And our last card is our last founder member of the original Europe, Luxembourg.
Here it is called the Gran Ducado of Luxemburgo, and we chose this card because the closest version to the present-day Luxembourg dates from exactly a hundred years before it was issued in 1915, that being the Congress of Vienna, in 1815.
That date is rather interesting, because Luxembourg was given its independence from France by the Congress of Vienna, which was set up to tackle what would happen to the lands and borders affected by the Napoleonic Wars. Actually it was in 1443 that the Duchy of Luxembourg had been sold, and passed into French hands, becoming the property of a Duke of Burgundy. His grand-daughter married into the Austrian Royal Family, and from there became one of the sections of the Netherlands, where it remained until the French Revolution.
It joined the United Nations in 1945, and NATO in 1949. Then, in 1957 it became part of the European Economic Community, less than a year before that came into effect.
You may be interested in a set of cards issued by Liebig in 1951. These are called "The History of Our Provinces - Luxembourg" and they are part of a series of European explorations. Card one shows the land just after it was colonised by Julius Caesar with the new Belgo-Romans and their villas, card two is the foundation of the Monastery at Orval in 1070, card three is Phillipe Le Bon and his minting of money on the march, card four the unsuccessful siege of Bastogne by the Dutch in 1602, card five is printing under the supervision of Bouillion, and card six is the country being rescued by American troops in 1945. The reference codes for this set are [Fada] F.1522 and [Sanguinetti] S.1527
As for our card, we have featured "La Favorita" before - have a look at newsletter/2024-02-03. They also issued a version of B. Morris & Sons, Ltd`s “National & Colonial Arms” which you can read about at newsletter/2024-05-04
Oddly, if you go first to our original World Tobacco Issues Index there is a list of several cards under the issuer of "La Favorita - Fabrica de Tabacos ... Las Palmas, Canary Islands". Our set is listed under "Section 2, Paper-Backed Silks" as :
ESCUDOS Y SOLDADOS DE LAS DIFERENTES NACIONES (Flags and Soldiers of Different Nations). Md. 68 x 48. Nd. (58?). See X50-42 ... F15-11
In this case the "X" is the silks part of the Handbook to our original World Tobacco Issues Index, which you can get either as a separate volume or as a 1975 reprint combining the two books together. Our set appears under "Group 4. Series on white material", along with thirteen other sets. The listing describes the set as :
Escudos y Soldados de las diferentes naciones (Flags and Soldiers of Different Countries). See No.2 at Fig X50-4. Size 72 x 48 m/m. Backed with board, inscribed with series title and name of issuer - "La Favorita Fabrica de Cigarillos y Tabacos". No. 58 highest seen
However in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, this set appears under F, as part of the issues of "La Favorita - Fabrica de Tabacos y Cigarillos de Eufemiano FUENTES, Las Palmas, Canary Islands", under "Section 2. Paper-Backed Silks". Here, it is catalogued as :
ESCUDOS Y SOLDADOS DE LAS DIFERENTES NACIONES (Flags and Soldiers of Different Nations). Md. 68 x 48. Nd. (?65). "La Favorita" brand issue ... F946-820