Here we have Cedric Ivan James Smith, usually known as Jim. He was born in Wiltshire, and played for that team between 1926 and 1933. At the same time he was working at Lords Cricket Ground, and they slowly inveigled him to join Middlesex instead. It seems odd to us, with our vast resources of information gathering, but the Middlesex fans were convinced that he was a complete unknown, and celebrated his prowess wildly. However I am not sure why it was not openly revealed that he had been playing cricket for almost a decade elsewhere.
Now this card is very important in the story of Middlesex because of the crest in the circle. It is, or was, the County crest and it shows those three notched swords which were known as seaxes. And it was the prowess of the men from these parts with those weapons that led to them being known forever as the seaxans, or the Saxons.
The first time this set appeared in any cigarette card magazine was in July 1938, just one month after its issue. That magazine was the London Cigarette Card Company`s "Cigarette Card News", volume 5, issue number 57. It reads :
J. Player & Son - "Cricketers, 1938". A topical issue of 50 small cards. Head-and-shoulder portraits against a coloured background. The card also shows the County badge of the cricketers depicted, in the case of English cricketers, and of the State in that of Australia. Nos. 1 to 34 are of representative home players, and nos. 35 to 50 cover the Australian touring team.
It next appears in our early John Player reference booklet, RB.17, issued in 1950. This changes the above slightly and adds a bit more information, including that there is a second, or should I say, a first version:
62. 50 Cricketers, 1938. Small cards. Fronts in colour, County or State badge in circular inset. Backs in grey with descriptive text, adhesive. Special album issued.
A) Home issue, with I.T.C. and Album clauses. Issued June 1938
B) Channel Islands issue, without I.T.C. and Album clauses, issued May 1938.
The intriguing thing is that we may never know which of these printings the first write up was about, for it does not mention the clauses.
By the time of our World Tobacco Issues Index the description has been shortened to simply : "CRICKETERS, 1938. Sm. Nd. (50). See RB.17/62A". Now the "A" is important because the Channel Islands set does not follow the home issue any more, it is moved to section 3C, and given a new code. But seeing the "A" does at least suggest there is more than one printing. Whereas in our updated version there is the main text but no mention of RB.17. So if you did not know of the Channel Islands version you may never find it.