The story of adjusting time on a seasonable basis is said to have started with the Romans, whose water clocks had different measurements for different months of the year - measurements which varied quite considerably, dropping down to forty-four minutes by the winter solstice then rising to seventy-five minutes by the summer one.
However, adjusting the hours had actually been common practice before that, just not quite so regulated. All they had done was to split the light hours of the daytime into twelve sections, each becoming progressively longer during spring, and shorter during autumn.
Until such time as we use a card which has the numeral "7" on the front this will be the home page, containing all the information on all the sets we have not yet featured.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index they are described as :
- MILITARY SERIES (A). Sm. 70 x 35. 622 known. See ABC/224 and X2-224. Ref. USA/224. ... K32-14
- Coloured Background Types.
1. Inscribed "7" on front. Unnd. (50). Back (a) "Notice" (b) "This is.."
2. Inscribed "8" on front. Bkld. (50) - our set
3. Inscribed "9" on front. Bkld. (30)
4.. Style as (1)-(3) without numeral. Unnd (50)
5. Foreign 1886 Types. Unnd (50)
6. Remainder of Coloured Background Types. Unnd. (26)
- Plain White or Lightly-Coloured Background Types. Unnumbered.
7. U.S. Army and Navy (51)
8. U.S. State Types (85)
9. U.S. and Foreign Types (60)
10. England and N.G.S.N.Y. (50)
11. Foreign 1853 Types (50)
12. Foreign Types 1866 (50)
13. Remainder of Plain Background Types (20)
The listing under X.2/224 is even longer, but lets see how I do. I will say that they use numbers, which are not on the cards, but I will insert the actual card titles with each section on its particular page, whilst here, which will one day be the page for group 8 alone, I will do just that and add the titles of the cards, :
- X.2/224. MILITARY SERIES. (A) Small size. Front in colour. Backs printed in brown. Issued by Kinney. Unnumbered series, 622 subjects. Cards are sometimes found overprinted on back with names of tobacconists, etc. the subjects are listed on pages 13-23 of the American Book of Checklists; a summary of the 13 sub-sets, together with the numbers of the subjects in each sub-set follows. Front "styles" refer to the illustrations in Fig. X.2/224-A, back references to the illustrations in Fig. X.2/224.B
I. COLOURED BACKGROUND TYPES
1. Front in style A-D, inscribed with numeral "7". This is "Collection No.7", but no list of subjects appears on the backs. Two back designs (i) Type 1 ["NOTICE. Beware of Counterfeits and Imitations"] (ii) Type 5 ["This is the most complete" without the offer to include Military Decorations etc]. Series of 50, as follows : No`s 77, 78, 82, 85,95, 103, 105, 145, 157, 110, 213, 218, 221, 222, 223, 249, 250, 251, 253, 254, 258, 260, 261,263, 264, 265. 267, 269, 271, 272, 273, 274. 280, 281, 282, 301, 311, 312, 357, 401, 476, 496, 501, 561, 572, 613, 616, 618, 619, 621
2. Front in style A-D, inscribed with numeral "8". Back as Type 2 [a list of all the subjects], but inscribed "Collection No.8". There are minor differences between captions on fronts and list on back. Series of 50, as follows : Nos. 1, 2, 88, 91, 102, 104, 106, 107, 140, 206, 220, 247, 344, 347, 356, 360, 365, 367, 368, 369, 371, 372, 382, 387, 398, 400, 408, 452, 453, 454, 455, 492, 494, 497, 498, 499, 500, 525, 526, 581, 597, 603, 604, 610, 612, 614, 615, 617, 620, 622.
3. Front in style A-D, inscribed with numeral "9". Back 2 [a list of all the subjects], but inscribed "Collection No.9". Series of 30, as follows : 83, 86, 162, 214, 215, 219, 237, 241, 252, 255, 266, 276, 284, 361, 373, 376, 383, 384, 385, 388, 396, 397, 410, 591, 592, 593, 594, 595, 596, 611.
4. Front in style A-D, but with no numeral. Back 5 ["This is the most complete" without the offer to include Military Decorations etc]. Series of 50, as follows : 3, 79, 80, 93, 98, 100, 165, 171, 204, 205, 245, 257, 259, 262, 270, 278, 287, 308, 309, 346, 355, 358, 364, 395, 412, 450, 451, 456, 457, 458, 479, 480, 481, 495, 527, 528, 576, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 588, 589, 590, 598, 599, 600, 601, 602
5. Front in style E, Foreign (i.e. non-USA), types, inscribed 1886, Name in white panel at base. Back 5 ["This is the most complete" without the offer to include Military Decorations etc]. This group is also found in a variety with the coloured background omitted. Series of 50, as follows : Nos. 297, 298, 302, 414, 415, 417, 421,423, 429, 430, 431, 432, 436, 437, 463, 465, 467, 468, 469, 470, 472, 482, 483, 487, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 535, 536, 540, 541, 544, 545, 550, 552, 553, 554, 557, 559, 563, 567, 568, 569, 570, 571, 573, 574, 575.
6. Remainder of the coloured background types. Includes 18 continental soldiers in style of F, with back 4 [as back 5 but continuing with "Also Military Decorations, Coats of arms and Flags of all nations"]. 3 Vatican types, and 5 Decorations. A few are found with white backgrounds. Series of 26, as follows ;- Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 473, 478, 486, 605, 606, 607, 608, 609.
II. PLAIN BACKGROUND TYPES
7. Font in style G. U.S. Army and Navy Types. A few have light coloured background, and some are found in a variety with fine red dotted background. Back 5 ["This is the most complete" without the offer to include Military Decorations etc].. Series of 51, as follows ;-
do note that these lists are being entered whenever I have time. And the illustration may wait until I can find the original.....
By the time of our updated World Tobacco Issues Index this listing has been altered to :
- MILITARY SERIES (A). Sm. 70 x 35. 622 known. Cards exist overprinted in black on back "M. B. Weidler - 31 West King Street - Cigars - Tobacco" and also overprinted on front "Smoke Le Flor de Curtis - Most Popular 10 cent Cigar". Ref. USA/224. ... K524-240
- Coloured Background Types.
1. Inscribed "7" on front. Unnd. (50). Back (a) "Notice" (b) "This is.."
2. Inscribed "8" on front. Bkld. (50)
3. Inscribed "9" on front. Bkld. (30)
4.. Style as (1)-(3) without numeral. Unnd (50)
5. Foreign 1886 Types. Unnd (50)
6. Remainder of Coloured Background Types. Unnd. (26)
- Plain White or Lightly-Coloured Background Types. Unnumbered.
7. U.S. Army and Navy (51)
8. U.S. State Types (85)
9. U.S. and Foreign Types (60)
10. England and N.G.S.N.Y. (50)
11. Foreign 1853 Types (50)
12. Foreign Types 1866 (50)
13. Remainder of Plain Background Types (20)