If you got the theme of the week from this clue card alone then you may call yourself a top cartophilist - or applaud that you have managed to build up a considerable reference library on the subject, because we were after the month of issue. And August was quite a popular month for the issuing of cards, I have made quite a considerable list, which might appear as a newsfeed item if I get time, and then I can link to cards that I have featured before in previous newsletters. Sounds like a plan.
Now there are a few questions about this set. The first is that in the Ardath reference book they mention an error card, just one - No.106 which was found without the letter "A" on the back. But this error is not mentioned anywhere else, which makes me wonder how just one card could have been printed in such a way. So are all the 106s missing the letter "A" - or just one ? And are there any other numbers without a letter "A" in that place ? Do let us know, the email address is the same as always webmaster@card-world.co.uk
Well as the "A" suggests, this was the first of a very long running series of photographic cards which were titled "Photocards". They came in sets, quite lengthy ones too, (look at ours, of a hundred and ten cards), but each set was given a letter to define it, hence ours is "A".
In our original Ardath reference book RB.6, issued in 1943, there are no identifying numbers, which I call the card code (and I have no ability to count them off in the book, though I do have books where someone actually has, and I continually marvel at how they did it !). They are described as :
Aug 1936. 110. Photocards Series "A" (titled series). size 3 1/2" x 2 1/4". Numbered 1-110. Real photographs of football teams of Lancashire, toned black and white, glossy finish, titled [which means on the front, by the way], white margin. Backs printed in black with description, with "A" at bottom right. Issued with "King`s Cigarettes".
Error No.106 - without "A" at back
Now as this error is not mentioned anywhere else, I have to ask was it a one off, or are there other 106s without the letter "A" - or any other numbers without one? Do let us know.
Now there is a small list of cards in the reference book which have slightly different titles at front and back - if my yellow printer ink arrives by Friday I will scan these in, if not I may type.
The above description was shortened for our World Tobacco Issues Indexes, but includes extra information - this is
PHOTOCARDS - numbered series. Md. Black and white photos. Nd. Many cards found overprinted in red-brown "Packed with Ardath Kings - 10 for 6d. - The longer cigarette". See RB.6 - page 11.
1. Inscribed "A" Football Clubs of Lancashire (110)
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