This clue was the country on the stamp, that being The Philippines, who start to play Christmas music in August, therefore becoming the earliest country to celebrate the festive season. Festivities also last almost to the end of January. And as most of the islands celebrate it, it is also true to say that these are the largest Christmas celebrations worldwide.
I thought we had featured this set before but cannot find it in the index. It may have been in the newsletter, in which case I will find it soon, for I am racing towards the end of indexing the cards of the day.
This group of sets is described in our British Trade Index part II as :
RARE STAMPS BY L. N. & M. WILLIAMS. Sm. 68 x 36. Nd. Also issued in joined pairs.
1. A series of 30
2. 2nd series of 30 (a) normal (b) overprinted in red “These cards will be withdrawn 31st December 1960”. A plain printed card announces end of issue.
Our updated British Trade Index tells us that Twinings were in the Strand, London E.C.3, and that their actual name was R. Twining & Co. Ltd. Several advertisement cards, dating from around 1900, had also been discovered and added. Our set is slightly differently described, as
RARE STAMPS by L. N. & M. Williams. 68 x 36. Nd. (30). Folder issued with details of offer to send complete sets for a packet of Foreign stamps.
1. 1958. A series of 30 issued a) singly b) in joined pairs
2. 1960. 2nd series of 30 a) normal b) overprinted in red “These cards will be withdrawn 31st December 1960”. A plain printed card announces end of issue.
So, if you are anything like me, you now want to know who L.N. and M. Williams were. They were actually brothers, M was Maurice and he was the oldest, born in 1905 whilst L.N. was Leon Norman, though he was generally known as just Norman, and he was born in 1914. They were very keen stamp collectors and also wrote for many related journals, even becoming editors, for almost twenty-five years, of "The Stanp Lover", the official magazine of the National Philatelic Society.
However their greatest interest was, curiously, not proper postage stamps at all, but what are known as "Cinderellas", and they even founded The Cinderella Stamp Club, which had its own magazine, edited by them too. Now whilst a "Cinderella" looks like a stamp, and even often has perforated edges, they were printed by businesses, charities, or members of the general public, and crucially they cannot be used to pay postage, their entire purpose being to be stuck on a letter or document as a means of advertising. They include stickers, seals, labels and poster stamps. And a fellow fan of those was none other than Charles Lane Bagnall, who devoted a fair bit of space to poster stamps in the early pages of the "Cigarette Card News".