Here we have the planet Mars, but the month of March is named after his namesake, the God of War.
Now I asked when this card appeared first as the card of the day if you knew why Mars, the God of War, had the honour of having the month names after him? Well, if you didn`t, it is for a very serious reason, that being that due to the climate, any wars being waged would stop for "Winter" and resume in March. If you have ever seen Roman Legionnaires you can understand this,for they are rather scantily clad, just a skirt and bare legs, and their metal helmet, and armour, was really cold against their flesh
The Romans knew of this planet, they saw it shining above them in the sky, and as it was red, and did not look peaceful, it was named after their God of War.
There is another link to the God too, because he steered a chariot pulled by two horses, Phobos and Deimos (those names translate to Fear and Panic). Anyway when it was discovered that the planet was accompanied by two small moons, they were named after those horses.
Now this set is hard to find in our British Trade Indexes because it appears between "Buccaneers" and "Daktari". In our original part II, the listing reads :
THE CONQUEST OF SPACE. Sm. Nd. (50) See D.256.
A. Size 64 x 35 B. Size 69 x 37.
The "D" code tells us immediately that this is a duplicated set, issued by at least one other manufacturer. In this case there are three others,
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Beano - Bubble Gum - London (68 x 38 m/m) - issued in 1955
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Brookfield - Sweets - Dublin (69 x 37 m/m) - issued in 1956
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Lipton - Tea - London (68 x 38 m/m) - issued in 1962
In our updated British Trade Index, the listing reads :
THE CONQUEST OF SPACE. 1957. Nd. (50) Two sizes, a) 64 x 35 b) 69 x 37. See HX-73.