Welcome to another Saturday - and another newsletter. It isnt really Saturday, but the intro and outro generally get written last as they do not involve a lot of research.
I start looking for the dates on Monday evening, which involves looking in books, online, and at the back of sets that are particularly fruitful, because once I have an idea I can hunt for other sets that feature that subject. I try to give you different cards, but there are some sets which have such great illustrations, or it is the only time that subject or person features on cards. Requests go out as soon as I discover I like the subject but don`t own a card. Then I write the texts slowly over the week.
So this week we will be chatting about plumbing, traffic, drones, pirates, Doctor Who, rugby, and lighthouses.....
Lets start with...
W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK] "Arms of Companies" (July 1913) 15/50 - W675-096 : W62-65 : W/41
Here is a card for all the plumbers out there, but it also marks World Toilet Day.
The theme for this year, "Making the invisible visible" also touches on ecology, the invisible being all the ways that bad sanitation seems to be fine, but is actually leaking invisibly out beneath the surface of the soil and finding its way in to local rivers and waterways, creating problems for humans and for wildlife.
We take plumbers, and toilets, for granted, but there are many places in the world which have neither. Almost four billion people do not have adequate access to such a basic need. And yet, as this card tells us, the Plumber`s Company "was in existence as far back as 1365", even though it was "not incorporated until 12 April 1611". The items on the arms include plumbs, a water level, soldering irons, and cutting tools. These are not the original arms, which were much simpler and only showed two cutting-knives and two soldering irons. And if you go even further back to ancient Egypt you will find that these cutting knives refer to the fact that the earliest plumbing was made of straw and clay.
Three cheers for QS Supplies, by the way, because I can direct you straight to their fascinating timeline of plumbing worldwide.
Peter Jackson [tobacco : UK] "Speed - Through the Ages" (1937) 241/250 - J110-860 : J4-23 : H.583
Today is the World Day of Remembrance for Traffic Accident Victims, and there are many of these, for people are far less able to survive an accident than the car that hits them.
Through the years there have been many attempts at making it easier for cars and pedestrians to co-exist more peacefully, and here we have traffic lights, which give a safe crossing place but only if cars obey the rules and people are also more careful and try not to walk out in front of a car which is obviously not going to stop in time, or even try to.
Now you might think this is he first set of traffic lights, but no. The first traffic light in England was erected on December 10, 1868, on Parliament Square, London, and it was not to save lives, but to make it easier for policemen to control the traffic. It was designed along the same lines as a railway signal, which is understandable because its inventor was a railway engineer. Lights like the ones on our card were invented in 1919 in America by a man called William Potts, and he also added the third colour, the amber. However he was really only updating the dual light version which had been patented, also in America, in 1917.
Peter Jackson is an interesting company, for it was founded in 1919 and sold to Gallaher in 1934. This set was issued overseas in a rather strange format, you got 171 cards in the normal size (66 x 36 m/m) and 79 cards in a larger size (76 x 56 m/m). If this format sounds familiar, yes, it is the standard A & M Wix style, from South Africa, and intriguingly this set was also issued by them, the following year, 1938, twice, one being exactly as ours apart from the maker name, and one being a dual language version with English is on one half of the reverse and Afrikaans on the other.
Barratt & Co. Ltd [trade : confectionery : UK] "Thunderbirds" A Series (1966) 48/50 - BAR-750: BAR-95
Here for World Television Day we have a remote control television camera, as operated by the Thunderbirds Squad.
It was actually a drone, though not called as so. You may think that this makes it the first ever drone, but sadly not, for that was developed during the First World War. The next upgrade came from DeHavilland the aircraft manufacturer, though it was still merely used for target practice, not seen as the powerful weapon of offence and defence that drones would become.
This is from the first series of original and contemporary Thunderbirds cards, and there was a follow up, series two, also of fifty cards, and issued the following year. The first series had an album, but apparently the second did not, which makes me think that perhaps the issue dates were close and the two were designed to share one album. If anyone can enlighten us or show us the album it would be rather fun.
For some reason the first series is really sought after, but the second not so. Anyone know why?
British American Tobacco "Domino Filters" brand [tobacco : O/S : Mauritius] (1961) 8/25 - B705-554
Here we have Blackbeard, or Barbe Noire, or Captain Teach, or maybe even Edward Thatch... a name which proves something rather amazing, that he was English!
Nobody knows when he was born, but 1680 is usually quoted.
We also do not know much about what he did before he was a pirate but he was a very skilful sailor so perhaps he was in the British Navy and something rose up inside of him to say he would have more fun if he jumped ship and followed his heart. This is backed up by the fact that when he joined a band of pirates he was immediately placed in charge of a captured ship.
We do know that he died today – 22 November - in 1718, and that for some time he had been the scourge of the West Indies and North America. Our card shows him in an admiral`s hat which he likely took from one of his captives. But on Allen and Ginter `s "Pirates of the Spanish" series (N19) he is shown with a close fitting toque, which would have been less difficult to control in the heat of battle.
And it was thus that he met his end, mercilessly cut down by the so called civilised forces of Captain Maynard and his men, after which he was decapitated, and his corpse thrown into the river. His head was then brought back to Virginia in order to claim the reward, and it was then stuck on a pole in the harbour.
There are many stories of the punishments meted out to pirates once caught, but far fewer of pirates being cruel to their captors.
Cornerstone [commercial : O/S : USA] "Doctor Who" series 4 Foil Facsimile Autographs" (1996) 1/7?
Today in 1963 we saw the first ever episode of Doctor Who, which starred William Hartnell. it was episode one of "The Unearthly Child", a series of just four episodes. You can see loads of clips on YouTube, by the way.
This is an unusual card, it carries the autograph of William Hartnell but it is printed within the image, hence the "Facsimile Autograph" in the set title. Though I have also seen it called "Foil Chase Cards"
It appears that the set comprises all of the first seven Doctors in a similar format. I have not come across any later than the Seventh, who was Sylvester McCoy. He was the last Doctor for a very long time, for that series was cancelled in 1989.
However in 1996 there was a revival of the series, with one film sized episode, to introduce the eighth Doctor, who was played by Paul McGann. It is a great production, and Mr. McGann makes a dashing Doctor, but it was only a one off, no series came after. And this remained for many years, until Christopher Eccleston appeared in 2005. I have to say he was, and remains, my favourite ever Doctor Who.
I have to say it is very hard to trace anything about the issuers of this card, though they seem to be a commercial company which just sells cards without a product. And adding to the confusion is the fact that sometimes they are called Cornerstone Communications Inc and sometimes Cornerstone Cards. They do have a great range of Doctor Who cards though, which they licence the images for from the BBC. They also issue special albums, in the modern sense, large format ring binders which take plastic sheets with sections to fit each card, nine up. They also seem to exhibit at card and comic conventions, and with this in mind they issue cards for the collection of autographs.
Maybe a collector or dealer in such could drop us a line with some more info?
W.D. & H. O. Wills [tobacco : UK] "Public Schools" (November 1927) 20/25 - W675-208 : W 62-167 : W/295
Today, the 24th of November, in 1806, a child was born who would change sport forever. He led a quiet simple life and then, whilst at school, for reasons which seem clouded if not unknown, he suddenly bent down during a game of football, picked up the ball, and ran with it in his arms. The school was Rugby showing here, and, by default, this was the first ever play in a game which would come to be known as Rugby Football.
Some say this never happened, but they have no romance. I prefer to live in a world where such a thing is not only present but is overwhelmingly so. And take much delight in the fact that The Webb Ellis Cup is awarded at the Rugby World Cup.
It seems astounding to me that he does not feature as the picture on a single cigarette or trade card - I hope you inundate me with scans.
He does appear on the back of this card though, in a quote, or actually a slight misquote from the plaque at Rugby School which reads "This stone commemorates the exploit of William Webb Ellis who with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time first took the ball in his arms and ran with it thus originating the distinctive feature of the Rugby game. A.D. 1823"
Societe Job : Joseph Bardou [tobacco : UK] "British Lighthouses" (1925) 5/25 - B097-620 - J18-11
And now we close with St Catherine`s Day, also called the Feast of Saint Catherine, which can be held on either the 24th or the 25th of November depending on where you come from in the World.
Strangely legend has it that this day marks the start of Winter, but only if you are a woman. If you are a man you are already in Winter, for the male Winter starts on St. Martin`s Day and that is on the 11th of November.
Our card is very attractive but I cant help but wonder how many of the collectors knew that the words in italics referred to the way that the lighthouse operated, or what "occulting" meant?
The issuer, Societe Job is also intriguing, for some catalogues list it under S for Societe, some under B for Joseph Bardou, and some under J for Job. Even our codes show that the original World Tobacco Issues Index has it under J and the modern update under B.
The issuer`s name was actually Joseph Bardou, et fils (which means "and sons" in French) and the main branch was in Paris, France. They also had other branches which is why cards issued between 1902 and 1928 were in English, cards between 1905 and 1925 in Algerian, and cards between 1936 and 1938 were in German. We are not sure where our set was issued but it is in English .
By the way if you look at the reverse of our card you will see something curious for the "O" of JOB is not an "O" at all, it is a diamond. And the original artwork for the company name is not an "O" nor a diamond, it is "< >", which somehow got blurred together and eventually converted into the "O" which confuses us all.
This week's Cards of the Day...
have been commemorating Book Week Scotland, in its eleventh year, which started on the 14th of November and lasts until the 20th.
There are lots of events, including online, so do click that link and find out more. And they also have links to previous years.
Saturday, 12th November 2022
This was chosen not only because it is the Scottish version, check out the last line of the text, but because the footballer`s surname was Burns, like Robbie Burns. We featured Robbie Burns before, one of my favourite Scottish writers, and thought by many to be the National Poet of Scotland. That was on Tuesday the 25th of January 2022, as part of our weekly newsletter - and you can still read that at
https://csgb.co.uk/publications/newsletter/2022-01-22
Our man, Francis Burns, is shown here in Manchester United strip but he was Scottish, born in North Lanarkshire on October 17th 1948. He started with Scotland Schoolboys, becoming their captain - in his later years he also played for Southampton, Preston North End, and then for the Dublin team of Shamrock Rovers. After that he moved to Australia, where he is still living.
This set was issued in two batches, cards 1-73 coming first and cards 74-144 following. There is a checklist for each batch, but curiously it is not the final card of each; they are cards 57 and 115.
Sunday, 13th November 2022
This was Kenilworth Castle and Kenilworth was an extraordinarily popular book written by the Scottish Author Sir Walter Scott.
The full title is "Kenilworth. A Romance" - though it seems to be a romance that involves a murder. It was first published in Edinburgh in January 1821, quite anonymously, and is one of the so called "Waverley" novels.
You can read it on GoogleBooks/Kenilworth and probably in other places too.
Walter Scott died at his home, Abbotsford, in 1832, after a trip to the Mediterranean on board HMS Barham. It was on his return journey that he suffered one of several strokes and although he made it home he never really recovered. He was only 61.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index this set is revealed to have come in three versions. The listing reads :
ABBEYS AND CASTLES. Sm. Blue-grey photogravures. Nd. (25)
A. Back in olive-green, wording only.
B. Back in blue-grey, with “Statue of Liberty” illustration.
C. Back in blue-grey, with “Stag” illustration.
Now this needs a bit of explanation, because "wording only" is not a descriptive text, as you may be thinking. Instead it says the number of the card at the top, followed by "Photogravure Series". Below that, beneath a straight dividing line, it says : "ABBEYS AND CASTLES 25 IN THE SERIES" which, after another dividing line says "SMOKE NEW YORK MIXTURE". At the bottom it closes with "EDWARDS, RINGER & BIGG, Branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co. (of Great Britain and Ireland) Ltd."I
As for the “illustration”s, they represent brands, the Statue of Liberty for “New York Mixture” and the Stag for Exmoor Hunt.
None of this is mentioned in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index either, which follows the above cataloguing word for word – except for adding a discovery, that being that in the A version the numbering of the cards is different from the other two.
Monday, 14th November 2022
This card seems to be rather large, I think I overestimated the size of a white card on a white background. It will look more appropriate by the newsletter!
Now this card is for everyone who thinks I live in the past and don`t follow modern trends, because a riddle with pictures like this is called a rebus, and Detective Inspector Rebus appears in a series of very popular novels by the modern Scottish writer Ian Rankin. His website is https://www.ianrankin.net/
I have never read any, but at least I know they are there! And maybe it would be an experience, if they are not too graphic....
Returning to the cards, there is no mention of the date of this set in Wills documentation or magazines. However there is a theory that it was only issued in Australia and New Zealand, and this is supported by the lack of information from Wills.
There are four different series of these;
A is our set of twenty five cards with an album clause, on white card with the backs printed in light green
B is as above but there is no album clause and the backs are a bluey green
C is as immediately above, again no album clause, but the backs are in myrtle green, and the number is reportedly a different style, though I cant see this myself.
D is as above but the set is extended to a set of fifty cards, the same as above plus twenty five new cards.
Now here is a really curious fact, as Version D was also issued by Lambert and Butler as a set of fifty, and, intriguingly, in the same year, 1898. In actual fact this card was chosen just for that reason, becaus I had a strange thought about the branding, and threw it out to you all. My wonder was did they delete the word "Capstan", did they use it as is, or did they rename "Capstan" to one of their own brands....? And here is the answer...
Thrillingly, packets (?) of May Blossom Cigarettes did contain cards, and there is proof, for an advert , in a most lovely shade of mauve, for that very brand, appears on the backs of their 1902 set which is known as "Coronation Robes", though it is untitled. Their earlier 1900 set of "Admirals" also mentions that brand, though it is just lineage in black and white text - however it does give us a smidgeon of extra information, because it reads "MAY BLOSSOM TOBACCO AND CIGARETTES". It is also the first brand mentioned on the "Japanese Series", which I really like, but find it is impossible to scan and pick up anything at all of the image on the reverse. Why was it so light? And why have the cards toned to brown so badly? The combination of the two is very awkward companionship indeed....
Why I say "packets (?)" up there is that I have only so far come across a May Blossom tin, in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. It took a hundred cigarettes, and is the most amazing shade of pink.
🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷⚘🌷
Tuesday, 15th November 2022
This card celebrates one of Scotlands earliest written works, an illuminated manuscript called the Book of Deer. It was created in the tenth century at the monastery of Deer in Aberdeenshire which was founded by St. Columba of Ireland, and St. Drostan. The book also contains notes, added subsequently, important ones, like a faithfully copied deed in Latin from King David I, the first use of Gaelic in Scotland, and certain records and notes about the monastery - which are the only remnants of its existence that remain
It is also said that St Columba, whose house is shown here, brought Christianity to Scotland, founding abbeys and monasteries as he went and charming all he met, even the stand offish and secretive Picts.
Our card comes from the 1-400 series, because the G is not so decorative. I have a comparison picture but have not scanned it yet
Wednesday, 16th November 2022
Now our subject for today is Allan Ramsay, poet, playwright, and also owner of a library. He was born on the 15th of October 1686. His oldest son was also called Allan Ramsay but he was a portrait painter. Sadly he did not paint our image, which was done by William Aikman. Ramsay started out as a wig maker, but also wrote poetry, self-publishing his works and then selling them in his wig maker`s shop. This simple act led to him publishing an entire volume of his poetical works in 1721, which sold very well indeed, enough to allow him to move to another, larger, shop which he ran as a bookseller. The most important thing about this was that he rented the books out, and that technically made him the owner of the first ever library in the British Isles!
A view of the outside of this library appears on another Mitchell set, "Famous Scots" 21/50" and it features the same portrait as ours in the inset. That card also tells us that he built a theatre in Edinburgh. it did not do well, and only remained open for a year.
He also appears on the Scott Monument in Edinburgh, with fifteen other poets and writers. I am not sure if his section appears on a cigarette card, but will find out
Now there are two sets of Clan Tartans - this first set comprises fifty cards, whilst the second is only twenty-five. And there is a very curious fact about this first series, for it was used to promote a Police Sports Day. This information appears in our latest World Tobacco Issues Index, where it says that the cards are known overprinted with "Remember Police Sports - Ibrox Park - Sat 21 June, 1930 2 p.m." There is no mention of this in our original 1956 World Tobacco Issues Index, so it must have been discovered after that. So does anyone out there have a card so overprinted that they would like to scan and share with us, and also lets see if we can make a list of the cards so affected, and see if every one was used or just a selection of certain numbers.
Thursday, 17th November 2022
A set that few people know about, though it must also be said that few people know that Arthur Conan Doyle was actually Scottish, being born in Edinburgh, where his parents had married four years prior. And another often misquoted fact is that his parents were Irish, when only his mother was, his father was English.
His full name was Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, and his first story was published, in a magazine, when he was twenty years old. Writing did not make him immediately famous and the following year he was on board a whaling ship, in the Arctic, just one of the adventures he had whilst training to be a surgeon. He must have coped, as he graduated the following year. His first practice was on the South Coast of England, at Southsea. However this work allowed him to return to writing, and to an idea he had been pondering over. This was printed in Beeton`s Christmas Annual 1887, and it was a story called "A Study in Scarlet". The main character was a man called Sherlock Holmes, and the public were enthralled by the way he took simple facts and combined them to come to a solution.
Our set says it was by Alexander Boguslavsky, but actually it is by Carreras, who had acquired the company in 1913. The original Alexander Bogslavsky Ltd were founded in 1896 and their address was 55 Piccadilly, London. They never issued cigarette cards, but they did issue postage stamps. If anyone out there would like to explain this to me, and to us all, please do. The cards only came along after they had been acquired by Carreras and moved to Hampstead Road, London, N.W.
This set can be found in various printings. Our World Tobacco Issues Index cites A as "back in black or grey black" and B as "back in green". However the 1950 London Cigarette Card Co catalogue has three variants, A as "black, white board", B as "grey, cream board" and C as "green" without mentioning any board at all. It might be argued that the A and B here were combined because it was felt that the grey was simply the back slowly running lighter as the printing machine ran out of ink or was affected by the weather temperature, but it does not explain the fact that two different boards are clearly mentioned.
Maybe we could all have a look at our cards and see if we can spot this difference?
Friday, 18th November 2022
Here we have Compton Mackenzie, or more correctly (and eventually) Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie OBE. He was born in January 1883, and was a really prolific author in many genres, history, biography, autobiography, and fiction. He also wrote serious non-fiction articles for magazines and papers supporting Scotland in every way.
It is unsurprising that he co founded the National Party of Scotland, which was the first political group to lobby for self governance and splitting from English control. However you may be surprised to learn that he was not Scottish at all, being born in County Durham. His name was also only Mackenzie, the Compton having been adopted as a stage name by the theatrical scion of the family.
The card mentions "War service in the Dardanelles" but only in passing. The truth is much more interesting for he was pretty much a spy, serving with British Intelligence not only at Gallipoli but throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, and eventually being in charge of the Athens group - which tried to assassinate the King of Greece, by poison, in 1916. He received the OBE in 1919 for War Service.
He was knighted in 1952 and died in November 1972
This set was only issued in Scotland. I don't know why, as it is a very attractive set and the people included would have been of interest to collectors in other areas of the British Isles.
It is also intriguing that in the same month Ardath issued the larger sized version of "Film, Stage and Radio Stars"at home and abroad, and "Sports Champions" in New Zealand, whilst just one month later, two more sets appeared, "Cricket, Tennis and Golf Celebrities" and "Speed-Land, Sea and Air".
Definitely a lot of issuing going on at that time, so why take more time to make a whole new set for just one region? Anyone know?
well time has beaten us again, but it has, as always, been great fun. December beckons so that will be a change to the regular order, and dont forget there is still time to send in your Christmas cards of the day and your Christmas memories of Cartophilies past to webmaster@card-world.co.uk
See you all next week!