Newsletter - 2023-02-18

almost forgot to welcome you all to a brand new day and a brand new week.

Now dont forget that as we move through the year all those little fairs and markets and outdoor car boot sales will be starting up again, so if you buy things of a cartophilic nature we would love to see them.

And if you are stalling out do tell us and we can give you a little plug so that readers in the area can come along and see what you have for offer.

So this week we have found you a milking marvel, a stupendous steed, a spot of cushioned comfort (perhaps), two birthday beauties, some aircraft antics and a delightful dancer about whom nothing is known. But maybe we can change that ????

Intrigued ? Well lets read on....

American Tobacco Co. [tobacco : O/S : U.S.A.] "Actresses" (1901) Un/40 - A565-004 : A54-2a : ABC/T27 : USA/T.27

Our set was issued in several forms, but does not actually say American Tobacco; however the address of "Factory No.25, 2nd District, VA" is known to have been operated by them. The set comes in three versions, which I find baffling because it says "1. white borders 2. gold borders 3. star borders" - but do they mean the borders as in the white bit round the card, or that gold frameline border on the reverse?

So here we have Marguerite Clark, another birthday girl. She was born today in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Strangely Bucktrout "Cinema Stars" says she was born in 1887, but actresses did change their dates of birth all the time. When she was just ten her mother died, leaving her and two siblings, and three years later her father died as well. Her sister became her legal guardian, but there is no word of what happened to her brother.

When Marguerite left school she wanted to start working in the theatre. She was tiny and pretty and made her debut, on Broadway, in 1900. She seems to have been often cast as fairy princesses, for she was very tiny and pretty. One of these was "The Wishing Ring" (1910), directed by Cecil B. deMille, which was later filmed. In fact several of her theatre plays were filmed, and that led her towards Hollywood. One of these was the 1913 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" - which was filmed as "Snow White" in 1916. By then she was thirty one years old, but she was youthful in her appearance and more importantly in her ways. Bucktrout "Cinema Stars" tells us that she was a "dainty little film star, only 4 ft 10 ins high and weighs 90 lbs."

Most of her career was spent with one company, Famous Players - Lasky. There was a break, during the First World War, when she joined the Naval Reserves. Then she returned, until 1921, when she produced and starred in a film for First National. After that she retired, aged thirty eight.

She spent a lot of time with her husband who was a successful businessman and a keen flier. They had married in 1918. Then in 1936 he was killed in a crash. She inherited his aeroplane company. but sold it the next year. She also sold the plantation and large house they lived at, and moved back with her sister. She was never the same again and in In 1940 she died of pneumonia, or maybe a broken heart, and she was buried with her husband, in New Orleans

W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK] "Aviation Series" Vice Regal brand (43/75) - W675/340B(c) : W62-216B(c) : W/46

Another day of confusion where there was little going on, but this is proof never to give up. Not only have we managed to add the Vice Regal version of this card to our library of card images, but also this is a fascinating tale.

Here we have the "Silver Dart" biplane, and its first flight, the first controlled flight in Canada of a powered, heavier than air machine, was today, the 23rd of February, 1909. It was built by a team called the Aerial Experiment Association. They were Messrs John Alexander Douglas McCurdy (serving as the pilot), Frederick Walker Baldwin, Glenn Hammond Curtiss, Thomas Selfridge, and Alexander Graham Bell (yes, the telephone inventor)

This was their fourth aircraft, and improvements were being made all the time. This craft had covers on the wings, made of the same cloth that covered balloons, and it was a silver colour. That is why this aircraft was called the Silver Dart. It may have only flown for half a mile, as little as nine feet above the ground, and at just 40 mph, but it still counted as flight. And it would go on to set other records in Canada, including the first passenger flight in the country. However, whilst trying to get the Canadian Army interested in using it, disaster struck when it crashed on landing in August 1909. And it never flew again.

Now our card adds that "It is the subject of considerable litigation with the Brothers Wright on a question of patents". The Wright Brothers Company, not strictly the brothers themselves, were known for being litigious, in fact there was a period in time known as The Wright Brothers Patent War when they were involved in many lawsuits in an attempt to prove they and they alone had invented flight. They did have one thing in their favour, for they had flown in December 1903. What they hoped was to be the only company allowed to produce aeroplanes, and so they tried to do this by suing operators and inventors worldwide who they believed were using the same system as them. One of their targets was one of our men, Glenn Curtiss, and they won their first case against him in 1910, as they would eventually win every case. But the cases were slow and lengthy to construct and it was still going on long after Wilbur had died.

It was not until after the First World War that the road to sharing patents for the common good of aviation was even suggested.

A reconstruction of our aircraft was made in 1958 for the fiftieth anniversary, by volunteers from the Royal Canadian Airforce. It took flight but also crashed due to gusty winds. This was a problem with the original design as well, any form of wind and control was difficult if not impossible.

And in February 2009, for the centenary, another replica was made. This flew from approximately the same point as the original and managed several flights.

This week's Cards of the Day...

Welcome to Monday - and our regular discussion on how we got to this week`s theme. And this week we will be remembering the day that Britain`s coinage went digital - on the 15th of February 1971. Or, if you are a younger member, thinking how we ever managed when a pound was two hundred and forty pennies, not a hundred.

In fact the rumblings of decimalisation date back to 1682, but it was constantly shelved. However other countries thought about it later and adopted it earlier, most notably America and some of Europe. And that made trading hard. So in 1847 the question of decimalisation was raised in Parliament and plans were raised for new coins which were worth ten pence, ten of which would make a new pound. In fact the ten pence coin was given the name of a florin. And you will read about those later.

So our first clue card was :

This was a simple starter, and the clue was "Bob".

A bob has long been a pseudonym for a shilling, though not quite as long as the shilling itself, which was first introduced by Henry VIII. In "old money" it was worth twelve pence. Oddly a bob was not pluralised when you had more than one, so you could still say three bob instead of three shillings

This set is quite hard to find, possibly because it is only on quite thin paper. And it only appears in our original set of British Trade Indexes, in part three.

Now if you look at the card, showing here, you will automatically go to D for Dobson - and we realised that would be the case because under F & M Dobson (Southern) Ltd of Biggin Hill, confectioners, is a little note to say that the Evening Chronicle set EVAM-1 was produced in conjunction with associated company F. M. Dobson of Ponteland, Northumberland. In fact F. & M. Dobson did issue a set of cards, in 1980, "Flags of the World", which we have now used and can link to.

Flicking over to EVAM-1 it says that the Evening Chronicle, a newspaper, issued these cards in 1981 in conjunction with F. M. Dobson of Ponteland, Northumberland. The set is listed as "Newcastle & Sunderland`s 100 Greatest Footballers", and it measures 76 x 38 m/m, being printed not on card but on paper, in black. They are also numbered, from 1-100. And you can look at the checklist of those hundred cards courtesy of our friends at the CartophilicInfoExchange/EVAM-1

However despite the codes all leading to the Evening Chronicle it does seem rather odd to me that the backs only advertise Dobson`s "Fizz Bombs" and not the newspaper. Though it is rather fun. The interesting thing about the back is the single word "original" because, yes, Fred Dobson, the self confessed North East Candy King, did invent the "Fizz Bomb", as well as "Rhubarb and Custards". And it is also said that he was the first person to ever tell someone they could BOGOF - by which I mean Buy One Get One Free. And it all started with him opening a corner shop. But you can read more, much more, about him at The Independent/FizzBomb

Because these sets were issued in 1980/81 they do not appear in our updated British Trade Index. However there are two sets listed for the Evening Chronicle, namely EVE-100 : Jack Payne and His Band, a large format insert on paper measuring 295 x 222 m/m and this is dated March 1934 - and EVE-110 : a set of twelve plain back, un-numbered black and white photographic cards called "Speedway Riders", they measure 194 x 134 m/m, and the subjects in the series are listed in our handbook under HE52.

A quick look in our vintage set of British Trade Indexes finds that the Jack Payne insert is listed in BTI part three, issued in 1986, as EVAM-0.5, but the Speedway riders are not.

Anyone know anything about these? If so please drop us an email at

webmaster@card-world.co.uk

So clue number two to the theme for this week was the name of the inn, which was the Crown.

A crown was the highest value coin you could get, and it was worth five shillings (or five bob). You could also get a half-crown, which was worth two shillings and sixpence.

I still do not know whether series one and two, the two twenty five card sets, are the same as the fifty card set? Nor who the artist was?

Richard Lloyd was founded in 1875. However, by the time this set was issued, as the reverse of this card tells us, it was but a branch of Cope Brothers of London and Liverpool. And had been so for twenty-three years.

Our original World Tobacco Issues Index gives the measurements, 65 x 36 m/m, and the fact that the cards are numbered, plus the most important information that this is one of three sets of “Old Inns”.

A1 was titled, or as appears in that book inscribed “Old English Inns”. The cards have a green back and there are twenty five in the set.

A2 was inscribed “Old Inns Series Two” and it is again a set of twenty five cards. However the backs are in blue.

B was inscribed “Old Inns”, but is a set of fifty cards. And again the backs are in blue.

The A1, A2, and B categories also appear in the London Cigarette Card Company catalogue for 1950. They also give the dates, which are 1923, 1924 and 1925 respectively. They retailed the odds at 2d each for the first set of twenty five and the set of fifty, whilst the second series of twenty five was a shilling a card. As far as the prices for sets, the first series was 6/- a set, the second 30/-, and the set of fifty cards 10/- because it was a set of fifty.

And for our last clue, we had the player`s surname, Tanner. A tanner was the nickname, for a sixpence, which everyone thinks was always solid silver but was only so until 1816, after that being slowly adulterated until after the Second World War when it was entirely cupro-nickel, an amalgam of copper and nickel.

The sixpence was still about after decimalisation, and were also left as legal tender, but they were only now worth tuppence ha`penny, under half of the six pence they were before. They remained legal tender until 1980 as well. However the sixpence is still going, for they are produced as souvenirs at Christmas by the Royal Mint - and they are silver!

So let us start with RB.21 which is the British American Tobacco Booklet, published in 1952 and the last of the soft cover series of reference books. That tells us, under code 369, that this set consists of "large cards, size 80 x 60 m/m, front with player`s head in black and white, coloured background, No`s 1-31 with background in green and no`s 32 - 62 in plum. Back in black, with brief details of player in English and Afrikaans, and indicating that a wallet to hold the cards can be obtained from tobacconists or from Box 78 Cape Town; this cardboard wallet gives the itinerary of the tour with spaces for the scores to be added. Numbered series of 62. U.T.C. issue - the inscription "Box 78 Cape Town" provides the indication of issuer."

I still dont know why these cards can be found with the two backgrounds - do please enlighten. I have heard that the cards did fit in the wallet, and was rather ashamed to hear that it says so on the back of the card.

Our World Tobacco Issues Index supplies us with the above, shortened. It gives a slightly different size of 79 x 60 m/m and simply says "coloured background" without mentioning the green and the plum. But it does direct us back to RB.21, which is always useful. And a similar shortened description appears in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index.

Here we have two pre-decimal coins on one card - but not really, because it deals with an optical illusion, turning a sixpence into one and six - that being one shilling and sixpence. The trick is to make sure that when you drop the sixpence into the glass of water it lands heads down, then when you look in you see two coins heads up, one large, the shilling, at the bottom of the water, and one small, the "sixpence" on the surface of the water. If the coin dropped tails up you would not get that illusion because the two tails are different.

So lets start with our Hill Reference Book (RB.2) issued in 1942. The catalogue for our set says "Puzzle Series (titled series) size two and three quarter by one and a half inches approximately (except it uses the numbers and fractions). Numbered 1-50. Fronts printed in three colours from halftone blocks with marginal line and white margins. Backs printed black only with descriptions. The title of the series is beside the number - see also "Magical Puzzles"

We have shown a card from that set before so have a look at that, and read that description, by clicking Magical Puzzles.

In my 1950 London Cigarette Card Catalogue it says "Magical Puzzles - see Puzzle Series". And under Puzzle Series it says
Item 68. 50 Puzzle Series
A. Titled "Puzzle Series" (1937) odds 1d. each, sets 6/- each
B. Titled "Magical Puzzles" (1938) odds 6d. each, sets 30/- each

And in our original World Tobacco Issues Index the two sets are listed together under H46-93 and their description is
"Puzzle Series or Magical Puzzles. Sm. 68 x 38 m/m. Nd. (50) see H.636.
A) titled "Puzzle Series" inscribed "Issued by R. & J. Hill".
B) titled "Magical Puzzles". Brand issue inscribed "Issued with Gold Flake Honeydew Cigarettes"

Now I still cannot find it in the handbook under H.636, the London Cigarette Company Handbook for 1950 finishes before that code, and our modern handbook seems to have that number occupied by another set entirely.

If anyone finds it please do let us know where

Here we introduce you to a coin that was long gone by decimalisation, the noble. That was the first gold coin in England to be made in quantity and it was minted during the reign of Edward III, in the fourteenth century. There had been other gold coins but they were very seldom seen, let alone used. A noble was worth six shillings and eight pence but you could also get a half noble and a quarter noble.

Our card shows a handful of coins and tells us that a lawyer`s fee was six shillings and eightpence. It seems also to have been the fee for attorneys and for solicitors. I am not sure when it changed but it is very different now, though on this card it actually says "why IS a lawyers fee six shillings and eight pence.

Do we have any readers who can tell us when it started to change? For that might provide something which is missing, namely the date this set was issued. Hence the question marks above.

And there is another a quandary for you about this set.

This set is first listed in our RB.21, the British American Tobacco Booklet, with several other variations of sets under the same "Do You Know" title. Most of those are directly related to the W.D. & H.O. Wills sets, either issued simply with new branding by another manufacturer, or more curiously made up of parts, like the United Tobacco Company, who issued a set of fifty cards which was comprised of fifteen cards from Wills first series, thirteen cards from the second and thirty-two from the fourth.

Our set follows these all on its ownsome. It is described as :

"RB.21/373. Do You Know. Small cards. Size 64 x 38 m/m. Fronts in colour. Back per fig.373 in black. Numbered series of 30. Anonymous issue with letterpress on back."

I have to wonder why the back was included as an illustration. Did we hope that someone would come forward and tell us who had issued it? It seems likely for not all the backs were shown in this way. However it was for the most part in vain, for in our original World Tobacco Issues Index it appears in the back of the book, as ZB6-16-3

"Do You Know. Sm.
1. A series of 50 see RB.21/200-188B (these being Wills first series)
2. Second Series of 50 see RB.21/200-189B (again the Wills)
3. A series of 30 measuring 64 x 38 m/m see RB.21/373 issued in South Africa.

Now the interesting thing here is that this is the first mention of these cards being issued in South Africa. But if you go back up it seems unlikely that this was through United Tobacco because they have already been mentioned in conjunction with the Wills sets. Also the size is very different.

And it seems that nobody recognised them there either, because in our updated version, issued in the year 2000, they are still at the back of the back with no idea of an issuer, only the strange "issued in South Africa" with no basis to prove it.

So can anyone out there fill in the gap and reunite this set with its issuer?

Over to you.

Only one card code here, because this set was issued in 1958 and our original World Tobacco Issues Index in 1956. The catalogue entry says simply "Sm. Nd. (25)" which means small or standard size, numbered, and the number that makes a set appears within the brackets. However the top of the entry for Amalgamated Tobacco Corporation Ltd says that the cards are 68 x 36 m/m and the reason that the "Fumez les Fameuses Cigarettes "Mills" is in French is because the cards were issued in Mauritius.

So here we have another pre-decimal coin, which is the Sovereign. This was first produced by the Royal Mint in 1489, though it was a much larger and heavier coin than you may imagine, in fact there is very little evidence that it was ever used in daily life or in trade. And you can still buy modern sovereigns today - and they are legal tender to use, which is a very interesting fact indeed, because it means that they are actually exempt from Capital Gains Tax within the United Kingdom. However if you run out of other cash and take one down the corner shop you would not even get the oatly for your cornflakes - because it is only legal tender for the sum of one pound.

Despite this the Sovereign was not issued continuously. It was removed from coinage in 1603 by James the 1st, and replaced with a much lighter coin called the Unite, which was worth twenty shillings. The Unite was named after the fact that he was now King of Great Britain, France and Ireland.

The Sovereign came back in 1817, but disappeared again when the First World War started in 1914, being temporarily replaced by a banknote. The thought was that after the war it would come back, but this did not happen, though, intriguingly, it was still minted in our overseas territories into the 1930s.

Then in 1953, for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the Sovereign was again minted, though they seem only to have been placed at museums and bank collections. It was not until 1957 that the Sovereign was available to be purchased, but as a bullion, proof, and investors coin.

Here we have threepenny pieces and a Florin.

The florin was worth two-shillings, and it has quite a short story only being minted from 1849 until 1967, though there was a special edition in 1970. The reason for it being called the florin returns us to our intro because this was the ten pence coin that was tested out after the successful motion in Parliament - the first true decimal coin - and it was called a Florin because there was a Dutch coin also called that, which was also worth approximately a tenth of a pound

The threepences were worth three pence, but it must be said that these are not what used to be called a threepenny bit, that was a twelve sided shaped coin in nickel that the general public were really fond of, and that had a subliminal message on it, the back design being a picture of a plant called thrift, in order to encourage people to save them up. No, our threepenny piece is very similar, still, to the way it looked when it was introduced, by Elizabeth I, as a silver coin, in the year 1551, though again there were gaps in its production, notably during the English Civil War. It lasted until the late seventeenth century, but was then reserved for celebrations and special events. However in 1845 it rejoined the purse. The last silver ones were struck in 1919, then they slowly reduced the content. It lasted until decimalisation though, and was then replaced, by the penny.

And if you want to read more about this coin nip over to Chards, which is great!

Our original Gallaher Reference Book (RB.4 issued in 1944) describes this set as
"Tricks and Puzzles Series (titled series) size two and a half by one and a half inches. 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. Printed by E. S. & A. Robinson Ltd, Bristol."

The original series mentioned was the green backed set of 1924.

For some reason the London Cigarette Card Company 1950 catalogue splits this set into two halves, selling 1-50 for 1d a card or 4/6 a set, and also offering cards 51-100 for the same price. Was this to lower the cost, or to make them more affordable than they would have been as a set of a hundred? Or is there a natural break that I do not know about?

Our original World Tobacco Issues Index just gives the facts - "Sm. Back in black. Nd. (100)` And these are repeated in the updated version.

well dear readers, we have reached the end of another newsletter, just about in time. There are several codes and dates to add but we will do that tomorrow in the light, which is sadly lacking now.

And if you still need to look at last weekend`s check out
https://csgb.co.uk/publications/newsletter/2023-02-10

Have a great weekend, do things that make you smile, and come back next weekend.

Until then, happy collecting, from us all

Newsletter - 2023-02-18

Saturday, 18th February 2023

Sunday, 19th February 2023

Monday, 20th February 2023

Tuesday, 21st February 2023

Wednesday, 22nd February 2023

Thursday, 23rd February 2023

Friday, 24th February 2023

This week's Cards of the Day...

Saturday, 11th February 2023

Sunday, 12th February 2023

Monday, 13th February 2023

Tuesday, 14th February 2023

Wednesday, 15th February 2023

Thursday, 16th February 2023

Friday, 17th February 2023