Card of the Day - 2023-01-18

Hustler Soap "Animals"
Hustler Soap / John Knight Ltd [trade : soap : UK] "Animals" (1925) - INS-050 : HU2-1 : D/X21-359 : RB.21/359

So here we have another simple rabbit card, but a card with a fascinating story. 

Our original British Trade Index of 1962 lists this set as :

HUSTLER Soap
Cards Issued 1924-25. All cards found with one corner clipped.

ANIMALS (A). Sm. 62 x 30. Cut-outs. Nd. See D/X.21-359 ... HUZ-1
        1. "First Series" (20)
        2. "Second Series" (20) 
        3. "Third Series " (20)
REGIMENTAL NICKNAMES. Sm. 62 x 38. Inscribed "4th Series". Nd. (30)  ... HUZ-2

On which note we need to straight away say that "Regimental Nicknames" was issued in 1924, before the Animals sets started, so the reference to it being a "4th series" is rather confusing.

Now the first code here, of  D/X.21-359 leads us to the back of the same original British Trade Index of 1962. Before we tackle that, though, lets look at RB.21, which is stated to have needed revision. This is initially puzzling, because it is a book for tobacco cards, issued through British American Tobacco, and not for trade cards - but the listing explains all, and reads :

Hustler Soap Listing

The index at the front adds a bit more information, but only about the A.T.M, or "African Tobacco Manufacturers" version, telling us it was issued out of Cape Town between 1920 and 1925. Later research has narrowed it down to 1922. As to why only this set is in the index, that is because the other two sets are trade issues and they first appear in our original British Trade Issues Index  - so let us go back to that now. This reads : 

DX21-359
 

Now if we compare the two listings above, you will notice that an extra set has appeared that being Dunn`s Chocolates, and we featured these as our Card of the Day for the 14th of November 2024. The reason for this is almost certainly that when RB.21 was published nobody had yet discovered this set. 

As for Thomas Holloway, the first thing we notice is that his cards were much larger. This could be because his trade was a kind of dispensing chemist for pills and ointments, so perhaps allowed for bigger packets. We do not know much, if anything, about his trade in Holland and Spain, only that it must have been sufficient to merit issuing these cards specifically for those markets.  We do know one very important thing though, and that was that his cards were issued first, by a long time, starting in 1900. They are hard to find now though, and it is not helped by the fact that most dealers call them "Natural History Series", or "Natural History Postcards" and not "Animal Series"

Returning to the Dunn`s set, in part III of the original British Trade Index there has been a discovery, leading to this entry : 

DUNN`S, London - DUN in I
DUN-1 (Animals). No subject is known in both sizes (a) and (b). Probably half the set was issued in each size

I think there could be an explanation for this, and that is simply that the larger cards would have fitted in the larger packaging, which held more of the product and so cost more to buy. But if you wanted a complete set you would have to convince your parents to buy the more expensive product

Another note - in the updated millennial version, our cards are listed under John Knight Ltd not as Hustler Soap. This is because John Knight issued larger sized advert cards and postcards, some of which are most elaborate and have moving wheels and slats, so all have been brought together. The book also tells us that the Hustler cards are not necessarily all found with the corner clipping, and it is possible to find enough entire cards to make complete uncut sets.