Newsletter - 2022-11-26

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MY Weekly [trade : publications : UK] "Soldiers of the King" (1916)  Un/14

We don`t seem to feature many silks, so it is always grand when I can. And whilst there are lots of sets regarding of the Royal Navy from which I could have plucked a card, this one is here because it so aptly suggests a very interesting event, and quite a recent one as well, for on Sunday, the 26th of November, 2017, for the first time in its three hundred and fifty-seven years of existence, the Royal Navy performed the Changing the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

The men were chosen from three units - the Submarines, the Surface crews, and the Fleet Air Arm, hence the connection with the triumvirate on our card. And apparently the tune chosen to welcome them in through the gates was the main theme from The Game of Thrones, though I am not entirely sure why. 

That was not all, because Naval sailors also joined the rotation of serving units which performed the Queen`s Guard duties at Buckingham Palace, St. James Palace, and the Tower of London, and, more than that they were allowed to keep their blue uniforms. 

As to why this once in many lifetimes event took place, it was all part of the Year of the Navy, which was, according to the government, the start of a new era of maritime power, in which they would project Britain’s influence globally and deliver security at home.

It also marked the maiden voyage of Britain’s biggest ever warship, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, which sailed out of Rosyth in that year for sea trials. She had been rather a long time coming, though, for she had been ordered in May 1908, and in fact she did not enter service until 2020.

Now contrary to popular opinion, this ship was not named for the reigning Queen, but she was Queen Elizabeth the second. The confusion, which I have added to, can be explained by the fact that in 1913 a vessel was launched called Queen Elizabeth, after Elizabeth the First. Therefore this new ship inherited her mantle and her name. And there is a clue to that if you look at her crest, between the "E" and the "R", for it shows the Tudor rose....

This is an unusual set because the backs vary in design, which makes them a bit hard to sort out. Nine of the backs are text only, whilst five include a picture on the reverse of the crest of the Regiment on top of their colours. As for our silk, this is completely different, but we do know it must have been issued last because it advertises the fact that "Next Week begins  [their next set] "Floral Beauties". 

The set is made up of the following Regiments, which we have placed in alphabetical order : 

• 1st Life Guards - text back
• 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) - text back
• 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoon - crest back
• Black Watch - text back
• Gordon Highlander - text back
• Grenadier Guard - text back
• Highland Light Infantry - crest back
• Lancashire Fusilier - text back
• London Scottish - text back
• Royal Engineers - crest back
• Royal Field Artillery - text back
• Royal Flying Corps - crest back
• Royal Navy - advertisement back for next set
• Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) - crest back

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Ch. Leborgne [trade : chocolate ? : O/S - no.1 rue de Lycee Bruxelles] "Vues de France" / views of France (1900?) Un/?? 

In a change of direction, picked up during indexing, because we had not only used the card which was formerly here but the subject, we are now going to tell the story, or as much of it as we can, of the ship Mary Ann.

All we really know is that she sailed out of Quebec City, heading for London, but, for some reason, was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean, today in 1822. However she kept sailing on, alone and un-crewed, and she eventually came ashore on the twelfth of April, 1823, at the place on our card, Ouessant, an island just off Brittany, France. 

That must have been no mean feat as the coast is rocky and treacherous, which can be gauged from the fact it has a lighthouse. And there are many inlets and bays, and a stone harbour, not easy to navigate alone. However I have been unable to find out what is meant by "come ashore", it may not have been as a complete ship, just wreckage, found on a beach - though there was enough of her to know she was the Mary Ann. 

This card is similarly confusing. I think that "Ch" is probably chocolate but cannot find the makers listed anywhere, though we know they issued cards, and quite a few of them. Tracking down the address is simple enough but not a mention of there ever having been chocolate retailed or made from there. And we don`t even know the name of the set, I have simply guessed at views of France. 

There is even more intrigue than that though, because this card was actually issued by someone else, Librairie Hachette, a French book, newspaper and magazine publisher, founded in 1846 and named after its founder Louis Hachette. Ch. Leborgne has simply added their little circular name and address over the top. We don`t know why they did that, maybe it was a cheaper way of issuing cards, or maybe they acquired a stock of remainders and thought why not...

In the Hachette printing, we think we have found the following places. 

• Belle-Ile
• Ile de Brehat
• Ile de Noirmoutier
• Ile de Re
• Ile d`Ouessant
• Le Mont St Michel
• Le Nord de la Corse
• L`Ile de Port Cros
• L`Ile d`Oleron

We say we think, because there are similar cards, but we are not sure they are part of our set. They have a map as the background, and several inset pictures of places on top, whereas ours have a large view picture as the background, and two small inset pictures, one being a map and one being another picture of a local place.

I am also wondering whether our set is of islands, because so far all nine cards I have found are. But perhaps the islands are part of the big set, it is just that they can get them in as an inset map, because they are smaller in area than the places on the other cards....? 

Anyway, if anyone can illuminate this tale a little more, over to you! 

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 Philip Morris [tobacco : UK] "British Views" (1924) 32/50 - M887-100 : M144-1 

Here we have the cottage of Ann Hathaway, who married William Shakespeare on 28th of November 1582. She was twenty-six, and six months pregnant, and her beloved was just eighteen. Yet they remained married for his entire lifetime and had two more children. 

Our card is unusual because it is the only set of cards issued by Philip Morris until the 1980s. They had London premises in New Bond Street, and in Bateman Street W1. Their brands were `Matador`, `No.10`, and `Cambridge`, and a lot of catalogues give the date as 1924 though the records only state it as being from "about the 1920s". We do not even know for sure that it was issued in the United Kingdom, because their only other reference on cards is in conjunction with a set called "Ship Picture Letters", a set, we think, of just eighteen un-numbered cards in blue and white which show a ship and a large initial letter. The back says that the cards were packed with Philip Morris Cigarettes, but give details of an exchange scheme which was run by Tobacco Products Corporation of Hamilton, [Ontario,] Canada. 

And those 1980s sets were "Classic Collection", a hundred and eight cards issued in 1985 with `Raffles` brand - and "Motor Mania", seventy-two cards issued in 1986 with `Marlboro` brand. 

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Lyons [trade : various : UK] "On Safari" (1969/70) 32/40 ; LYO-350 : LYO-50 

This card is to mark International Jaguar Day, a relatively new date in the wildlife protection calendar, for it only began in 2019. The jaguar is a most beautiful and strikingly marked big cat, which is part of the reason for its hunting, and it is sad to learn that despite is large size and all its defences (its name comes from "Yaguar" - to kill with one leap") it is the most threatened big cat in the whole of the continent of America.

By the way the back of this card is very hard to scan, so if anyone can supply a better, more readable copy, please do and it will be much appreciated. The problem is the red, which blurs rather badly. 

Now there is a reason for the two dates of issue, for 1970 is usually given but this is definitely incorrect because we recorded this set in Cartophilic Notes and News magazine volume 3 issue 27 May/June 1969. And here is that original New Issues Report 

This has not been as heavily trimmed as usual for it tells us that whilst this set was issued with "FAB" Ice Cream Lollies, (ooh, I liked them...) almost at the same time Lyons "ORBIT" Ice Cream Lollies were giving out another set.  "FAB" was introduced in 1967, and it was designed as a female friendly ice cream lolly with rounded corners. It was also a tie in with Gerry Anderson`s "Thunderbirds", to which effect the wrappers featured Lady Penelope. I have just been informed that FAB was a phrase that was featured when the cast were radio messaging each other in the show. This was the second ice cream lolly to be based on a Gerry Anderson Production, the first being 1963`s "Zoom", to tie in with "Fireball XL5". This was a rather thrusting rocket shape, aimed to represent boys.  They also issued cards, most notably "All Systems Go". "Orbit" seems to have been forgotten but Nostalgia Central/Lollies tells us it was called "The Big Ice Cream On A Stick”. They have a veritable feast for those of you who marked the 1960s by your favourite ice creams, so do nip over and have a look, or a lick.  Sad to say I never had a "Kinky" and if I had seen that poster ad I would have definitely wanted one. 

Our cards were not for an album, but to go on a wall chart, which is mentioned in that report as well. It was a map of the World in flat form. The offer expired on June the 1st 1970. Unfortunately the chart must have been sent to the collector as a folded item rather than a rolled one, and they do seem to all be permanently creased into the folded shape. 

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Ogdens `Guinea Gold` [tobacco : UK] "British Trees & Their Uses" (1927) 12/25 - O100-660 - O/2-196 : O/52 : RB.21/209-34B

Here we have a spruce tree, because today the Christmas Tree at the Rockefeller Center in New York will be lit for the first time this year, and it is a spruce tree, usually between seventy and a hundred feet tall. The first commercial tree was lit in 1933, but there was an earlier one, a small tree put up on Christmas Eve 1931 by the builders of the centre, which was festooned with hand made paper garlands. In America this has become a major event, and many count it as the first day of Christmas. It is always done on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving and there is a huge ceremony, which, since 1997, has been broadcast live on television.

Now this set first appears in our original Ogdens reference book (RB.15, first published in 1949), as :

53. 25. BRITISH TREES AND THEIR USES. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. backs in grey, with descriptive text, "Ogden`s Guinea Gold Cigarettes" at base. Export issue, about 1930 - known to have been issued in New Zealand, where special album was also issued. Similar series by B.A.T., Edwards Ringer & Bigg, and Lambert & Butler. 

Now I am following date order here, and going for RB.21, which is the B.A.T. reference book - that lists this set under Lambert & Butler, additions and corrections, as simply : 

209-34. BRITISH TREES & THEIR USES.
A. Anonymous issue, with letterpress on back
B. Ogden`s Guinea Gold Cigarettes issue
C. Edwards, Ringer & Bigg Home issue
D. Lambert & Butler Home issue.

However this gets a lot more interesting in the front index, where it is revealed that the Anonymous issue was circulated in Malaya, in 1930, and the Ogden`s in New Zealand, in 1927.

We also know from other sources that the Lambert & Butler version was issued, in the British Isles, in the same year, 1927. We featured that in our newsletter for the 18th of March 2023, on Tuesday the 21st of March.

In our World Tobacco Issues Index it catalogues our set under Ogdens Section 5, "Export issues without I.T.C. Clause, issued through B.A.T" and under sub section "B", for "Guinea Gold Cigarettes" issues. Coloured cards, inscribed "Ogden`s Guines Gold Cigarettes" at base of back. Issued in New Zealand 1927-28.". 

There are just two sets in this section, ours, and Famous Railway Trains, and our set is listed as  :

BRITISH TREES AND THEIR USES. Sm. 67 x 36. Nd. (25) See RB21/209-34.B ... O/2-106

In the updated version of this volume, the section and the text remains the same, (though I forgot to note the code) - however there has been an addition to the heading, which tells us that "A special album was issued to hold the two series, and also Set D640-550" - which was Dominion Tobacco`s “People and Places Famous in New Zealand History”. 

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KOS / JEZ [trade : toothpaste : O/S - Belgrade, Yugoslavia] " KOS - Europa -Jugoslavya - NBA" (1989) 21/288

The reason why this card is here is that today in 1891 basketball was invented.

The place was the YMCA International Training School at Springfield in Massachussetts, and the inventor was a P.E. Tutor called James Naismith, just thirty one years old, who was looking for a way to prevent his players being injured outdoors on the slippery surfaces that happened every winter. The game was fast paced, quick to learn, and fun, and teams from other colleges were soon playing - the first professional league was founded in 1898 with six teams.

Almost certainly what took it so long to become a more professional sport were all the wars that followed one after the other in the early twentieth century, but after the Second World War started to draw to a close, in 1946, the American National Basketball Association was formed. This became the National Basketball Association (or NBA) in 1949 when it merged with the National Basketball League.

Today the sport is big business, with many sets of modern trading cards being issued by Panini and Upper Deck. 

So we had a lot of help with this one, thank you all. We now know it is from a set called "KOS - Europa -Jugoslavya - NBA", the KOS, or JEZ, being the issuer, we think, though it may be the printer, and the rest translating to European/Yugolavian National Baseball Association.

KOS, or JEZ were based in Beograd, or Belgrade, and they issued several sticker albums, with stickers being bought in packets, much like the Panini ones. However they were not particularly well printed, and you get skewed pictures, sometimes very spectacularly, as well as an allied problem, the stickers being trimmed to square the pictures up. 

The player turns out be from Croatia, and quite famous, his name is Toni Kukoc and he was born on the 18th of September 1968. He started out aged seventeen at KK Jugoplastika, but this card shows him with the Boston Celtics player Kevin McHale, because it is game footage from the 1988 European Tour, which involved several international clubs. 

Our man was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1990, and moved to America in 1993 to replace the newly retired Michael Jordan. Today, he is still connected with that team, but as a special advisor to the current owner, Jerry Reinsdorf.

In fact our man was one of the first European stars to join the NBA, and he helped to win the Chicago Bulls their triumvirate of NBA Championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998.

He also won two Olympic Silver Medals, in 1988 and 1992, for two different teams, firstly for Yugoslavia and secondly for Croatia.

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Carreras [tobacco : UK] "The Greyhound Racing Game" large size (May 1926) 34/52 - C151-125B : C18-12B

They do say that every dog must have his - or her - day and this set celebrates National Mutt Day, sometimes more pleasingly called National Mixed Breed Dog Day. So here we have a super little character who is almost thinking of getting in all kinds of scrapes, who will give their human companion much fun and hours of companionship, yet sometimes sadly gets overlooked at the shelter because the visitor is only seeking a purebreed. 

This set of fifty-two cards comprised fifteen "whips", fifteen "obstacles", a "course" card, ten "dog"s, ten "greyhound"s, in singles and groups, and a "hare". Like many of the Carreras game sets there was also an instruction booklet that told you how to play the game, but the rules seem to have been that you all took a turn to play a card until the hare turned up and then the action really began, as the first person to show a single greyhound won the race. 

By the way it should really be called "The Black Cat Greyhound Racing Game", but the words "Black Cat", though they appear on the card as part of the title, are often omitted in catalogues. Likewise you will sometimes find it listed under "T" for The and other times under "G" for Greyhound.