This card shows the African Wild Ass, which is believed to be the ancestor of today`s donkey.
Originally they were to be found across the desert regions of that continent, all the way into Egypt and the Sudan, but today they seem more concentrated in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, and their numbers are dwindling, fast, to the point that soon there may only be five hundred left to wander.
Like the donkey, they are small, but can get to the size of a pony, about fourteen hands. They are much lighter though. This card shows a brownish colour. slightly darker than a dun, but they are mostly light grey or a very light fawn, this card is much too colourful. They share that colouration with most donkeys, and also have the same dorsal stripe of darker brown or black hair along their spine. However only the wild asses found in the Nubian region have that line branch down their shoulders, to form a cross when viewed from above without a blanket or a rider; something that also appears in the donkey; whilst those from Somalia have striped legs, something which occasionally shows up in the donkey, proof that they share bloodlines, somewhere along the evolutionary chain, with the zebra family.
This set is first catalogued by Jefferson Burdick, as :
- T.29 - Animals. (80). Hassan, Lg.
40 each, with and without back description, also plain backs. Issued abroad with Cross Cut or Chinese backs.
He values them at five cents a card.
We first record it in our reference book to the issues of the British American Tobacco Company, RB.21, published in 1952. It is filed in "Group 6 - Other Multi-Area Series",as :
- 299. ANIMALS. (Adopted title). Large cards, size 82 x 64 m/m. Front in colour. Unnumbered series of 80, listed in American Book of Checklists, under T.29
A. Cross-Cut Cigarettes issue. Back per Fig 299.2 in brown
B. U.S.A. 20th Century issue, Burdick T.29. "Hassan" back in grey-black, 40 subjects with advertisement back, 40 with descriptive text, as illustrated in Fig. 299.1
in our original World Tobacco Issues Index they are listed as follows :
- ANIMALS (A). Lg. 82 x 64. Unnd. (80). See ABC/T.29 and X21/299.B. Ref. USA/T.29 ... A54-4
(a) "Hassan" brand issue
1. Back with descriptive text (40)
2. Back without descriptive text (40)
(b) Plain back. Front with "Factory 25" wording
Curiously section a.1 (with the descriptive text), are in vertical format, back and front whilst section a.2 (without the descriptive text and with the "Hassan" advert) are in horizontal format, back and front.
Now the entry at X21/299, which is in the accompanying handbook to the World Tobacco Index, throws up a huge can of worms, because it reads :
- X21/299 ANIMALS. Large size. There are further Chinese printings of this series and all printings known are summarised below. The 80 subjects are listed in ABC under T.29
A. B.A.T. "Cross Cut Cigarettes". Back illustrated at Fig.299-2 in RB.21. Unnumbered series of 80
B. A.T.C. Group issues. Reference USA/29. Unnumbered series of 80
(a) "Hassan" back in two styles. See RB.21/299.B
(b) Plain back. Front inscribed with "Factory 25" wording
C. Anonymous Chinese issues, with front per No.1 at Fig. X21/299 caption in Chinese. Numbered series of 22
(a) Plain back. Size 84 x 64
(b) Back in Chinese, per No.2 at Fig. X21/299, in brown. This is the untraced set C.18 on page 54 of RB.21. Size (A) medium, 66 x 51 (b) large, 84 x 64. The back is known as "Sundry Back 57.A", see set ZE6-1 in the World Index.
Lastly, in our updated version of the World Index they appear as :
- ANIMALS (A). Lg. 82 x 64. Unnd. (80). Ref. USA/T.29 ... A565-008
(a) "Hassan" brand issue, F.30 and 649
1. Back with descriptive text (40)
2. Back without descriptive text (40)
(b) Plain back. Front with "Factory 25" wording (40 - as printing a.2
Only one of these above references mention the fact that this set was also issued as a trade set. That was Jefferson Burdick who knew of the Weber Baking Company of Irvington, New Jersey, and catalogued them as :
- D.9 - ANIMALS. (80). Weber Bros, as T.29
He valued them at only three cents each, though it is curious that he cross references them here to, but not from, the tobacco version.
Today we know that there are more trade versions - by Gridley Butter of Wisconsin, and Krug Baking Company of Jamaica - but that Jamaica is in New York, the "L.I." in the address standing for Long Island (though it is actually in Queens).
We also know that on the Weber version the card of the African Wild Ass is facing the other way to our card - hence we have this list of all the cards, on which the variations will eventually be noted.
- Addax (Hass.L )
- African Bush Pig (desc. R)
- African Jumping Hare (Hass.)
- African Sea-Eagle (desc.)
- African Wild Ass (Hass.)
- Arabian or Sacred Baboon (desc.)
- Arabian Thorny-Tailed Lizard (desc.)
- Baboon (Hass.)
- Banded Mongoose (desc.)
- Bataleur Eagle (desc.)
- Black-Backed Jackal (Hass.)
- Bruchell's Zebra (Hass.)
- Brush Tail Porcupine (desc.)
- Brush Tailed Porcupine
- Bushbuck (desc.)
- Cat (desc.)
- Cape Buffalo (Hass.)
- Cape Hunting Dog (Hass.)
- Cape Oribi (desc.)
- Cheetah (desc.)
- Chimpanzee (Hass.)
- Civet-Cat (Hass.)
- Dorcas Gazelle (Hass.)
- Eland (Hass.)
- Elephant (Hass.)
- Fennec (Hass.)
- Fischer's Chameleon (desc.)
- Fraser's Flying Squirrel (desc.)
- Genet (desc.)
- Nubian Genet
- Giraffe (Hass.)
- Goliath Heron (desc.)
- Gorilla (Hass.)
- Guereza Monkey (desc.)
- Guib (advertising backs)
- Hartebeest (Hass.)
- Hippopotamus (Hass.)
- Hooded Cobra (desc.)
- Horned Guinea Raven (desc.)
- Impala (desc.)
- Jabiru (desc.)
- King Crane (Hass.)
- King Vulture (Hass.)
- Klipspringer (desc.)
- Konzi (desc.)
- Kudu (desc.)
- Lalande's Dog (desc.)
- Lechwe (desc.)
- Leopard (Hass.)
- Lion and Lioness (Hass.)
- Magot Macacus inuus Magot or Barbary Macaque
- Mandrill (Hass.)
- Marabou (Hass.)
- Meerkat (desc.)
- Nile Crocodile (Hass.)
- Okapi (desc.)
- Orang Utan (Hass.)
- Ostrich (Hass.)
- Porcupine (Hass.)
- Red River Hog (Hass.)
- Rhinoceros (Hass.)
- Ring-Tailed Lemur (desc.)
- Roan Antelope (desc.)
- Ruppell's Vulture (desc.)
- Sable Antelope (Hass.) (desc.)
- Secretary Vulture (desc.)
- Serval (desc.)
- Snake Hawk (desc.)
- South African Fox (desc.)
- Spotted Hyena (Hass.)
- Springbok (Hass.)
- Striped Hyena (Hass.)
- Tiger (Hass.)
- Vulture-Like Guinea Fowl (desc.)
- Wart-Hog (Hass.)
- Water Buck (Hass.)
- Water Chevrotain (Hass.)
- White Bearded Gnu (desc.)
- White Tailed Mongoose (desc.)
- White-Tailed Galago (desc.)
- Wildebeest (Hass.)