So here we have the aster. or, as this set is in French L`Aster. And as to why, well this is the birth flower for the month of September, but there is a twist, because the aster is part of a huge family called Asteracae, and when I say huge, I mean it, for even in its reduced modern form there are almost two hundred species.
This set was issued in Mauritius, hence the French language text. And it is not the only garden related set they did, for they also issued a set of "Cacti", in the same year too.The title is a curious one, for it directly translates as Flowers of Cultivation, which seems to suggest the flowers were specially bred, what gardeners refer to as a cultivar, which is a gardening term for a variety which does not appear naturally in the wild, but was produced by a breeder who selected plants for their brighter, or lighter colour, or other suddenly appearing factors that they much liked. However, the truth seems to have been disregarded by collectors, and the English language version of this set is universally known as "Garden Flowers"
We now have a new a home page for all the B.A.T. Domino issues as part of our newsletter for the 21st of October, 2023. That is a newsletter but the card is first up, on Saturday the 21st of October, and so I think it is okay to make it the home page, it is not like it is buried a long way down, and it would take a lot of fettling to find something else for that space. This lists all the issues and some of the links, purely because we have not yet shown all the sets. And some of these, like today`s set, have a hidden secret, for they were issued in another format - but for that you will have to follow the link on the main home page and visit the section devoted to that particular set.
None of these sets appear in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, simply because that was printed several years before the cards were. So we have to wait right until our updated World Tobacco Issues Index part I, to read the entry, which is :
2. J. "Domino Filter" French language brand issues, without name of firm ["firm" being British American Tobacco], in Mauritius. 1960-65"
- FLEURS DE CULTURE. Sm. Nd. (25) ... B705-558
It makes no mention of the fact that there are other versions of this set, and nor does a magazine called "Cartophily Britannica", Volume 3, No.33, which is dated November 1960, on page 439, in a section called "New Issues - Collect Them Now !" for this card`s listing simply reads :
- British American Tobacco Co. Ltd. 25 " FLEURS DE CULTURE" (Garden Flowers). Nd. 37 x 68 mm. Of the three series so far issued by B.A.T. in Mauritius, this to our mind is quite the best. Nicely drawn pictures in colour, see fig. 310. Backs in same format as fig. 309.
Mind you this magazine does also tell us that the date we have for this set, of 1961 is slightly wrong, and of two others, for also listed in the same copy are write ups of "Animaux et Reptiles" and "Les Produits du Monde".
I only discovered the fact there were other versions of this set when I was hunting out other cards of asters in order to link to them, and spotted this very card, but issued by Wilcocks and Wilcocks, of Exeter, with tea. So I looked for that issuer in our British Trade Index part 2 and found the following entry ;
- GARDEN FLOWERS. Sm. Nd. (25) See D.294 ... WIA- 3
D-294 is at the back of the same book, and the entry reads :
D.294. GARDEN FLOWERS or FLEURS DE CULTURE. Nd. (25)
B.A.T. (Domino) - Set B116-148.4 (Fleurs de Cultur" - Tobacco Issue) [1960]
Badshah Tea - Set BAA-5 (Garden Flowers) [1963]
Browne Bros - Set BRT-3 (Garden Flowers) [1965]
Empson - Set EMP-3 (Garden Flowers) [1964 or 1966]
Golden Grain Tea - Set GOG-3 (Garden Flowers) [1964, 1965, or 1971]
Wilcocks and Wilcocks - Set WIA-3 (Garden Flowers) [1964].
The confusion over the double dates will almost certainly be sorted out when I hunt through the New Issues columns in our magazines.