Card of the Day - 2024-05-06

Sarony A Day on the Airway large
Nicolas Sarony & Co. [tobacco : UK – London W1] “A Day on the Airway” (February 1928) 21/25 – S111-250 : S26-10.B

This card shows the Hague Peace Palace, which, the card tells us, was opened in August 1913.

It is here for two reasons, firstly, that it is in the Netherlands, which. as you discovered above, was another one of the first countries to join Europe, and, secondly, further stressing that "Europe" was an idea intended to provide lasting peace between the nations, something that had sadly not happened after the original peace treaty of 1918, because it, and its stringent reparations, had almost certainly led to the Second world War. 

The picture for this card, by the way, was supplied by Imperial Airways, so it might just be a set that an airline collector reading does not know of….

Now if you look on the inside back cover of our Lambert and Butler reference book (RB.9, published in 1948), a book covering the Sarony issues was planned. It is listed as : 

17. Rothman, Sandorides, Sarony, Teofani, Westminster, Wix. 

This would not have been RB.17 though, because numbers 1 to 10 were already printed. In addition, books 10 (Ogden), 14 (Phillips), 18 (Taddy) and 19 (Wills part II) were asterisked to show that they were earmarked for the 1948 programme. In the end this proved incorrect, Wills Part II was first out, as RB.11, immediately followed by Taddy, as RB.12, and both within 1948. Phillips came next, RB.13, but in 1949. Ogden`s (all issues, exclusing “Guinea Gold” Series) was RB.15, also in 1949, but it had been bumped by a volume not even on the list, Wills Part III.

As for the volume on “Rothman, Sandorides, Sarony, Teofani, Westminster, Wix” …  it was never mentioned again.

That means this set first appears in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as 

A DAY ON THE AIRWAY. Nd. (25). Special Travel Book issued … S26-10
A. Small. 68 x 39.
B. Large. 78 x 63.

This almost identical in our updated version, except for a new code, and the text is only on two lines, the sizes being squeezed on to one line, abbreviated to “Sm.” and “Lg.” and followed by each measurement.

The "Travel Book", by the way, was a special album, and for how to receive one you just had to look at the bottom of each card, where it says :  “Collect Nos. 1-25, post them to Nicolas Sarony & Co, and receive a handsome travel book in which to mount your set.”

This is very much the same idea as we have featured before with another of Sarony`s sets, namely :

and, just as that set, these cards are in the same two sizes, small and large. They also measure exactly the same as the two versions of this set.