Here we have the second sort of beach, as represented by boxer Harry STONE.
We may not call it a stone beach, but the truth is that pebbles and shingle are just a development of stone, after it has been tumbled and dissected by the force of the roaring tides.
Here we have Harry Stone, who was born Harry Seifstein in New York on March the 4th 1893.
Despite his American birthplace he found himself competing in Australia, where his springy demeanor led to his nickname of "Hop Harry" - and indeed he is in the Australian Boxing Hall of Fame, though this is unsurprising when you learn that he held both the lightweight and welterweight title, of Australia, for some years.
He started out as a newspaper boy, though he spoke no English. He was proud of his Jewish heritage, and when he started to box he would wear a prayer shawl into the ring on his head and shoulders, which endeared him greatly to the audience, especially in his early matches, which seem primarily to be against other Jewish boxers.
The early days of his career are discussed on the American Tobacco Company`s "Champion Athlete and Prize Fighter Series" (1910-1911) - of which the most important name is Abe Attell, whose impressive record includes being World Featherweight Champion from 1906 to 1912. Mr. Attell is mentioned on our card too.
In November 1913, our man travelled to Australia for the first time, to fight Matt Wells, the first Jewish Lightweight Champion of Great Britain, and the holder of the Lonsdale Belt. Our man won, despite what are referred to as unsportsmanlike tactics from his opponent. He stayed in Australia for a while and then came to England to fight Ed Beattie and Jerry Delaney, both of these matches taking part in 1914, just before the outbreak of the First World War.
Our card obviously originates from that English tour, as does his appearance on Cope Bros "Boxers" - both these sets were issued in 1915, and curiously both quote his birth date as March the 4th 1889, not 1893, nor the 1888 which is quoted on the American Tobacco Set. These wrong dates presumably must have been used in his publicity material. The Copes card is quite useful, for it gives his vital statistics "Height 5-ft. 7 in. Weight 9-st. 9 to 10-st", which again vary from the American Tobacco card, that gives "Height 5 feet 2 inches; weight 133 lbs". The Cope card also narrows down the dates of his Australian trip, by saying "Went to Australia, April, 1913, where he won 8 of 10 contests, including 2 victories over Johnny Summers and 1 over Matt Wells."
When the First World War broke out, he returned to America, and stayed there until 1916, when he was asked back to Australia to fight "Kid" Mc Coy. He won the match, but he was also reminded of how much he liked Australia, and he stayed there for the rest of his life, only returning to America briefly at the end of the 1920s, via a match in the Philippines. When he returned to Australia, he fought just a few more matches, then announced his retirement, to get married. He had two sons, one of whom was also a keen boxer, and a gymnasium. He died , in Sydney, on December the 12th, 1950.
There can be quite a bit of confusion, maybe even chaos, involved with collecting this set. The fronts are lithographed in colour and the backs are in green with descriptive text. However, all of that equally applies to another boxing set issued by Ogdens, called "Boxing" - and issued less than a year earlier. Once you see the cards though, there is no doubt, because that set showed pictures of unnamed people fighting, not portraits of famous pugilists themselves. And it was only of twenty-five cards. However that "Boxing" set with the people fighting was issued several times by other makers - Churchman (December 1922), W. Williams of Chester (1923), W.T. Davies of Chester (1924), and Franklyn, Davey & Co (also 1924).
And there is another Ogdens set out there in the card world which has almost identical fronts to our cards - that was issued under the title of "Pugilists and Wrestlers", even earlier, in 1908/9, but it has blue backs, so as long as you check both sides you should be o.k.
Our set first appears in our original Ogden`s reference book, RB.15, published in 1949, as :
39. BOXERS. Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs in green, with descriptive text. Home issue, 1915.
In our World Tobacco Issues Indexes it is catalogued as simply :
BOXERS. Sm. Nd. (50)