W.A. & A.C. CHURCHMAN [tobacco : UK - Ipswich] "The King`s Coronation" (May 1937) 7/15 - C82-60.B : C/84 (RB.10/84)
Here we have the Coronation Chair complete with the Stone of Scone. And we featured the chair before, on a 1911 card issued by Salmon and Gluckstein, which you can see in our newsletter of the 6th of May, 2023, as the diary card for Saturday the 6th of May. However, in between these two cards, both the chair and the stone had been forever altered. You see, on the 11th of June 1914, some suffragettes planted a bomb next to the chair, which was loaded with shrapnel, metal nuts and bolts, and it exploded, when the Abbey was open to the public. Estimates report that about 80-100 people were present at the time but it seems that there were no major injuries, except to the chair, because that lost a corner of the woodwork. Now though the damage to the chair was immediately apparent, it was never realised that the stone had also suffered, actually much worse, for it had been completely split in half. But that fact was not known even at the time of this card; it was only discovered in 1950, when the Stone was stolen, in a daring raid by Scottish Nationalist sympathisers, who wanted it returned to Scotland, the legal owners - for it had been stolen once before, in 1296, by the army of King Edward I, when he invaded Scotland.
Anyway, this is another large sized set with a smaller counterpart, and the pair are described together in our original Churchman reference book, RB.10, published in 1948, as :
- 83. Jan 1937. 50 THE KING`S CORONATION (titled series). Size 2 11/16" x 1 7/16" or 67 x 36 m/m. Numbered 1-50. Fronts printed by letterpress, 4-colour half tone process. Backs in dark green, with descriptions. Printed by Mardon, Son & Hall.
- 84. May 1937. 15 THE KING`S CORONATION. Similar format to (83) but size 3 5/16" x 2 9/20" or 80 x 62 m/m
Now the curious thing about this set is that it was originally issued as a small set in January 1937, which was almost four month`s before the Coronation, for that did not take place until the 12th of May. Then, in the month of the event, but presumably afterwards, it was reissued as larger cards. What that means is that because the two sets are the same, both of them were artist`s impressions, rather than photos taken at the time and transformed into cards.
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index shortens this to
- THE KING`S CORONATION. Nd. ... C82-60
A. Small (50)
B. Large (15)
And this text remains the same, though all on one line, in our updated version - though there is a new card code, of C504-655.
As far as what the fifteen cards were, this is a list :
- H.M. King George in Imperial Robes
- The Champion of England
- The Scene of The Coronation, Westminster Abbey
- Westminster Abbey : Presbytery prepared for the Coronation
- The Confessor`s Chapel prepared for the Coronation
- Westminster Anney, showing Coronation Annexe
- The Coronation Chair, Westminster Abbey
- The Coronation Ceremony : Taking the Oath
- Returning from The Coronation
- The Regalia at the Tower of London
- The Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster Abbey
- Bearing the Regalia from the Jerusalem Chamber
