This card shows a facet of Nottingham that you probably did not know of, and that is that it was once a pottery town. Nottingham`s speciality was salt-glazed stoneware and it was produced for about a hundred years, between 1680 and 1790. Salt-glazing was a hazardous job, which involved the simple action of throwing salt on to the pots when they reached their highest temperature; however at the moment the salt struck the pot it would release sodium, and that would dissolve the outer surface of the clay, which would then harden and become the glaze.
The potteries were in the north east section of the city, and the most famous ones both belonged to the same family, called Morley, who also had premises in Derbyshire, which is where the stoneware pottery industry relocated in the early 1800s. James Morley had been a brickmaker before he was a potter. It is not known how he learned to make pots, but he was the first ever to do so in Nottingham. What we do know of stoneware is that it originated in Germany, and was introduced to London in the mid 17th century. One theory has that Mr. Morley was involved with building those London kilns, but there is no actual proof of this.
And in fact, rather neatly, this card mentions the Morleys.
Now there is another cartophilic connection - which you may not know about - relating to this card. And that was that it appears on one of our Convention Commemorative Cards - for 2019
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index lists this set as :
OLD POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. Sm. Nd. Special albums issued.
1. Titled "Old English Pottery & Porcelain". Nd. 1/50
2. Titled "Old Pottery & Porcelain"
(1) "Second Series". Nd. 51/100. Back (a) "Chairman" (b) "Recorder" Cigarettes
(2) "Third Series". Nd. 101/150. Back (a) "Chairman" (b) "Recorder" Cigarettes
(3) "Fourth Series". Nd. 151/200
(4) "Fifth Series". Nd. 201/250.
The updated volume says much the same about our set, only adding "(50)" after each of the lines to show the number in each segment.
Now this seems as good a time as any to mention that Lea also issued cards from the first set above as postcards. They are definitely cartophilic though, because they say "Chairman Cigarette Series" on them - and amongst the retailer names on them are tobacconists. A list of those retailers appear in the handbooks at H.257 and Ha.257. But that will have to wait for another day!