Getting near to Christmas now - just seventy-one days. Lets see if we can make it our best ever, but we need your help to do that, so keep sending in all your Christmas cards and we will banish the gloom - and the power cuts. Some of us remember all this before, and we got through it then, didnt we - and without the added assistance of a Card-World to bring us a heady mixture of excitement and nostalgia.
But lets look forward now.....
Gallaher [tobacco : UK] "Tricks & Puzzles" black back (1933) 90/100 - G075-215 : G12-59
An odd fact to start this with, for today Samuel Pepys recorded his first sighting of a garment called a waistcoat, being worn by His Majesty the King, Charles II, though he had been sporting one for just over a week before Samuel Pepys saw him doing so.
The website of The Merchant Fox, tells the full tale, and fascinating it is, so head off and read it. And note they were founded, just over 100 years on.
Our card shows a slightly less reverent action, how to remove someone`s waistcoat without taking off their coat. Why you would need to do this is not stated. Sadly few people wear waistcoats these days so it is probably not a skill that is worth learning, but you never know... and it could be fun practising...
There are two versions of this set, all printed by E. S. & A. Robinson of Bristol. It was first issued in 1924 with a green back, then reprinted with a black one in 1933.
Our black back set is listed in our original Gallaher reference book (RB.4 - issued in 1944) as :
1933. 100. TRICKS & PUZZLES SERIES (titled series). Size 2 1/2" x 1 1/2". Numbered 1-100. Fronts lithographed in full colours with white margins. "Gallaher`s Cigarettes" incorporated in each picture. Backs printed in black with descriptions and "Issued by Gallaher Ltd., Belfast & London." In general this set differs from the original series. Probably printed by E. S. & A. Robinson Ltd., Bristol.
This is shortened in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes to just "TRICKS & PUZZLES SERIES. Sm. Back in black. Nd. (100)
The London Cigarette card catalogue of 1950 seems to suggest that this black back version was issued in two parts, 1-50, and 51-100, or maybe that was just the way they retailed it?
Topps [trade : USA] "The World`s Champions" (2008) card 276 -
Today in 1854, in Dublin, Ireland, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born.
His father was famous for being the Country`s top eye, and ear, surgeon and he was even knighted for it. He seems to have also enjoyed the past, studying folklore and archaeology.
Oscar had a large family, an older brother and a younger sister, plus there were children by his father but not with his wife, some having been born before the marriage and some after. Two of the daughters were tragically killed by fire in 1871.
Oscar was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and then went to Oxford. It was here that he developed his delight in the theatre, and started wearing his hair long. He took after his mother, and loved poetry. He would write prose too, and plays. He had many friends of both sexes, and considered marriage, but did not marry until 1884, to someone he had met a few years before. They had two sons. However after a series of what some would call unfortunate occurrences and others by a determined attempt to ruin him, he was tried for indecency and sent to prison in 1895, eventually ending up in Reading. He was not released until 1897. From his experience he wrote two works, The Ballad of Reading Gaol and De Profundis. He seems to have forgiven the two men who sent him there, for he collaborated on a book with one and lived together with the other for a brief few months until the familes caused it to end.
Oscar Wilde was never in good health after his release and he died, of meningitis, on 30 November 1900.
Wills [tobacco : UK] "Golfing" (1926) 17/25 - W675-181 : W62-144 : W/228
Today in 1860 saw the first Professional Golf Tournament take place at Prestwick. Our card tells us of a legend that "the ancient monks played golf here at the time of King Robert the Bruce..."
The twelve hole course was built in 1851 on the border between the beach and the town by golfer Old Tom Morris, who was the original keeper of the green and the ball, plus the maker and mender of the clubs, and as part of his salary he had a place to live. The first Open event took place today in 1860 and because it was only a twelve hole course each had to be played three times. Eight people took part, and the winner won a belt made of red leather. It was not called the Open for several years, and at some point the prize became the top prize, with cash to the runners up. Old Tom Morris` son won it from 1868 to 1870. This led to a problem for if anyone won the belt three times they were allowed to keep it, so there was no prize and no contest in 1871. However in 1872 it restarted, without the belt, but Young Tom Morris won anyway. It was still held there until 1925, but it was becoming a victim of its own success and the crowds were encroaching on the course and spoiling the game, it was really too small with just the twelve repeating holes. And the Open never has returned, though other events are still held there.
The date of issue of this set seems to vary. Wills own records, printed in their Works Magazine, state it to be June 1924, but it seems to generally be listed as 1926.
Today is the annual celebration of the apple, Apple Day.
Our card may not show an enormously edible apple, for it is the crab apple, but the reason it is here is because it has the other name of Wild Apple, and it was one of the earliest British native trees. The blossom is also very spectacular. It is also from this tree that those bearing our eating apples are descended.
The earliest apple tree was grown in Asia, and its seeds slowly moved across Europe. It is unknown who planted the first seed in this country, but from Europe the seeds also sailed to North America.
Today we have a wonderful initiative called Community Orchards, and these are springing up on neglected land. The aim is to have one in reach of all communities, and there is probably one near you. Some are operated by Common Ground, a charity which started this event, National Apple Day, in 1990. And they have events at harvesting and at planting time. Do go along, for they are always looking for volunteers to help them, even if only for a short time.
Gallaher [tobacco : UK] "Why Is It?" brown back (1923) 16/100 - G075-235 : G12-30
Today in 1752, at the height of a thunderstorm, a man stood on open ground flying a kite.
His name was Benjamin Franklin, and he was attempting to prove that if you flew a kite into the heart of a thunderstorm, with a wire attached to it, it would attract electricity/lightning and this would be conducted down to the ground, or more correctly to the person at the end of the string, aided by the wetness that the rain caused. There is much confusion about the date, but this is one of the many given. There is also thought that though the electricity did travel down the wire it was not as spectacular as some pictures show, for a charge of that size would have killed Benjamin Franklin and probably his son who was assisting. You can also discount pictures showing his son as a small child, as he was in his twenties.
He actually wanted to experiment in a safer way, by getting lightning to strike the newly constructed spire of a Church, but the building was taking too long, so the kite idea was thought of whilst he fretted about someone else proving the theory first, for there had already been experiments in France.
There are three versions of this set, all printed by A. W. Savile & Co. The first had a green back and was issued in 1913 - the second was our issue, from 1923 - and the third, the rarest, had a black back, and was issued in 1925.
C.W.S. [tobacco : UK] "Famous Bridges" (1937) 32/50 - C792-510 : C130-25
One of England`s greatest architects was born today - though you may read that he was born on the 30th of October instead, and that was because in 1632 they were still using the old calendar, at which time the date was the 20th of October. However once we changed to the new calendar he was suddenly moved forwards by ten days.
He is known foremost as being an architect of Churches, and he did indeed rebuild over fifty of them after they were destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. However what is not so publicised is that he also designed smaller items, like this bridge in Cambridge, which was built by his pupil at the time, Nicholas Hawksmoor, who would go on to become another architect of great repute.
The first 48 cards of this set say "set of 48", however there are two cards that were added in afterwards. I do not know which these are, so over to you. I do know that there was a special album issued, but have not seen one, again if you own one do tell us if it was specific to this set or just a standard Co-Operative Wholesale album that would have taken any set.
Today in 1984, Nicki Lauda won his third, and final, Formula One Driver`s Championship. And he did this despite being seriously burned in a crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix, a course he was not keen on and frequently urged the introduction of more stringent safety measures. In fact a week before the race he had tried to organise a boycott until some of his concerns were met.
Despite extensive injuries he only missed two races though he had to wear a bigger helmet so his bandaging would fit inside.
He retired in 1979 to concentrate on another passion, aviation, as he had recently founded Lauda Air. However in 1982 he was convinced by a pretty hefty purse to return to McLaren. He did not stay there long, but it did create a very rare statistic, in that he had driven for both Ferrari and McLaren. He would go on to become a consultant and manager for Ferrari, Jaguar and Mercedes. And he died in his sleep in May 2019, aged 70.
This is quite a scarce sticker, by Panini, though it is more common in Europe, where it was mostly issued. It is one of 288 cards covering all kinds of sports. There were also "puzzle cards", which actually just means that more than one card is butted together to form a larger picture in the album, some are two and some are four cards large.. .
This week's Cards of the Day...
Welcomed you to National Porridge Week, and, as the mornings become darker and colder, we do seem to naturally graduate away from cereal and milk (or water) into something hotter and more substantial. Strangely, there is also a World Porridge Day, today, October 10th.
Now if you want to take part, all you have to do is tweet or insta a scan or photo of any porridge trade cards that are in your collection. The hashtags are #Porridgeweek and #Helloporridgeseason - dont forget to also add #CigaretteCard, #Cartophily and tag in @Card_World.
So how did we get to Porridge? Well....
Friday, 7th October 2022
This is the last unusual card of the week, and it is also an unusual size at 70 x 35 m/m. They are rectangular as usual, but have the addition of two inverted triangular cut outs. The reason for those is that if you got all the cards in this series, put them together as a brick of cards, wound a rubber band around it at those triangles, and flicked through the cards with your fingers, it would give the impression that the golfer was actually striking the ball.
Yes, younger readers, this is the 1930s version of VR.
John Cotton Ltd were founded in the 1770s but only started to make cigarettes in 1920. They are stated to have been based at 172 Easter Road in Edinburgh, but that address, at least the yard, was in use from 1890 to 1920 by a T. J. Meldrum, a sculptor who also made cement and artificial stone. Not sure how these two would have co-existed. Or was it that John Cotton were elsewhere first, and moved into these premises, in 1920, where they started making cigarettes? That sounds more likely. So we just need to find out where they were first.
The company were still trading in 1956, when our original World Tobacco Issues Index was published, but in 1962 they were taken over by Gallaher.
Their brands were "Carolina", "Charter" and "Golden Virginia".
They only issued two sets, the other being "Bridge Hands Folders", issued in 1934, and measuring 82 x 66 m/m.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index this set was known to be one of three -
1. as ours, with A on one side and B on the other (1936) - 2. C and D (1937) - and - 3. E and F (1938)
And it was later discovered that there were two more sets, which are very rare -
4. G and H (1939) - and - 5. I and J (1939)
With that knowledge, lets head over to Pre War Cards / John Cotton for a secret I bet hardly any of you know, because I didnt either.
Our subject, Archie Compston, or more correctly Archibald Edward Wones Compston, was born in 1893 in Wolverhampton. I am not sure why he was chosen as the model, but he was a very proficient golfer who played in the U.S. Open twice, the first ever Ryder Cup, and in a seventy-two hole special match against Walter Hagen, which was played at the supremely magnificent course at Moor Park. Compston won. However it could well be the single fact that he was the golfing coach of Edward, Prince of Wales, later to become, briefly, Edward VIII, and his brother George VI, later to inherit the vacant throne.
Saturday, 8th October 2022
This card, or more correctly sticker, measures 65 x 48 m/m. But we asked you what was the something very special about its date - do you know what? The answer was that it was the first sticker cards issued by Panini, in 1978.
The code comes from our original four volume set of the British Trade Index, specifically from book three, published in 1986.
But I cannot find out anything about Minicards. Anyone out there know any more? Do tell us....
Sunday, 9th October 2022
Of course your clue here was the bears, and a bit of poetic license as I was referring the three bears and the porridge.
I have a feeling we have had this set before but as I go back through the newsletters I will sort that out.
Ha.556 tells us that this set was also issued, in the very same month, with a different back by Nicolas Sarony, you can see the two headers in our composite photo. Strange that they should have gone to such elaborate effect.
But there is another difference between the two sets as well, and that is that our set has matt fronts and the Sarony are gloss.
Monday, 10th October 2022
Here we have our last clue, the Crown of Scotland. Scotland and porridge seem forever linked, and oddly oats are one of a handful of grains that cope with the Scottish weather. They were first grown in Scotland way back in Medieval times, and eaten much the same way as we do today, cutting the cereals and grinding them, then cooking them in a pot of water or milk. However then they were baked in a fire to make what we call oat-cakes today, and turned into a food which they could carry around with them as they travelled from place to place and gnaw at whenever they were hungry. Later, when they became more settled, people still cooked the porridge in the same way and let it go hard to store it. Then it would be consumed in small pieces, often fried, and any left over would be returned to the pot and melted down in combination with new oats. It was only later that porridge was eaten for breakfast as a soft, milky consistency, often enhanced by sugar.
This crown was used by many Scottish Kings and Queens, and it is the oldest one in the British Isles, dating from the early 1500s, perhaps earlier. The first to wear it was James IV, but it was not this exact crown, for it was substantially remodelled in 1540 for James V. There is a theory that this remodelling included enlarging, for in 1542 it is said to have been worn by Mary I, who became queen at just six days old.
The crown has had a very exciting life, it was buried to hide it from Oliver Cromwell, and dug up for the restoration of Charles II. Then when England and Scotland were combined under one King, in 1707, it was locked away and lost. It was not re-discovered until 1818, by no less than Sir Walter Scott, who had been trying to find them for some time. It then went on display in Edinburgh Castle, being brought out on rare occasions, including the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. And poignantly its last outing was to be placed upon her coffin, in Edinburgh, just this September.
Our card was issued in the British Isles and as an export issue to New Zealand. There is a kind of error, where the final S of Crowns has been also seen as much larger than the rest of the word. It is also known that some of the other letters in that title are often found incomplete, like we illustrate on our card.
Tuesday, 11th October 2022
Actually this was not just an Exhibition card, it was produced to celebrate the World`s Columbian Exposition in 1893, in Chicago, Illinois, the first of all the World`s Fairs, and designed to celebrate the anniversary of Columbus discovering America. The Quaker Oats exhibit was part of a larger group, the American Cereal Company, and there was a special booklet issued, which you can see at the Historic New England Site online.
There are several different adverts found on the reverse of this front, and there are also other cards, two of which which are identical to picture 8 and 10 of the booklet above (the building in the snow, and the ladies packing the oats). This seems to suggest that perhaps the other plates were produced as postcards. So are there any in our collections?
Wednesday, 12th October 2022
Morning Foods Ltd issued this set with Mornflake Oats, a brand which dates from the Second World War, being launched in 1941. However the family behind the brand have a much longer story, since 1675, and it still remains in family hands. You can read more about them at their website mornflake.com - and they are not only still at the same address as shown on this card, but they moved there just before the brand was launched.
You can find our set with blue backed cards but these are thought to be printers material that escaped, or were helped. There is only one code above because our original British Trade Indexes are a bit confusing. The set is first listed in part two as MON-9, but part two says that was out of order, it was inserted above I & R Morley Limited`s MOW-1 and it should have been below it as MOPW-9, . I am not sure that helped, but in part four it sorts it out by giving our set the code of MOWD-9.
Our subject is the Golden Arrow, which was introduced in 1926. It was actually a boat train, going to London, then Dover, where the first class only passengers boarded a ferry to take them to Calais in France where they joined the French equivalent, La Fleche D`Or (which is French for the Golden Arrow, though literally it is the arrow of gold). Originally the two trains were operated by the Southern Railway and Les Chemins de fer du Nord (which is French for Northern Railways, for it travelled the North of France. It stopped for the duration of the Second World War, and started up in 1946, though they started with the original carriages. Later it would be operated by British Railways and the SCNF.
This set is another "alike" series, hence the HX70 and the D448 references. It was also issued by Amalgamated Tobacco in 1959 (A495-680 : A46-53) and Barratt Confectionery in either 1961 or 1963 (BAR-890 : BAR-114)
Thursday, 13th October 2022
This card was a packet issue, which had to be cut from the outer box. It seems surprising to me why this system is not revived, for it would allow for the collection of cards, and new blood to enter the market, and it would also not fall foul of the problem with inserting objects with food that may be swallowed or taint the contents. The cards measure 240 x 150 m/m, but as they were hand cut they do vary. Six cards were issued of each subject, which were 1. British Locomotives, 2. Great Moments of Sport, 3. Household Hints, 4. Phiz Quiz, 5. Railways of the World, 6. The Story of Fashion
As of the 20th of October, we have found a bit more out, courtesy of Cartophilic World magazine, and it is Volume 9, Issue 101, dating from September/October 1952, which means the original date above (of 1961) must be amended. That is their first recording, so we may be certain they were issued a few months prior. It reads :
Mr. C. Glidden Osborne draws attention to the current packages used by the Quaker Oats Company for their Puffed Wheat and Corn Flakes. On one side of each package there are six large sized cards printed, one card each from series entitled "Great Moments of Sport", "Railways of the World", British Landmarks", "Household Hints", "Story of Fashion" and "Phiz Quiz". A complete set of these package designs is 36, or when cut into individual cards 216, but the firm states that all numbers have not been printed.
Now there are a couple of things here I dont understand. The first is why I have written Landmarks, but I will check that tomorrow. The second is the 216 cards. How on earth did this work out?
Friday, 14th October 2022
These double sided cut out cards are large sized, and I think it is part of a series but I know little more.
I do know that if you look at the card it is scored in the middle and it was originally issued folded along that line inside a see through plastic packet. That meant that only half of the sitting frog was visible on one side and the other half on the other. Once the packet was opened the standing frog revealed himself. I have been told the name was possibly "transforming cut outs" but this sounds rather wordy and hardly an incentive to buy them. I am not sure how many there were either, but surely not just this one.
A slight ouch is that it turns out to have been issued with Sugar Puffs rather than with oats, but though oats started out promising they quickly petered out. I am forever grateful to Quaker Oats for being so obliging and giving so much of the week.
Thinking caps on readers, and let me know if you remember them or can supply more information.
And there we must hop off for another week. I have a dog waiting to get om my lap! Not bad to time this week though, getting better and faster!
See you all next week, and do tell us if you can supply any more information to the above....