Card of the Day - 2022-12-26

Amalgamated Tobacco Mills brand "Freshwater Fish"
Amalgamated Tobacco Corporation Ltd [Tobacco : UK] "Freshwater Fish" (1958) 15/25 - A495-350

Here we have our last clue, this is a fish which is usually called a ruff, or ruffe, but as this card tells us, is also known as a pope - and there is something you may not know about St. Sylvester, for he was also a Pope!  As Pope Sylvester I he reigned from 314 until he died in 335 AD. And he was also the Bishop of Rome. 

Most collectors who know of this set agree that these are very attractive cards. The fish are very well drawn, though there seems no record of who drew them. The backs are also very detailed, and though these were export issues, issued in Mauritius with the Mills Filtertips brand, the text was in English, which seems strange because the text mentions English waters - though the advert at the bottom "FUMEZ LES FAMEUSES CIGARETTES" is in French - it means "smoke the famous cigarettes" 

The set was issued in 1958, so that just missed our original World Tobacco Issues Index part one