When I originally wrote this card up I said that this set fell in a very fallow period, for I have a large gap between Wills "New Zealand Footballers" - export issue (October 1927) and Wills "Old Pottery & Porcelain" - home issue (large size), issued in October 1934. I now know that this was not so barren a land as I presumed, for we have been able to add several sets by Carreras - these being "British Prime Ministers" and "Malayan Scenes" from October 1928, and "Malayan Industries", along with all three sizes of "School Emblems", from October 1929, as well as their "Believe it or Not", by Ripley, from October 1934.
Sadly I cannot find any link with this painting, or the painter, and October, but we know this set was issued in October 1931. It was painted, by the Dutch artist Frans Hals, in 1624, and it was first exhibited at the Bethnal Green Museum from 1872 until 1875. But we know nothing of its story before 1770, when it was sold at the Hague. And it was only ever called "The Laughing Cavalier" in 1888, when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy, after which it passed into the hands of the Wallace Collection where it remains to this day. And it was only in 2024 that it ever left this country, for an exhibition at the Rijksmuseum, close to where it was born.
As for the set , that appears first in our original Wills reference book part four, where all the "A Famous Picture" sets are discussed. Briefly, these asked the smoker to collect a complete set of the cards and send them in to the address on the back of each card, and Wills would send back a picture of this image, which you would have framed and hung somewhere in your house.
You can see the full listing with our Card of the Day for the 17th of July, 2023.
Our set appears as :
A FAMOUS PICTURE .... Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Complete sections form reproductions of celebrated pictures, and were exchangeable cor full size coloured prints, in accordance with a scheme detailed on the backs of the cards. Home issues
- 211. 48. "The Laughing Cavalier". Backs in blue. Issued 1931
A. Home Series No.5 :
(i) without full stop after "5".
(ii) with full stop after "5" and "Section No"
B. Irish Series No.2 - wording on back altered, Dublin Address
Series similar to items 210-212 were issued by Guernsey Tobacco Co.
The Guernsey version is a slightly different back, for one thing there is no "Series No" to the left hand side, only the section number to the right hand side. And though the text is the same until after the name and artist of the picture, below it all is new, and reads "In exchange for the complete set you will receive a print in full colours suitable for framing on application personally, or by writing to: "GIFTS", WATERLOO HOUSE, HIGH STREET. GUERNSEY TOBACCO COMPANY, LIMITED."
And as far as the entry in RB.21, that only concerns the Guernsey issues, with the section on our set reading :
200-210. A FAMOUS PICTURE. The six Wills home issues and two Irish issues are recorded in W/207 to W/212. The B.A.T. printings are summarised below :
- 211-C . Guernsey Tobacco Co. Issue - "The Laughing Cavalier"
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the entry for our set has been truncated to :
A FAMOUS PICTURE IN .... SECTIONS. Sm. Nd. See RB.21/200.210-212. ... W62-134
- 5. "The Laughing Cavalier". (48)
A. Home Issue - "Series No.5. Back (a) without (b) with stop after numeral
B. Irish issue - Series No.2.
There is a slight catch up, regarding the Irish version, in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, where the entry reads :
A FAMOUS PICTURE IN .... SECTIONS. Sm. Nd. See RB.21/200.210-212. ... W675-172
- 5. "The Laughing Cavalier". (48)
A. Home Issue - "Series No.5. Back (a) without (b) with stop after numeral
B. Irish issue - Series No.2. (Dublin Address)