So yesterday we ended abruptly, but now we can continue, with an introduction to Joseph Storrs Fry. He was born in Bristol in 1767, and his father was a manufacturer of what may seem two very unlikely things, chocolate and soap, though he also ran a printing business. The chocolate making had led to a proper factory, and a business, called "Fry, Vaughan, and Company", but it does not seem that this side took off until Joseph took over, in 1795. Some say this was because his father had died, but it is written in such a way that suggests our man just took it over, though it seems likely his father had died because it has been renamed, in his mother`s name. However, in 1795 he would have been eighteen, newly come of age, maybe it was gently gifted to set him off in a career, or maybe he expressed an interest. We will never know that. We do know that he was keen to expand and to mechanise, and he ground his beans by steam power, using a machine he got from none other than James Watt.
His mother died not long after, in 1803, adding more weight to the demise of his father, as they were presumably of similar age. Our man then took a partner, a Doctor Hunt, and a wife, Ann Allen, with whom he would have seven children. Three of these are the sons in J. S. Fry & Sons, the name that the company took when Doctor Hunt retired in 1822, so it seems likely that the other four were daughters.
Our man died in 1835. So it was not him at all who in 1847 was looking for something novel to sell and he stumbled on the old idea of splitting off the fat from the cocoa. He went back to the cacao bean, and ground it without removing anything, then used it to form a liquid paste which he added sugar to and poured into moulds. They were pretty basic moulds, just a bar shape, but suddenly he realised he had invented a bar of chocolate.
It had its faults - for one thing, even with the sugar, it was bitter, and it was a very dark colour, hence the name, that we use to this day, of "dark" chocolate.
What we know as "milk" chocolate was something else entirely, and for that you can thank the Swiss chocolate maker called Daniel Peter.
This is a very unusual card, and made more so by the fact that you will not find it listed in our updated British Trade Index, save for the brief mention, in the heading, of "Some cards issued in Canada".
In fact, it is only in our original British Trade Index that this set, and three others, appear, described as :
5. CANADIAN ISSUES. Inscribed with Montreal address. Issued 1928-1934.
- CHILDREN`S NURSERY RHYMES (A). Sm. 66 x 36. Nd. (50) ... FRY-37
- RADIO SERIES. Sm. 65 x 35. Nd. (25). USA/V.38 ...FRY-38
- SCOUT SERIES - SECOND SERIES. Sm. 65 x 35. Nd. (50) USA/V.40 ... FRY-40
- TREASURE ISLAND MAP. Sm. 66 x 35. Nd. (50). USA/V.41 ... FRY-41
The first thing that stands out from this is the fact that there is only a second series listed for the scouts and not a first. This is made even more obvious by the numbering, which skips between 38 and 40 in both the USA catalogue and our card codes. This seems to suggest that it was believed that a first series would turn up, and could then be more easily slotted into the right place.
There is another theory, and that is that the so called first series was the British home issue, by Fry`s, just renumbered, and shipped to Canada. There are several rather unplausible reasons cited for Fry issuing their set once, and then changing the numbers and issuing it all over again, but the idea of reprinting it with those different numbers and then shipping it off to the Dominions is a much more sensible one. And it is made even easier by the fact that there was no address on the British version, only the following wording : "FRY`S / PURE COCOA / & CHOCOLATE. / 300 GRANDS PRIX, GOLD MEDALS &c / Makers to H.M. THE KING." Anyway, after that run had ended, that would have been the perfect time to introduce a brand new "Second Series", in Canada alone.
Returning to our set, there is another question, for the reverse states "PASTE SET OF 50 CARDS ON PIECE OF PAPER TO FORM TREASURE ISLAND MAP. RETURN COMPLETED MAP AND RECEIVE TREASURE CHEST OF CHOCOLATES FROM ANY OF THESE ADDRESSES. YOUR MAP WILL BE RETURNED." This makes it sound like the map you stuck down would be returned, not new cards, so that could account for the scarcity of this set today, as almost certainly the maps, once so carefully pasted, were all thrown away on their return.
As for the addresses, even more curiosity, for they prove that this set once had an amazingly large distribution area, right across :
- 2025 Masson St., Montreal
- 29 Melinda St., Toronto
- 113 Market St. East, Winnipeg
- 215 10th Ave. West, Calgary
- 856 Cambie St., Vancouver
- Truro. N. S. [Nova Scotia]
This means that there ought to be so many cards floating about that we are finding them everywhere, especially in Canada. And yet we are not.
Now since starting this i have learned that there is a page on the Hobby News Daily.com website which not only shows all the cards, but the packet from "Fry's Treasure Island Bar". In fact it was not just a map, it was a puzzle, "Find the Pirate!", and the answer to that puzzle is also shown on that site.