This week we have slightly moved on from sets issued in January, and moved on to calendars, just as we put our new ones on the wall. However we started the theme on a sideways tangent, with three cards which referenced months, but somewhat indirectly.
So lets start with :
Clue one :
Saturday 3rd of January -
Figurine PANINI [trade : stickers : O/S - Italy] "Mexico 86" (1986) 375/427
Here we have "Jan" Urban of Poland - who is, rather thrillingly the current manager of the Polish International Football team. As for the calendar connection, it is simply that "Jan" is the most usual shortening of January when the full name of the month will not fit into a given space.
Clue two :
Sunday 4th of January
W.A. & A.C. CHURCHMAN [tobacco : UK - Ipswich & Norwich] "Phil May Sketches" (February 1912?) 3/50 - C82-25.B : C/108 [RB.10/108]
This was a rather fiendish clue as the name of the set was nowhere on the card, it was purely derived from the artist`s signature, which, on our card at least, is inscribed beneath the coat of the seated man. And that is Phil MAY.
and lastly, came
Clue three :
Monday 5th of January 2026
HIGNETT Bros. & Co. [tobacco : UK - Liverpool] "Company Drill" (1915) 10/25 - H536-130 : H44-22
This card gave us MARCH, but rather than a month, again, as a military term for a column of men all moving in unison in one direction.
On which note, if anyone else would like to send us any information from their collection which relates in any way to our theme of the week, please do.The e-mail is webmaster@card-world.co.uk - and this is the same for any corrections, or for general cartophilic correspondence and chat.