Card of the Day - 2022-03-22

This picture becomes much clearer when you have more than one of the set for this was one of the “sectional series” that were issued in the 1920s and 30s by several companies.

Actually Wills issued six of them, starting with “Between Two Fires” in March 1930 and moving through “The Boyhood Of Raleigh” (August 1930), “The Toast” (June 1931 - which was the first of the group to also be issued in Ireland, as Series No.1 with a Dublin address, as well as to be issued in Guernsey), “The Laughing Cavalier” (October 1931 - the second of the group to also be issued in Ireland, as Series No.2 with a Dublin address, and again issued in Guernsey), plus “And When Did You Last See Your Father” (February 1932 – which was not issued in Ireland, but was issued in Guernsey). This last set unusually had 49 cards, one more than the rest, which is the reason why our World Indexes title these sets as “A Famous Picture in … Sections”. 

The fronts were printed in letterpress in colour but the backs vary in hues, in order of issue the sets are grey, brown, mauve, green, blue, mauve. In our original Wills reference book parts I to IV (revised) and part V (RB.19, issued in 1951), it adds that the set of “The Toast” was issued by British American Tobacco. It was inscribed with redemption addresses in Mombasa, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. This was coded W/210. A bit of investigation finds out that this falls under British American Tobacco (East Africa), and that the Guernsey sets were also issued under the aegis of British American Tobacco, “The Toast” having either black or dark green backs, but the rest presumably being the same as the home issue. 

This was a popular picture in the 1920s and 1930s and it appears in its entirety in several other series This includes Millhoff “Art Treasures” 10/50 where it also tells us that it was “by W.B. Davies R.A. born 1833, died 1914” and that the original was in the Tate Gallery London”. It is still there, as you can see on their website but it is not on display. The painting also appears in Godfrey Phillips “Old Masters”, and in the Scottish Co-Operative Wholesale Company “Famous Pictures” as 14/25 and this is the coloured card we show below. This adds that Mr. Davies had another initial, a starting H, and that he was born at Finchley. His full name was Henry William Banks Davis. He died in 1914, but not, I don’t think, of the war, as he was almost 80.

Something that some of you may not realise is that when the collector had completed their set they were to turn over a back, and read how to redeem this set for a large sized print of the picture they had made. These were sent in tubes, and I am not sure if the cards were returned. I do know that they used to turn up regularly, in thick brown wooden frames, the glass obscured by years of nicotine exposure, in local and provincial auctions. There is a reframed one on eBay at the moment, its in a much more attractive lighter frame, but the description in the mount cites that it was issued with “Gold Flake”, can anyone confirm this?