Card of the Day - 2024-03-17

Sniders & Abrahams Jockeys
Sniders & Abrahams "Australian Jockeys" - Standard Cigarettes (1907) Un/48 - S587-075.1 : S88-8.i : RB.20/8.

Clue number two, and another surname, that of jockey W. Burn

Now a burn is the same as a brook, but in the northerly areas of England and   over the border into Scotland - though you will also find it used in parts of Australia and New Zealand, where people from those areas people settled, and also into parts of America that had Irish emigrants who took the word with them too. It actually comes from Anglo-Saxon, but as Brunnen, which means a well or a source of water. It was later anglicised to Bourne, and we can see it today in places like Eastbourne and Bournemouth.

Let me start by saying I am having very little luck tracking down this jockey, so if anyone can assist please do.

The only things I have found out so far are that he was a lightweight, and that in 1928 he relocated to England to ride for the Australian owner E. O`Sullivan. This was quite successful, and saw him first past the post nine times, not a single one of which I can find. However in the brown backed version of this set it says he rode in the colours of Mr. J. Turnbull. 

But lets see what I come up with by Saturday! And these cards are easier to trace, luckily.

In our original, and now very scarce, Australasian Miscellaneous Booklet, RB.20, published in 1951, this set appears as : 

8. AUSTRALIAN JOCKEYS - blue back (adopted title) Size 70 x 37 m/m. Fronts in colour, with captions at base in blue.(in style of card at 7.A). Blue "Standard" backs (type 1), with "O & A" at base, Issued about 1907. Unnumbered Series of 48. 

Now there are a few things to note here. The reference to 7.A., which is a photo of several assorted fronts, means that the name is below the picture, not within it. As for "O & A" they were Osbaldstone, the printers. It is recorded that they changed over to "O & Co." in 1906, but that some of the sets had already been printed and were not issued until 1908.

In our original World Tobacco Issues Index the set is described along with the brown version, as : 

AUSTRALIAN JOCKEYS (A). Sm. Unnd.
1. Back in blue. (48). See RB.20/8 
2. Back in brown. See RB.20/9 and X20/9. "Standard" brand issues.
(i) Back with "O & A" at base. 52 known  
(ii) Back with "O & Co." at base. 31 known

As you can see here, the brown-backed cards can be found with both the Osbaldstone brandings, which seems to point to some kind of a reprint having been made. 

The updated version of our World Tobacco Issues Index has the two versions together again, as 

AUSTRALIAN JOCKEYS (A). Sm. Unnd.
1. Back in blue. (48) 
2. Back in brown. "Standard" brand issues, multi-backed (60)
A. Back with "O & A" at base (52 known)  B. Back with "O & Co." at base (38 known)