This was the White Ensign, the flag of the Royal Navy. In fact it is exclusively for them. save the Royal Yacht Squadron and on the rare occasions when one of the Trinity House ships either has the Sovereign on board, or is escorting her. Our card says that it was "a grave offence" for any other to fly it and is not only "liable to be boarded by officers of H.M.`s service" but also that "the owners or captain (or both) [would be] liable to a penalty of £500". A quick calculate online tells me that the £500 quoted when this card was printed is equivalent to about £39,000 today.
This card turned out to be a much longer story than I had imagined. It starts very simply, in our original Wills Reference Book part IV, where it tells us that this set had the "fronts printed by letterpress in colour, Backs in grey with descriptive text." Then there is the makings of a curious tale, which I have attempted to unravel. The main discovery in that booklet is that this set was issued in three versions.
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215A was a series of 25, numbered 1-25. Wills name and I.T.C. Clause at base of backs, home issue 1926.
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216A was the second series of 25 as above but issued in 1929.
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216B was a series of 50 cards, numbered 1-50, but with anonymous backs. This was a general overseas issue and it was released in 1928.
Now the problem is that also in the same section it tells us that the first set of 25 was issued in November 1926, overseas, with Flag Cigarettes. However if it was overseas surely it would not have the I.T.C. Clause? Then, in March 1929, "the balance" - by which I guess they mean the remainders - were issued here at home. Now for some reason, maybe because there were not very many left, it had a really short run, and just the following month, April 1929, that second series of 25 cards was issued.
Wills book 5 complicates this still further because it tells us that an Australian issue had been seen, and so the recording in the last book requires revision as follows :
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215A (i) is the home issue, with the Wills name and the I.T.C. Clause at the base.
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215A (ii) is an Australian issue with the Wills name and "World Renowned Cigarettes" at the base, but without the I.T.C. Clause. No second series has yet been seen.
This system was then followed by the 1956 World Tobacco Issues Index. They give W62-135.1 as a series of 25 and W62-135.2 as the second series of 25. But at the back of the book they have the anonymous set of 50 cards listed under ZB6-31. And this is the same in the year 2000 World Tobacco Issues Index apart from the codes which are W675-173 and ZB07-330