Card of the Day - 2024-04-15

Wills Auction Bridge
W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK - Bristol] “Auction Bridge” (July 1926) 7/25 - W675-153 : W62-117 : W/136 : RB.21/200-136.A

This card has two links to our theme, for the set is called “AUCTION Bridge”, and the title of this particular card, on both front and back, is “How Would You BID?

This seems an odd subject for a card, and I am sure some of our readers would find the front rather uninspiring. However it is not a one off, for a very similar set, fifty cards on "Contract Bridge", was issued in 1935 by W.A. & A.C. Churchman, with a central green square and letters surrounding it on each side to show the bids.

Auction Bridge was the earliest ever form of the game of Bridge, and it was first recorded as being played in 1904. The game involves a deal of two phases. First up is the bidding, in which players bid against one another to set the lowest amount of cards they think it will take to win. Those cards are called tricks, and they are comprised of four cards, or one from each of the other players in turn. Then they play the game and try to equal the amount they entered as their bid.

And if there is a bridge player who would like to explain this better please do! 

The set is first described in our original Wills reference book part IV, as :

136. 25 AUCTION BRIDGE. Large cards, size 79 x 62 m/m. Fronts printed by letterpress, bridge hands in green, red, black and white. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issue, 1926.

When it appears in our original World Tobacco Issues Index though, there is an extra clue to follow. The description there is :

AUCTION BRIDGE. Lg. Nd. (25). See W/136 and RB.21/200-136.A … W62-117

This listing is identical in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, except for the code which has changed (to W675-153)

Now RB.21 is the British American Tobacco Company Booklet, and that was printed in between our original Wills Book part IV, and our World Tobacco Issues Index. The listing in there reads :

200-136. AUCTION BRIDGE. The recording in W/136 requires to be amended as follows :-
A. Wills Home Issue. Size 79 x 62 m/m
B. African Cigarette Co. Issue. Size 80 x 60 m/m, headed front and back “Clyma Cigarettes”. All text in Dutch.

There is a bit more information about this second version in the index by firms in the front of the book. They were based in Cairo, and issued two sets, a version of “Actresses – ALWICS” in Egypt between 1905 and 1908 that were inscribed “Battle Ax” Cigarettes, a brand issue known to have been used by British American Tobacco, and their version of our set, which is catalogued as : "Auction Bridge (1926 – Dutch Possessions)".

In fact our original World Tobacco Issues Index tells us that this company was an “Egyptian associate of B.A.T.”, so that probably ties the other sets issued under this brand into this company, though they still appear in catalogues as British American Tobacco.