip is that it is supposed to be the most popular flower for Mother’s Day. I am not so sure of that, because though this fact is cited on several websites, asking around my friends failed to find anyone who straight out said tulip as their favourite.

We suspect the earliest card of a tulip to be Goodwin “Flowers” (N164) issued with “Old Judge Cigarettes” in about 1890, though it is closely followed by Duke “Floral Beauties & Language of Flowers” issued in 1892. This card says that the flower is “A Declaration of Love”, whilst the modern meaning varies as to the colour of the tulip, so if you are interested to check before you buy them, have a look at Petal Republic  - and if you are still uncertain about the tulip, have a look at Interflora for other blooms and blossoms.

Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada was also known simply as I.T.C. of Canada, and it was formed in 1902 to handle British American Tobacco's Canadian products. It is said that most anonymous cards originating in that country can be presumed to have been by this company, so if you get one in a mixed lot check this issuer first.

This set was also issued by W.D. & H.O. Wills, in February 1925, with the same title, and again the tulip is number 49/50. The reference codes on that set are W675-174 : W62-136 : W/217. Sadly we do not have a month of issue for the Canadian version so we have no way of truly knowing which came first.

The differences between the two are the missing “Wills Cigarettes” name and the box containing it on the top of the front, and a number on the bottom of the reverse, in this case 8680, referred to as a serial number, though it was actually a printers' number, and also had another use as it helped early researchers put the sets in order of date of issue.