Card of the Day - 2023-07-17

Wills A Famous Picture Between Two Fires
W. D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK] "A Famous Picture - Between Two Fires" (March 1930) 6/48 - W675-172.1 : W62-134.1 : W/207

And here, for our third clue, we simply guided you "between" China and India, the two largest countries of Asia, towards the smaller ones which we will be dealing with this week. But we also hope to give you "a window" into that world. 

This is a slightly less known one of those Sectional Series issued by W.D & H.O. Wills in 1930-31, though it is the first one in the series.

The original work, showing a Puritan man sitting at a table between two fiery kitchen hands, was painted, in oils by Francis David Millet, in 1892. Today it is in the Tate Gallery as No.1611  - but you can also see it on several cigarette cards, including another set by W.D. & H.O. Wills, namely "Art Photogravures" (1912) 4/50. Now the reverse of that card is very poignant, because it was issued in 1912, and on the reverse you will read "F.D. Millet was born in America, but has lived and worked principally in England".  And this means at the time of printing he was still alive - however that same year he died, in the sinking of The Titanic.

Our set first appears in the Wills reference book part four, under : 

A FAMOUS PICTURE 
Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Complete sections form reproductions of celebrated pictures, and were exchangeable cor full size coloured prints, in accordance with a scheme detailed on the backs of the cards. Home issues
207. 48 Between Two Fires. Home Series 1. Backs in grey, Issued 1930. 

In our World Tobacco Issues Indexes the description and header is shorter, and the set is simply described as "Sm. Nd." However it does tell us that for some reason when these sets were issued in Ireland, set number one was not this set, it was "The Toast". There is also a link to the British American Tobacco Booklet (RB.21) but that only deals with the final three Famous Pictures, not ours, for they were also issued overseas - in Guernsey and Africa