Newsletter - 2022-04-15

Saturday, 9th April 2022

Clue Number One was our Saturday Soccer Star. The footballer shown is Bernard Patrick Larkin, born on January 11 1936, and always known as 'Bunny', in fact the text on the card actually says "Nobody ever calls Larkin anything but "Bunny".  Anyway he is shown here during his time at Norwich, though he played for several teams, Birmingham City, Doncaster Rovers, and Lincoln City, Norwich City, and Watford. 

Not many cards exist of him but we have found him in Paramint Cards “Classic Football Stars” second set of ten cards where he is number one, in his Birmingham City strip. The text tells us he joined Birmingham City as a youth player in 1952, and was sold to Norwich in 1960 for £10,000. I don’t know who issued Paramint Cards, but if you do please let us know. 

Chix Confectionery issued these cards with bubble gum, but did not add their own name as the manufacturer, they only credited "Buchan Publications", which has led to the set being referred to as "Famous Footballers (Buchan)" in many dealers catalogues.  This meant they were technically anonymous cards so they were given the reference code of ZB9-17 in our British Trade Index part two, published in 1969, though it was recorded there that they were by Chix.

If you look at the backs of some of their other sets they claim to be “The Best Bubble Gum”, I do not know how that was calculated! 

Another gleaning from the back is that actually Chix was very loosely in London, for the cards say Slough, and a bit of digging puts the factory in Farnham Road.

These cards are a bit larger than normal and it turns out there is more than one version of this set, and I do like that because sometimes, three years on, it is getting rather hard to find a Saturday Soccer Star set that we have not used already. These first appear in our British Trade Index part II (RB.27) published in 1969, where they are listed as : 

FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS. Md. long 96-99 x 51. Nd. 
1. Chix No.1 Series. Album issued.
(a) "Set of 48". Nos 1/24 only issued. (24)
(b) "Numbers 1 to 24" (24)
(c) "Numbers 25 to 48" (24)
(d) "Numbers 1 to 48" (48)
2. Chix No.2 Series (48). Album issued.
3. Chix No.3 Series (48). Album issued.

I have to admit I am not entirely sure which set ours is, so please help if you can...

In British Trade Index part IV, (RB.34) issued in 1997, there has been a discovery, in the 1-48 series, that being that the address line comes in two formats. This is added in as 

(a) London W.10
(b) Slough, England

 This is all tidied up in the updated British Trade Index, though I find it more confusing because surely (b) and (c) are the same set? Anyway the listing reads : 

FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS. 96-99 x 51. Nd. Albums issued. Text variations listed at HC-76.
1. Chix No.1 Series. 1953-54. 
(a) "Set of 48". Nos 1/24 only issued. 
(b) "Set of 24" 
(c) "Numbers 1 to 24" 
(d) "Numbers 25/48" 
(e) "Numbers 1/48 with last line of back address (a) London W.10 (b) Slough, England (1955-56)
2. Chix No.2 Series (48). 1956-57
3. Chix No.3 Series (48). 1958-59

Sunday, 10th April 2022

Clue number two was quite an easy one, because it really looks like a chocolate Easter egg!

This set is actually titled of the cards, but , and they are cleverly numbered to match up with the birds in another set, also by Ogden, called "British Birds" first series, and issued a year later in 1905.  The idea with this was so you could display the bird cards on the top row of your slip in album and the eggs on the row directly below. We have not yet featured Ogden`s "British Birds" first series, but you can read about them with our Card of the Day for the 6th of April, 2025

Our set first appears in our original Ogdens reference book, RB.15, issued in 1949. as :

34. 50. BIRDS EGGS (1904) Titled "Birds Eggs" on back, "British Birds Eggs" on front. Numbered on fronts, numbers arranged to correspond with the subjects in item 47. Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs in green, with descriptive text. Two grades of board  (a) white, semi-glossy (b) off white, matt backs. Home issue, 1904 

Strangely these two different boards also occur in the set of "British Birds" which makes me wonder if when the birds were issued the set of eggs were reissued.

Now right beneath these is another set, 

35. 50. BIRDS EGGS (1923)  Numbers arranged to correspond with the subjects in item 49. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Subjects cut and perforated to stand out. Backs in green, with descriptive text. Home issue, 1923.
Variety : Cards have been reported with the word "Cut" in centre of back instead of "Push" - possibly cards of an export issue 

In the dark recesses of my mind something prickles about it not being allowed for pre-perforated cards to be exported. And it does say "uncut cards are known" against the eggs, the birds, and with "Children of All Nations", so perhaps in these cases the collector had to make their own cut out fold down cards, and instructions were given on the packet? Do let us know if you can tell us more

In our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the earlier set is under section 4 of the Ogdens listings, for sets described as being "Issues with I.T.C. Clause. All issued in U.K. Small size 67 x 36 m/m, unless stated." - and sub-section 4.A, for "cards issued between 1903 and 1917" . They are described as : 

 BIRDS EGGS. Sm. Nd. (50) ... O/2-9

Whilst the later set is under section 4.B, for "cards issued between 1922 and 1939", and described as : 

 BIRDS EGGS. Sm. Cut-outs. Nd. (50) ... O/2-128

In our updated version of the World Tobacco Issues Index, the first of these sets remains identically described, save a new card code, of O100-406, whilst the later version is slightly different, and reads :

 BIRDS EGGS. Sm. Cut-outs. (uncut cards are known) Nd. (50) ... O100-476

Monday, 11th April 2022

And this third clue was the Easter Bonnet, complete with flowers.

These cards are lithographed in colour on a white background. Our original Wills reference book part four tells us this printing was issued between 1910 and 1915 in India. Ones with a different back showing a star and circle branding plus rather bold leaves at the edges and corners were also issued elsewhere overseas by Wills at the same time. And a plain back version is also known, but these are presumed to be from printer's proofs. 

By the time of our next Wills reference book, part five, a bit more had been discovered. Firstly, the date of issue had been set to September 1914. That was a busy month for Wills, as three sets appeared in the 'Scissors' brand, "Famous Footballers"  (W675-496 : W62-355 : W/205A), "Britain's Defenders" (W675-487 C, D and E : W62-345 C, D and E : W/51 C, D and E),  and these "Beauties -  Picture Hats".

Something more important is recorded too, for the British American Tobacco lists this set not as "Beauties - Picture Hats" but as "Quinnell Heads" and this is a vital clue, for it gives us the artist, Cecil Watson Quinnell. I am not certain that this link to the hidden treasure has ever been followed before, which gives me rather a thrill. He was a painter, and book illustrator, specialising in watercolours, and you can actually see him, at Wikitree/Quinnell175 - they give his place of birth as Lahore, in May 1868, but other places give Meerut as his birthplace. His father was a surgeon, presumably in the Army, but definitely in the forces, and he moved to England in the late 1870s, after his wife died, in 1877, in India, and remarried, taking his remaining children with him, some having also died young in India. 

Cecil Watson Quinnell was married, just before the turn of the nineteenth century, and had a son shortly afterwards. We also know he was a member of The Royal Society of British Artists, 

He died in 1932. 

Tuesday, 12th April 2022

You wont find this set in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, because that was published in 1956, though the issuer, Amalgamated Tobacco Corporation, is there, from which we learn that it was “associated with Phillip Allman, 1954 [and was] trading in 1956; also that it “includes brand issues inscribed “Mills” and “Yank” Cigarettes.”

These issues started with the rather unlucky South African medium sized card series “Famous British Ships” (A495-030 : A46-1)  and “History of Aviation” (A495-040 : A46-2), printed but “not used” because of government restrictions, though they were brought back to this country and issued here in 1952; and the curious postcard which was given away with two free cigarettes at the 1951 boxing match between Vic Toweel and ? Boland (A495-990 : A46-11).

Then there are two issues listed as being issued in England, and bearing the Luton location, these date from 1953-1954, and are “Kings of England” (A495-125 : A46-6) and “Propelled Weapons” (A495-135 : A46-7). 

After this pair there was what I could call a hiatus, but which was actually farewell, as these were the last cards issued in the British Isles.

The next issues, including ours, only appear in the updated version of the World Tobacco Issues Index, and this also contains a correction, as the brand “Yank” was actually “Yanx”. These new cards were all issued in Mauritius, though some dealers and collectors still mark them as French. This is because though thirty-three sets were issued with the text in English, four sets were issued in the French language. 

Our set “Animals of the Countryside” is one of the English sets, and it includes this rabbit, symbol of Easter, though technically the Easter rabbit is the Easter Hare. 

It is a curious set because I am not sure that Mauritius has much of the very typical English wildlife depicted. Maybe a Mauritian reader would like to email us and tell us whether this is so? It would be great fun if one of you did…
 

Wednesday, 13th April 2022

This is the White Trumpet Lily, or Lilium Longiflorium, and it actually originated in Japan, on three tiny islands known as the Lui-Chiu or Ryukyu Islands.

It only arrived in England in 1819.

The reason it is here is that its other name is the Easter Lily, because, as the text tells us, “a variety, Harrisii, the Bermuda Lily, is much used for forcing for Easter.” 

These texts are very well written, so it seems a great shame that all we know about this unusual set is that it was thought to have been issued in Malta and Malaya, presumably through British American Tobacco, and that it measures the rather unusual size of 64 x 37 m/m. However, the mention of Bermuda is very intriguing because that was the main growing centre for the lily bulbs which were shipped over to America, and this would tie in nicely with these cards being produced by the British American Tobacco Company.

This card has another link to Easter, for the lily was the symbol of the 1916 Easter Rising, and badges were first produced to raise funds and to remember the dead ten years after the event.

You can read more about this at the anphoblacht website However that lily is technically the Calla Lily and not our trumpet shaped version. 

Thursday, 14th April 2022

This is an unusual set in several ways not least because there are two versions of it by Lambert and Butler, both measure 57 x 38 m/m and have the same fronts. However ours has this green back whereas the other, first listed as L/37 in our original Lambert and Butler Reference Book, is in dark blue. In the World Tobacco Issues Indexes this has been altered so it is not a different number but an (a) and (b) of the same set.

My trusty 1950 London Cigarette Card Catalogue tells me that the dark blue cards were actually thicker, but I have no other mention of this. They retailed odds of the green backs at between 8/6d and 25/- with sets available for £50. However the blue backs were only offered as odds and they were priced up at 25/- to 80/-

Now this set was also issued by two other companies after this, but you will not find either in the 1950 London Cigarette Card Catalogue. 

The next issue was by W.D. and H.O. Wills, between 1901 and 1907, and there are several versions, but these are considered to have been issued in Australia, so were outside the scope of the LCCC Catalogue which only dealt with British cards. However some believe that they did have an issue in the UK, and that the basis for a purely Australian issue is simply that they were mostly discovered in Australian collections. The reference codes on this are W675-572 : W/21.

The third issuer was Typhoo Tea, in 1915, as a set of 25 cards only. The reference codes on this are TYP-220 : SUM-33

Now you may think that this 1899 card is the original usage of this little joke, but according to wikipedia it was first told in the 1840s, some 50 years before our card.

It seems nothing really is new in this world!
 

Friday, 15th April 2022

This shows the two main symbols of Easter, the egg, universal symbol of rebirth, and the hot cross bun with its religious cross but also as a pagan symbol of Spring. 

Today there are many weird and wonderful combinations of Easter Egg and Hot Cross Bun, and every year the makers vie to make the most extravagant and newest, Some may feel this is a gimmick, but I am not so sure. Isn`t the important thing to encourage new people to follow the old traditions so they stay alive ?

This is more or less the same set as the Wills original but issued by British American Tobacco. However we do not know where or with what brand. We may know where later as I now remember that this info is often in the front index of the British American Tobacco booklet, RB.21, and I only looked at the text, where it is simply described as a "General Overseas Issue".

If you compare this to the W.D. & H.O. Wills version you will see that they did not only change the back but they removed the maker`s name from the front. In our card this was easy to do, as it was on the plain white background, but on some cards that title was on top of a multi-coloured background and it must have been a mighty job to do.