Of course this card shows Lipton himself, as well as calling him "Shamrock" after his yacht. And note the tiny flag in the top right hand corner, which contains a shamrock too.
The back text mentions the fact that he is already on Shamrock III. Now this third version was designed by William Fife and built in Scotland, launching in March 1903. It was again an America`s Cup contender, entered by The Royal Ulster Yacht Club for the 1903 race but lost to the New York Yacht Club`s "Reliance" in every race. It only ever sailed again as almost a pacer for Shamrock IV, and was scrapped once those trials were through.
The entry in our Wills reference book part two is :
31. "VANITY FAIR" SERIES. The name of this series was taken from a popular Victorian Society periodical [called] "Vanity Fair" which published a great many cartoons of notabilities, and the cards are reproductions of a suitable selection. The caricatures were usually accompanied by racy biographical sketches, and from these most of the card texts were extracted. The cartoonist was "Spy", and his self portrait appears in Series 2, card No.42
Fronts lithographed in colour on stone coloured background. Backs in grey, with texts.
The records of Wills show the issue date as May 1902. Printed by Stewart & Wolf, Germany. There are three series, each of 50 cards.
A) "Vanity Fair" 1st Series. Numbered 1-50
B) "Vanity Fair" 2nd Series. Numbered 1-50. There are two cards numbered 29, "Just" and "HMS Powerful". The latter card has a lighter background than the other cards in the series, and is known with and without the red colour printing, (particularly noticeable on medal ribbons). This card also appears at No.16 with a normal background.
C) "Vanity Fair" Series. Unnumbered. This series consists of 37 cards from the first, 6 cards from the 2nd, with 7 new titles, as listed below ; -
this list will appear over the weekend, however our card is also part of series 1, where it appears as number 50. This may be leading you to question the given date of May 1902 for this set, but if you look at the text it does not appear that Shamrock III had done a lot, if any, sailing, just that "He intends to succeed with Shamrock III". Though that does prove that the sets were all printed by 1903, when he did not manage to do that.
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index tells us these cards are :
“VANITY FAIR” SERIES. Sm. 68 x 36. See W/31
1. “1st Series”. Nd. 1/50.
2. “2nd Series”. Nd. 1/50.
3. Unnumbered. (50)
This leaves out the fact that the unnumbered set comprises forty-three subjects from the above two series and seven new subjects. But it returns in our updated version..