This card shows a Bird`s Nest Sponge, slightly mis-named as the size of the hollow top structure can also be tall like a chimney. I say this, but they are never more than ten inches tall. They were first discovered in 1869 and named Pheronema Carpenteri, so this card was only issued about thirty years after, and would almost certainly have been one of the first times that the general public ever saw one. However it seems that Player call it Pheromena Grazi, which I cannot find anywhere. Maybe a reader can enlighten me there.
These are not a rare species, in fact it is said that they are the most plentiful of all sponges - and they inhabit a large area of varied waters, the deep Atlantic Ocean, the heat of the Mediterranean Sea, and the cold waters around Iceland.
However whilst this fine specimen is free floating, they usually live right on the bottom of the sea floor, sunk deep amidst the mud. And so we know very little about them, not even basic facts, like how and what they eat, how they reproduce, what they do with their days, or how long their lives are.
As for the ghostly "tentacles" which hang beneath, they are thought to be simply a way of fastening themselves to the mud
The set first appears in our original John Player reference book, RB.17, issued in 1950. It turns out to be a more complex issue than I had thought, and the cataloguing reads :
200. WONDERS OF THE DEEP. Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs with descriptive text. .
A. Backs in blue. Home issue, August 1904. Variety : No. 23 (Lobster) - caption at (a) top (b) base
B. Backs in black. See Introduction "Series with Black Backs"
Shame I did not know about the lobster card until now, but this week has been a kind and gentle one, lots of soft floaty things, I am not sure a lobster would have fitted in.
Let us start with the last section of the listing, which appears in the front of the booklet as :
Series with Black Backs.
In the case of items 65 [Cries of London 2nd Series], 133 [Napoleon], 155 [Products of the World, scenes only], and 200 [our set], printings of the series are found with black backs.
No concrete information is known as to the origin of these printings, and the cards may be un-issued proofs. As all the series bear the I.T.C. Clause, they would if issued regularly have been used for circulation in the United Kingdom. The quantities found, however, appear to point against issue at home. Most of the cards seen are not machine cut and many can be traced back to the printers.
In the absence of definite information as to issue, the printings have been cross referenced in the text to this paragraph , and appear in the summary under "F - Miscellaneous"
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index it is listed as simply :
WONDERS OF THE DEEP. Sm. Nd. (50). See RB.17/200.A and H.365. ... P72-55
And not much changes in our updated version, where the text reads :
WONDERS OF THE DEEP. Sm. Nd. (50). Back in blue. See H.365. ... P644-120
I was not sure what is in H.365, but it turned out to be rather amazing, namely :
H.365. WONDERS OF THE DEEP. (titled series). Fronts in colour. Series of 50.
Pre 1918 - Player - Numbered.
A. Backs in blue.
B. Backs in black - may be a proof issue.
Trade - Kardomah Tea - unnumbered. Based on the Player issue, but with the subject at No.33
(The Scorpion Shell) substituted with The Hermit Crab.
Two miniature sizes:- A. 47 x 35 m/m B. 54 x 40 m/m.
So now I have had time to look at the trade indexes and tell you all about that Kardomah issue. I still do not know why the Scorpion Shell was ousted in favour of the Hermit Crab, and I would be very interested.
However, what I have discovered is that the Kardomah issue is listed in our updated British Trade Index , and that it was not the only John Player set to be used by them as the basis for another set. The listing reads :
Back B [ "KARDOMAH" TEAS are unsurpassed! Without "Full weight ...." clause. Subject in small capitals. "42 Dale Street, Liverpool", without "For Home"]
Size a) 47 x 35 b) 54 x 40. Coloured half-tones, caption on back only. Unnd. (100). Two issues. ... KAR-040
1. Wild Animals (A) Unnd (50). Based on set issued by Player, see British Tobacco Handbook H.77. See HX-216
2. Wonders of the Deep (A) Unnd (50). Designs mainly based on set issued by Player, see P644-120 (Tobacco Index). See HK-4