This was the card that we were going to have yesterday, until I saw it gave the game away in the top left-hand corner.
The text on the reverse tells us that “In 1785 a patent for a Life-boat was granted, and Greathead launched his first Lifeboat in 1790.” It also tells us that “The Royal National Lifeboat Institution started its great service in 1824”.
This set, like several other Sarony issues, was issued in a medium version and a small one. The pair appear in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
SHIPS OF ALL AGES. Nd. (50)
A. Small, 63 x 37
B. Medium, 76 x 52.
It is much the same in our updated version, except it is further reduced to a two line inscription, the title as line one and the two sizes as line two, shown as simply “Sm.” and “Md.”