Question 4:
Can Turkeys Fly?
And the answer is... again...yes, and no.
We will deal with the "yes" today, for this bird on this card could certainly fly, and fast, attaining speeds of approximately fifty-five miles an hour. They are also gifted with excellent vision, much better than a human`s, and in addition they have colour vision, unlike many species of the animal kingdom. The back of this card tells us something else very pertinent, that being that the male turkey is "...three feet or more in length and weighs as much as thirty pounds". It also ties down the area of "The Wild Turkey" as being "the eastern half of the United States, north into Canada, northwest to some parts of the Missouri region, southwest to Texas and through Mexico."
Now this set turns out to have several permutations - plus a bit of slight confusion, but more about that in a minute. Anyway, as this is the first time we have featured a card from this group, it becomes the homepage for this entire grouping, and where all the various information, plus links to the constituent parts, will appear.
Let`s start with our original British American Tobacco reference book, or RB.21, where they are all listed as :
324, BIRD SERIES or GAME BIRD SERIES. Small cards, size 68 x 38 m/m. Front in colour, fancy frames, different on each picture. Back with descriptive text. Series of 30.
A. Anonymous issue, with letterpress on back. Burdick C.45. Titled "Bird Series". Back in blue, inscribed at base "Series of 30". Numbered.
B. I.T.C. of Canada issue. Serial 9864. Burdick C.14. Titled "Game Birds Series". Back in green, inscribed at top "Series of 30". Numbered, in different order from A.
C. U.S.A. 20th Century issue. Burdick T.43. Titled "Bird Series". Back in black, inscribed "Mecca Cigarettes". Factory number at base. Unnumbered, listed in American Book of Checklists.
Note - A further "Bird Series" of 100 subjects, different from the above, is recorded in Burdick T-42
Now that T-42 tacked on as the note at the bottom is nothing to do with our set, and it is easy enough to discount as it does not have the fancy gold frames, just a rectangular picture, with a straight gold border around it, and to the outside of that on all four sides a straight white margin right to the edge of the card. You can easily compare a card from that set, because we used one as our Card of the Day for the 4th of September, 2024
If we move to Jefferson Burdick, and his American Card Catalogue, we can track what he wrote about the constituent parts of our set.
First up in the above list is 324.A., the anonymous issue. This is recorded as "C.45 - Bird Series. (30), as T.43" and he values these at five cents. The "C" stands for Canadian Tobacco Cards, and it is under that section where our "324.B" Imperial Tobacco of Canada branded set also appears, listed as "C14 - Game Bird Series (30) as No. T.43 reversed." They are also valued at just five cents a card. And, as far as the "324.C" set, that is listed as "T.43 - Bird Series (30) Mecca, fancy gold frame. He liked these slightly better, valuing them at ten cents a card, though I think that is more reflective of the fact that he was more interested in American tobacco cards than anything else.
Now I have not been able to track down our card in that Mecca printing, so if anyone can show us that it is a reversal of this card, with the turkey facing the other way, please do.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index this was sorted out into a slightly different way - namely
A. The Anonymous set, appears at the back of the book, as part of the Overseas Issues Through B.A.T., as "BIRD SERIES. Sm. 68 x 38. Nd. (30). See RB.21/324.A. Issued in Canada. Ref. USA/C.45 ... ZB4-8" -
B. The I.T.C. (or Imperial Tobacco of Canada) set, appears as : GAME BIRD SERIES. Sm. 68 x 38. Nd. (30). Serial 9864. See RB.21/324.B ... I/6-24
C. The "Mecca" Set actually comes under American Tobacco Group Issues, but I will add those later