So today we have a very important part of the Royal Observatory that few people seem to know about, and that is the large red ball on the pole atop the tower.
The tower is actually part of Flamsteed House, and the ball was one of the first public time signals, though when it began, in 1833, it was only intended to tell the time to ships as they travelled along the Thames.
To us, today, it seems quite ineffective, as it only performs three functions and only once a day. These are at 12.55 p.m., when the ball rises up the pole and stops about half way up - at 12.58 p.m., when it goes all the way to the top - and then at 1 p.m., when it falls down the pole to the bottom again. But at that time, when its function became general knowledge, it became quite a thing for the general public to go and watch it rise and fall, and also the whole operation took but five minutes. It soon attracted crowds, and many of the locals would set their own clocks by the rise and fall of the ball.
At that time, too, the hour was constant. Today the clock operates two schedules at 1 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time in the winter, and at 1 p.m. British Summer Time in the summer. And, owing to its age and the fragility of its inner workings, it neither rises nor falls during wind or other inclement weather.
These cards often come up in mixed lots of odd cards and we are often asked about them by members of the general public.
Fax Pax is a way of saying that the cards contain lots of facts (fax) and, like playing cards, come as complete sets (or packs / pax) in boxes. They were not available as odds, and I do not think that any dealers at the moment sell them in that way either, but if anyone does do let us know.
The company was founded in the mid 1980s by Jeremy Brown and Ashley Mickelright in Falmouth, Cornwall, UK. They produced the following sets :
- 1985 - Kings and Queens (40)
- 1986 - Golf (36)
- 1987 - Tennis (38)
- 1988 - ABC and Numbers (36)
- - Fables (36)
- - Historic Houses (40)
- 1989 - Cathedrals, Abbeys and Minsters (40)
- Football Greats (36) - which includes George Best and Pele
- Football Stars (36)
- Forty Great Britons (40)
- 1990 - Scotland`s Heritage (40)
- 1991 - Britain`s Royal Heritage (40)
- 1992 - London (40)
- 1993 - Famous Golfers (40)
- World of Sport (40)
- 1995 - Modern Rhymes (40)
- Nursery Rhymes (40)
- 1996 - Wild Flowers of the British Isles (50)
Many collectors swear that the ABC and numbers cards came first and gave the idea for the rest, whilst others will tell you that the packs of thirty-six cards came first and then the forties and fifties. However our table of issue dates proves both those facts to be wrong.
There are also two sets I have not managed to date, these are "Castles", and "The Old West From A-Z"
Now there is a connection that I have not been able to unravel yet, this is concerning another company, Flash-Pack Cards, Inc. which is an American company supposedly set up entirely to produce three sets, "Presidents of the United States of America - George Washington to Bill Clinton", a companion set of their "First Ladies", and "The American West" (1992). Possibly this is the "Old West" set mentioned above ?
They had a catch phrase of "Knowledge in a Nutshell", but the packs I have seen so far quote the name of Fax-Pax USA. Inc., and two different phone numbers but both of these have the area code for Connecticut.
Now since I wrote this a reader has supplied this card, the same as ours, with all the same information as text, but in vertical format, and it also says "Knowledge in a Nutshell". But where this fits in I have no idea. Do you?