Here we introduce you to a coin that was long gone by decimalisation, the noble. That was the first gold coin in England to be made in quantity and it was minted during the reign of Edward III, in the fourteenth century. There had been other gold coins but they were very seldom seen, let alone used. A noble was worth six shillings and eight pence but you could also get a half noble and a quarter noble.
Our card shows a handful of coins and tells us that a lawyer`s fee was six shillings and eightpence. It seems also to have been the fee for attorneys and for solicitors. I am not sure when it changed but it is very different now, though on this card it actually says "why IS a lawyers fee six shillings and eight pence.
Do we have any readers who can tell us when it started to change? For that might provide something which is missing, namely the date this set was issued. Hence the question marks above.
And there is another a quandary for you about this set.
This set is first listed in our RB.21, the British American Tobacco Booklet, with several other variations of sets under the same "Do You Know" title. Most of those are directly related to the W.D. & H.O. Wills sets, either issued simply with new branding by another manufacturer, or more curiously made up of parts, like the United Tobacco Company, who issued a set of fifty cards which was comprised of fifteen cards from Wills first series, thirteen cards from the second and thirty-two from the fourth.
Our set follows these all on its ownsome. It is described as :
"RB.21/373. Do You Know. Small cards. Size 64 x 38 m/m. Fronts in colour. Back per fig.373 in black. Numbered series of 30. Anonymous issue with letterpress on back."
I have to wonder why the back was included as an illustration. Did we hope that someone would come forward and tell us who had issued it? It seems likely for not all the backs were shown in this way. However it was for the most part in vain, for in our original World Tobacco Issues Index it appears in the back of the book, as ZB6-16-3
"Do You Know. Sm.
1. A series of 50 see RB.21/200-188B (these being Wills first series)
2. Second Series of 50 see RB.21/200-189B (again the Wills)
3. A series of 30 measuring 64 x 38 m/m see RB.21/373 issued in South Africa.
Now the interesting thing here is that this is the first mention of these cards being issued in South Africa. But if you go back up it seems unlikely that this was through United Tobacco because they have already been mentioned in conjunction with the Wills sets. Also the size is very different.
And it seems that nobody recognised them there either, because in our updated version, issued in the year 2000, they are still at the back of the back with no idea of an issuer, only the strange "issued in South Africa" with no basis to prove it.
So can anyone out there fill in the gap and reunite this set with its issuer?
Over to you.