Newsletter - 2021-12-11

Saturday, 4th December 2021

Unusually, this set has no firm issue date, even our original Churchman Reference Book of 1948 has “? 1914”, it is even odder because the dates in this book were supplied to us by Churchman themselves and the printers Mardon and Hall. It is also untitled, you may believe there to be one, because it has those large banners at top and bottom, but not a one contains any notion of a title; this is almost certainly why it is known as “Footballers – photogravures”, “Footballers – photogravure portraits”, and “Footballers – brown”.

The player, G. Holley, actually George Holley, of Sunderland gave us our first clue, (the Holley – or Holly). He was born on November 20 1885, and stayed with Sunderland for most of his life, playing in the 1913 F.A. Cup final, and he also played for England many times, finally becoming became a coach/trainer. He also appears on other cards, F. & J. Smith’s “Footballers” Series 2 (S548-220.2ii - 1909) card 98 which is a curiously numbered set indeed; the confusion seems to have arisen out of the first set of fifty, which was numbered 2-52, because for some reason cards 1 and 13 were not issued. This ought to have led to the second series starting at 53, but 53 and 54 were not issued either, so the second series starts with card 55 and ends with card 104. He also appears on F. & J. Smith`s “Footballers” (S548-220.3 - 1914) 116/150 - which has “varying advertisements” to the reverse, and was also available as pale or deep blue backs, though both were priced at 3/6d a card in the 1950 London Cigarette Card Company catalogue, which means that none was scarcer than the other. Finally he is shown in his England kit on Wills “International-Footballers – season 1909/1910” an overseas issued set which was issued branded for Scissors and United Service from November 1910, and branded for Flag at a different date, (which I cant find). At one time this set was catalogued together as W/242, but now the Scissors version is catalogued as W675-506, the United Service version as W675-532, and the Flag version as W675-431.

George Holley died on 27 August 1942, I first wondered, given the date, if this was a war related incident, but he was almost sixty and apparently he had been unwell for some years. You can see his stats at the England Football Online website

His son, Tom Holley, was also a footballer, and you can see him on a card as well – Carreras “Popular Footballers”(C151-365 - 1935) 31/48. There might be others, of father and son, so do let us know if you know of one

Holly is one of the best known of all the Christmas trees, it may be prickly, but it is sculpturally beautiful, and also comes in a variegated form. It is also a provider of food for many species of birds with its easy to locate bright red berries, and its sharp pointed exteriors give our feathered friends somewhere to hide should a larger predator come along.

Sunday, 5th December 2021

I originally said “unlisted” for the code which is incorrect, as I now have the code(s), having been informed of them by one of our readers, to whom, many thanks.

This set was issued just as Imperial Tobacco rebranded, so you can collect the cards with their original “Imperial Tobacco Ltd” address, or with the later “Imperial Tobacco plc”. Technically these are borderline too, for they are not cigarette cards, nor trade cards, being issued with cigars. In addition you can find it in two different printings, for two different brands, our Grandee, and as, issued two years later in 1984. However because it, and an identical set, P644-370, which was branded for Doncella, were John Player brands, they have come to be cigarette card sets by default.

The incredibly lifelke artwork is derived from original paintings by the Scottish artist Archibald Thorburn. Artnet has a small biography, but it also shows almost three thousand of his paintings. And you can find a full checklist of the cards at trading card database. They also show nine other  
pine marten cards, but does not include ours.

Monday, 6th December 2021

Ivy Duke was a leading British actress on stage and in the early days of the movies.She was born on 9 June 1896. In 1922 she married the actor and director Guy [Patrick] Newall, ex-Royal Garrison Artillery, eleven years her senior, with whom she had co-starred several times. Reportedly they met during the War, at some kind of concert or party. You can find an excellent biography of him at ScreenOnline. They were divorced in 1929, and he married the twenty-eight year old actress Dorothy Batley, in 1930, with whom he had a daughter They stayed married until his death on February 25, 1937. Ivy Duke died on 8 November 1937 (aged 41) and Dorothy Batley in December 8, 1983.

Ivy Duke appears on several cigarette card and many postcards, including Lilywhite “Cinema Stars” card 216, which shows her and Guy Newall, credited as being with George Clark Productions. The earliest cigarette card of her is cited to be the standard and large sized Edwards Ringer and Bigg “Cinema Stars” (E265-550 - 1923) – she is 15/50 in the standard size and 18/25 in the large. Guy Newall is there too, as card 25/50 and 16/25. She is also part of the Godfrey Phillips “Cinema Stars (Circular)” set of un-numbered cards (1924) which uses the same picture as our card; a popular picture, as it is also on Picturegoer main series Postcard number 40. Oddly this must have been a package deal, as Guy Newall is in this set too, and also has that same image as a Picturegoer main series card, number 55 - though I prefer the 40a with the dog, presumably a Samoyed? Then there is W.D. & H.O. Wills Four Aces Brand “Stage and Film Stars”, found numbered and unnumbered, (W675-442 : W/172 - October 1926) 4/50. This set was also issued by Thomas Bear (B203-350 - ), Murray Sons & Co (M970-570 - 1929), and by B.A.T. as an anonymous version.

Guy Newall also appears on several postcards, but I can only find one cigarette card, showing him top hatted and in hunting attire, after what looks like to have been a long day, hopefully the fox won. This is “Cinema Stars OMBI” second series 44/50, issued anonymously by Bucktrout in the Channel Islands, as well as by African Tobacco Manufacturers, branded “Officers Mess” (A210-120) and Indo-Egyptian Cigarette Company of the Dutch East Indies (I460-160), who also issued the set anonymously.

Dorothy Batley is so far still unavailable, but I am looking! And if anyone finds her carded, do let me know.

Tuesday, 7th December 2021

This is the Hippeastrum or Amaryllis, a most attractive plant that is sold in vast quantities for the festive season; it has a large brown bulb which has an inner excitement that does not hint at its inner beauty, for out of this sprouts large leaves and eventually one or more spikes with huge trumpet flowers. It must be supported at that point, or it turns into rather a wobbly structure, forever plunging to the ground and spilling its soil all over the floor.

I have to say I do like this set, especially the black backgrounds which are most dramatic, saying which I also freely admit that it does not always show the flowers off at their best, some of the darker ones blending too much into those backgrounds.

The Amaryllis also appears on several Wix Kensitas silks of varying size, plus cardboard protective sleeves which tell its story – apparently in the language of flowers it means “beautiful but timid”, possibly based on Greek myth, where Amaryllis was a beautiful shepherdess. This source also tells us that the original bulbs came from South America and it was cultivated in England as far back as 1629.

Wednesday, 8th December 2021

This is another frequent Christmas buy, the scarlet poinsetta, a beautiful plant much mis-spelt, especially by me. This card shows it in the wild, in Mexico or South America, and reveals that “sepals, petals and other parts of flowers are really leaves modified or differentiated to serve a special purpose – that of attracting insects.” and that “the upper leaves are brilliantly coloured for … attracting insects to the flowers which are small and insignificant.”

The poinsetta appears on many Christmas cards but not so many cigarette cards. The only other we have seen is by American Tobacco, a silk, issued in 1910, and the title is “Poinsettia”, not so sure it is one, though hybridisation could have meant that this was the original plant and it is just altered to our eyes. Does anyone know any other cards featuring it? It seems a shame if this plant evolved in such a beautiful way in order to attract insects, but not to grace cigarette and trade card collections... Perhaps for National Poinsettia Day, which is tomorrow, Sunday, 12th of December, we can all have a hunt.

This set was only issued in mainland UK and it is a very attractive set, however it does not seem to turn up in many collections. I believe the reason for this is that the title does not explain itself very well.

Thursday, 9th December 2021

This is a very unusual card to celebrate the Holly, and the text tells us that “Cuillinn” shortened to “Cullen” in an Irish place name shows that there is holly in the area. It is also a super, almost lino cut image, which has no artist credit. Perhaps one of you knows who incised it?

There are two sets of “Irish Place Names”, and they were only issued within Ireland, series one arriving in August 1927, and containing an error, or perhaps a correction - on card number 5, the caption either says “Chapel Izod” or “Chapel Izod. Seipeal Iosoilde”, which I believe is the proper Irish version of that name? Maybe one of our Irish readers could tell us?

Time is running on now so I have not any left to check up as to which set was issued in the mainland whilst these were being issued in Ireland. I will add that later and link to it from the front page.

Friday, 10th December 2021

Arm and Hammer is actually not the issuer of these cards, that is just a brand name owned and operated by Church and Dwight, and it is just one of their many products.

They started small, as two men making baking soda in their house, and as one of the men was more willing to have his name associated with the product, it was sold as a product of John Dwight and Company., starting in 1846.

This went on for forty years, until the other man, Austin Church, retired. His sons were not really interested in the business, but they did want his name to be remembered so they set up in business as Church and Co. This was in direct competition to Dwight`s and using the same recipe. This led, not too long after, to a merger being suggested, and the terms of that was that John Dwight & Company were renamed, to Church and Dwight. It seems to me that this was a rather roundabout way of getting the desired result, but it worked.

The firm went along with producing just baking and washing soda for many years, and also issued many sets of beautiful large sized trade cards. Many of these showed birds, and there is an excellent site online about the tenth series And Joe Lill runs a more general site In America, as here, some collectors call them “Arm and Hammer cards” and others “Church and Dwight”. If you collect them, its probably a good idea to add both to your internet checking list

The rapid rise in the company`s fortunes is relatively recent, and it all came from a simple advertisement showing that a box of baking soda, kept in the fridge and replaced on a regular basis, would control any smells that were not supposed to come from a fridge. This came at the start of the 1970s, and for some reason the baking soda seems to have become associated with all forms of cleanliness for body and home, so they now make everything from toothpaste and deodorant to cat litter. And a lot of American consumer will not buy a cleaning product which does not have baking soda listed in the ingredients.