Now I know what you are all thinking, for this set is anonymous of issuer and of set title. However it was issued through British American Tobacco, hence the RB.21 citation, and the set title, well that was added when the same set was discovered to have been issued by Murray, with the title "Stage and Film Stars", though to add to the tangled web, Murray`s name did not appear on these cards. However it was known that "Erinmore" which did appear on those cards, was a Murray brand.
So lets start with RB.21, which contains all the issues that were known to have been issued through British American Tobacco. This set is listed in there as
Stage & Film Stars. Cards of the Murray printing of this series bear the above title, and this series has thus been altered. All the printings are listed below.
A) Wills Four Aces issue.
(1) Numbered (2) Unnumbered
B) Anonymous issue, with letterpress on the back. Numbered
C) Bear issue. Green back. Unnumbered
D) Murray Home issue. Black back. Numbered, and titled "Stage & Film Stars" inscribed "Erinmore Cigarettes" (Murray`s name does not appear on the cards). The 50 subjects are listed in W/172.
Strangely that link to W/172 is not quoted in the World Indexes. In fact out of the five `Four Aces` sets, only two have W/ codes - "Film Favourites" and "Modes of Conveyance".
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index tells us a bit more about our issue, except that although the link above has already been made to British American Tobacco, it still inserts it at the back of the book and gives it a Z code for the great unknown. You will find it under Anonymous Issues (1) with letterpress on back, and sub sections 1. English Language issues with references to tobacco, and 1.C issues 1919-1940 (d) overseas issues through British American Tobacco. The description, to save you all that hunting, is "Sm. 63 x 36. Back in green. Nd. (50). See RB.21/417. Issued in South Africa."
Actually parts of this are wrong. The code of RB.21/417 leads not to this set at all. And the index in the front of RB.21 tells us that it was issued in Malta. What is it with Malta this week? In fact just like the Wills `Four Aces` branded version of this same set it was issued in areas where the British Army were garrisoned, so Malta, Gibraltar, Suez, Aden, etc. Not so sure about South Africa. And the Wills `Four Aces` version was also issued in 1926.
Sadly I have not yet found a month of issue for any of these issues. As for why that is important, tune in tomorrow....