This card seems to be rather large, I think I overestimated the size of a white card on a white background. It will look more appropriate by the newsletter!
Now this card is for everyone who thinks I live in the past and don`t follow modern trends, because a riddle with pictures like this is called a rebus, and Detective Inspector Rebus appears in a series of very popular novels by the modern Scottish writer Ian Rankin. His website is https://www.ianrankin.net/
I have never read any, but at least I know they are there! And maybe it would be an experience, if they are not too graphic....
Returning to the cards, there is no mention of the date of this set in Wills documentation or magazines. However there is a theory that it was only issued in Australia and New Zealand, and this is supported by the lack of information from Wills.
There are four different series of these;
A is our set of twenty five cards with an album clause, on white card with the backs printed in light green
B is as above but there is no album clause and the backs are a bluey green
C is as immediately above, again no album clause, but the backs are in myrtle green, and the number is reportedly a different style, though I cant see this myself.
D is as above but the set is extended to a set of fifty cards, the same as above plus twenty five new cards.
Now here is a really curious fact, as Version D was also issued by Lambert and Butler as a set of fifty, and, intriguingly, in the same year, 1898. In actual fact this card was chosen just for that reason, becaus I had a strange thought about the branding, and threw it out to you all. My wonder was did they delete the word "Capstan", did they use it as is, or did they rename "Capstan" to one of their own brands....? And here is the answer...
Thrillingly, packets (?) of May Blossom Cigarettes did contain cards, and there is proof, for an advert , in a most lovely shade of mauve, for that very brand, appears on the backs of their 1902 set which is known as "Coronation Robes", though it is untitled. Their earlier 1900 set of "Admirals" also mentions that brand, though it is just lineage in black and white text - however it does give us a smidgeon of extra information, because it reads "MAY BLOSSOM TOBACCO AND CIGARETTES". It is also the first brand mentioned on the "Japanese Series", which I really like, but find it is impossible to scan and pick up anything at all of the image on the reverse. Why was it so light? And why have the cards toned to brown so badly? The combination of the two is very awkward companionship indeed....
Why I say "packets (?)" up there is that I have only so far come across a May Blossom tin, in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. It took a hundred cigarettes, and is the most amazing shade of pink.
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