Newsletter - 2022-03-19

Saturday, 12th March 2022

Our first clue card was this one, of T. (Thomas) Cooper of Liverpool, whose club nickname is “The Reds” – that was how we got the starter clue word.

He was born in 1904.

Hill`s “Popular Footballers – Season 1934-5 Series B No.35 tells us that he was a right back, and had recently transferred from Derby County who secured his services from Port Vale in 1926. He is also described there as “one of England`s most stylish and reliable defenders”.

Carreras “Famous Footballers” (1936)  24/48 tells us that “Last season was transferred from Derby County at a fee said to exceed £6,000". He played in almost four hundred and fifty games and represented England fifteen times; the first of the Internationals was against Ireland in 1928-9.

Like many footballers, the Second World War saw him moving to fields of war not play, and sadly he was killed in June 1940 aged just thirty-six, when his motorcycle was involved in a collision with a lorry. England Football Online has this slightly differently, saying it was “a double decker”, which seems to suggest a bus, not a lorry, and they also have him as aged only thirty-five not thirty-six.

The incident happened in Suffolk, whilst he was serving as a despatch rider for the Royal Military Police, and as a result of his death there was an inquiry at which a ruling was made that military despatch riders were no longer to be allowed to ride their motorcycles without a crash helmet. 

This set almost certainly was recorded as a new issue in one of our magazines, but I have not found it yet. So at the moment it first appears in our original Ogdens reference book, (RB.15, issued in 1949). The text there is : 

84. FOOTBALL CLUB CAPTAINS. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text, adhesive. Cards advertise special album for mounting. Home issue, 1935. Similar series issued by Hignett. 

It next appears in our original World Tobacco Indexes, catalogued as :

FOOTBALL CLUB CAPTAINS. Sm. Nd. (50). See Ha.571.9. Special album issued ... O/2-150

That Ha reference leads us to the Handbook, where it simply tells us it was also issued by Hignett.

Oddly, though most of the text is repeated, this handbook code is omitted in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index.

Sunday, 13th March 2022

A possible triple answer here to our card clue, a nose, a red nose, and a comic or clown – all fitting in really well with Red Nose Day and Comic Relief.

This great card was actually issued in both standard and the large size, and both were listed for sale in the London Cigarette Card Company's 1950 catalogue at 1d. a card or 5/- a set. The fifty cards in the set are split into sub series by the shape and meaning of the nose, each has a prefix letter and a number from 1-10 on the front.

There was also a special instruction leaflet, which is mentioned on the reverse of each card along the side where it says “Leaflet – how to play the nose game can be obtained from your dealer”. And it is a leaflet, very thin paper, usually quite browned, just a single small sheet of paper folded in half with printing on both sides – all of these things have not led to these flimsy and very ephemeral items not having a great survival rate.

Now just like the writer of cardsboard I do not have a leaflet to hand to scan; but I have found one for you to look at on the Cartophilic Information Exchange

As to why this website is interested in this set, well, card C5, under the subset of “The Aggressive Nose” shows a footballer. I am not sufficiently skilled to recognise the footballer depicted, so I cannot say whether it was a sly dig at a particularly violent tackler. But one of our readers might be equipped to do so….

Monday, 14th March 2022

Let us start by admitting to slight confusion (as always for me) over the numbering of this set, as there were 259 numbered stickers, plus ones showing red noses and these were separately lettered from A to Z. But if someone can add this up, I will change the 259+ to the actual figure ! 

The cards showed scenes of the people and charities that the money would be going towards, and unusual cards like this cat and her canine companion, sporting their red noses in a whole new way. But most people today collect it for the cards of personalities, from stage, screen, and sport. 

This year, 2022, marks a change, as Comic Relief used to alternate with Sport Relief until last year, when it was decided to have Comic Relief, now subtly changed to "Red Nose Day" every year, whilst Sport Relief moved into an association with a range of actual sporting events all year round.

The original album for 1995 showed Richard Wilson (One Foot in the Grave), Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), and Lenny Henry on the front cover, and said that “by buying this album you are contributing to Comic Relief and supporting projects in Africa and the UK”.  I have to say that at the moment I know of no other years of this event which were recorded by Merlin stickers; but I can't believe that this was the only year that such a good fund-raising idea was used, so is it just that the others are just really scarce? Anyone out there with any info do let us know…

As this is the first Merlin Card of the Day, we will record a few notes about the firm. This was founded in 1989, by three men who had formerly worked for Panini, Kelvyn Gardner, Peter Dunk, and Peter Warsop. A fourth man, Mark Hillier, joined later.

Their first set was issued the same year, these were "Team 90", and the four hundred and fifty stickers covered players from the English Football League. They were instantly popular, mainly because the World Cup was to be held the following year, in Italy - and they followed that set up in 1990 with a "World Cup Sticker Collection" of three hundred and forty four cards

In 1993 they became a public limited company. 

Their range would eventually encompass not just trading cards and stickers, but books, comic books, graphic novels, magazines, pogs, and games - and not just sport, for films and television shows were also commemorated by their products, most notably Barbie, Batman, Doctor Who, Gladiators, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, Pokemon, Power Rangers, Star Wars, and the X-Files.

And, in 2009, they also, very aptly, produced a series called "The Adventures of Merlin", based on the BBC television series.

It is the sport, especially the football, however, for which they are chiefly remembered today, for it was their "Premier League Collection", first issued in 1994, that really caught on with collectors. This involved a very lucky break, for the Premier League was relatively new, having only started in 1992. There were cards for this, "Football 93", by Panini, but they were not officially sanctioned to produce them. They were also based in Italy, and the Premier League reputedly wanted a British company to make them. They got in touch with Merlin, and the result was "Premier League 94". This was complete in four hundred and seventy nine stickers.

But in 1995 they were bought out by Topps, who kept the company name and continued to use it, starting with "Merlin 95" and continuing until 2008. In between these years they had a very celebrated tie up with Mcdonalds resturants

In 2008 the name disappeared, and the cards were suddenly branded "Topps Premier League". It was not until 2014 that the name "Merlin" reappeared, on Premier League stickers. However this too was a short lived revival, as Topps lost the Premier League contract, to Panini, in 2019. 

The following year, Topps introduced  "Merlin Heritage 95" collectors cards. This was not just using the name though, for the cards and packets were based on the originals of 1995. And in 2021 they issued "Merlin Heritage 97", based on the cards of 1997. However these do not seem to have been added to since then. 

Tuesday, 15th March 2022

Three sets were issued in total, each having 100 cards – the first series being in 1937, the second in 1938, and the third in 1939.

The London Cigarette Card Company handbook, and our current handbook (RB.135) says the first series was issued by International Tobacco Overseas (I635-740 : I/18-6 - also in 1937) and can be found with grey or black backs, (though the Murray Catalogue of Values lists them as black and brown).

However, our original and our current World Tobacco Issues Index both tell us these three sets were issued by A & M Wix and "chiefly in Malaya".

This is also strange because the four issues prior to this, 1935-1938, were dual language (English and Afrikaans), and issued "chiefly in South Africa" through a Johannesburg address, as was the set after ours, "Maxims of Max" (W70-11 : 1950-1951). So I was not really sure why they made the expedition into Malaya, until, of course, looking at the date, the Second World War stopped what was going to be a new territory, and it never restarted. 

The connection here was two fold, for the card shows W.C. Fields (and Constance Moore) in "You can't Cheat an Honest Man." W.C. Fields was a comic, but he was also known for having a red nose, which was blamed on his drinking. However there is reason to believe that whilst he did indeed like a tipple, the red nose could have been through medical disorders, either rhinophyma, or rosacea. Curiously in the medical profession they still use the expression “W.C. Fields` Nose”.

And in the mid 1970s his fame (and that of his nose) was still great enough that the American Noveltronics Corporation retailed a battery tester in his shape where his nose illuminated to show the strength of the remaining charge. 

W.C. Fields appears on quite a lot of cards. On Carreras “Famous Film Stars” 92/96 he appears with child actor Baby Le Roy, a frequent co-star of his, in a scene from “It’s a Gift”, the last of five films he made in 1934 alone. His next film features on Ogden's (and Hignett) “Actors Natural and Character Studies” 14/50, where he is Wilkins Micawber in David Copperfield – and the card tells us that “..the actor found himself so close in type to the part that he had hardly to make up at all”. 

Wednesday, 16th March 2022

These cards were issued with “Mitcham's Cigarettes”, and it is another of those sets which has no title on the cards, and so one was provided for it by early researchers in order to list it in a recognisable way.

I am not certain the one chosen to describe it really fits the bill, for not all the phrases are humorous, but it is an unusual set which contains several cards that fit neatly into thematic collections if you only knew they were there. Ours is a football card which is not so known of, and which might well be added to a few more wants lists now.

There are also several cards in the set which feature smoking either overtly or covertly, and also cards which feature branding for Mitcham Cigarettes on the front, hence “Beautiful Aroma” has it on the side of the carriage, “First Favourites” on the paper of the hoop, one card is simply titled on the front “Smoke Mitcham's cigarettes”, and another “Stick to Mitcham” with an additional “Notice Mitcham Cigarettes” on the sign to which the desperate man clings). Oddly, the words “Mitcham” and “Mitcham`s” are both used within the set.

One of their brands was called “Mitcham Cricket Green”, which is reputedly the oldest still operational cricket ground – its first match being bowled in 1685.

If this sets you wondering why Rutter was so fixated by Mitcham, it was that their address was Ravensbury Mill, in Mitcham, Surrey, though they also had an address of 66 Great Queen Street in Central London. They were founded in 1767, and most of their output was snuff and shag, as it says on the card. 

They bought Ravensbury Mill in May 1805 as a going concern, for it had been manufacturing snuff since at least the 1750s. The proprietor at that time was a Latham Arnold, a tobacconist listed as trading from Newgate Street in London. Some thought that the mill was merely registered as a snuff mill whilst also making tobacco on which the duty, if declared, would have cost more. And perhaps a rival did more than think, for in 1775 there are records of alterations and the premises are suddenly being cited as being tobacco mills. Mr. Arnold died in 1781

In December 1805, John Rutter & Company moved in to a reasonably newly constructed mill, built for, and possibly by, a Martin Peakes & Co, who were tobacconists, based at 6 Newgate Street in London, just three doors away from the premises formerly owned by John Rutter. This new company was jointly owned by John Rutter`s brother Thomas, and his own sons, Thomas and John.

At first Rutter too made tobacco and snuff, but the popularity of the latter declined after the 1900s and they switched to pipe and cigarette tobacco.

They left the mill in 1925, and it was bought by Whitelys. They specialised in making rubber goods for sports purposes, skipping ropes, mats, etc. 
 

Despite their long heritage, they were picked up by Anstie of Devizes in 1925. 

Our card comes from their only set to be available as a set in the 1950 London Cigarette Card Company Catalogue, where it was priced up at £40, the odds ranging from 5/- to 15/-. Usually a straight third raise in this context means the ends, but these cards were un-numbered, so it must have been based on condition. The rest of the cards they issued were priced as odds only, mostly at 25/- to 75/-, though “Shadowgraphs” were listed at 30/- to 90/- and both “Actresses – Rutan” (the version with the rubber stamping to the back) and “Boer War Celebrities” at 40/- to 100/-

These cards were also issued within the United Kingdom by Hudden & Co. Ltd of Bristol (H766-175 : H68-5), also in 1900, and measuring 64 x 34 m/m. These cards have captions, but they are slightly different, for on all the cards which said “Mitcham” it now says “Hudden”, on both sides. This is a set which was so incredibly scarce that to this day just twelve have been seen, and this amount has not been raised since a card from the set was shown in Cameric “Notes and News” New Series, Volume 2, No.7 – that card is reproduced here, though there does not seem to be a word about the set in the magazine… 

Last, but most intriguingly, this set was also issued overseas by Murai of Kyoto in Japan, still un-numbered, but without captions. It was thought that 24 cards were issued, but two more have turned up since 1956. Confusingly it was recorded as “Comics” not “Comic Phrases”. And most thrillingly of all, this set must have come first because some of the versions are inscribed with a two line name to the fronts “Murai Bros & Co. / Cigarette Factory” at base, a name which had Ltd. added after it in 1899. There are two distinct versions of this first printing - M953-025 : M156-3  measures 60 x 35 m/m and it can have the back in (a) blue – or (b) brown – whilst M953-120 has a different back design, only in blue, and measures 60 x 35 m/m. Then there is M953-220 : M156-18, which is both anonymous, and plain backed. 

Thursday, 17th March 2022

Not the “Clowns” set that most cartophilists think of, but this trade set is important social history because it has some things the more valuable set does not, these being the actual name of the clown depicted, and the circus they performed with. So our clown, the beginning card in the set, is Lou Jacobs, who, the card tells us, was “born in Germany” and was with “Ringling Barnum Circus”. This is not too detailed, but it is enough to allow for an online search, and there is a lot more about him at the fascinating Circopedia website, which has everything you ever wanted to know about the circus world

A lot of collectors think this Marlow refers to the place on the Thames, but it does not; the issuer of these cards is a company, based in Hinckley in Leicestershire, which specialised in block paving. And according to our research, it would have been forty years old next Wednesday, a bit of a spooky coincidence, though sadly the company is no more. 

The one thing I wonder is why they issued a set on clowns, but I guess we will never know now. Unless someone from the company is still out there, finds this, and lets us know. 

One thing to bear in mind is that this set looks like it was issued as a complete set, for there are few if any dealers selling it as singles, so if you like the set, be prepared to buy it whole. Some odds are listed online, but it may be quite a task for you to find every one.
 

Friday, 18th March 2022

Just for Red Nose Day, here is the set you expected yesterday, and it is one of the most famous sets in all cartophily. As an added bonus if you look in our original Taddy Reference Book (RB.12) issued in 1948, or the green covered reprint, one of these very cards is the illustration for this set, at figure 6. 

In 1950, these cards were listed by the London Cigarette Card Company from 15/- to 45/- a card – this is equal to “The Klondyke Series”, “Natives of The World” and the second and third series of “V.C. Heroes – Boer War” - but the Clowns were actually rarer as all those series, save the V.C. Heroes, could have been bought as full sets, immediately, from stock. To save you wondering, “Klondyke” was £25, “Natives” £60, and the third series of “V.C.” £40. 

The mystique about Taddy is what holds their value, for they were founded in 1750, started issuing cards in 1897 (these being T045-010 : T6-1 - the 72 cards of “Actresses – Collotype”), and closed down in 1920 because of a strike by cigarette machine operators, during which the owner hastily threatened to close the company if the workers did not return. And those workers stood together. Meanwhile these cards were printed half way, and just left. They never appeared in the packets, and never went back under the printing process and had the planned backs added. Those cards which exist are all hand cut, plain back, and the legend is they were found, taken, cut from the sheets, and kept as souvenirs, then, much later, offered for sale.