Newsletter - 2023-03-11

Saturday, 4th March 2023

Now you might not know this but football is an excellent example of the science of physics. Head off to KungFuPhysics/soccer and you will learn that the skills of the game encompass almost every type of movement, both of a human body and an orb moving through the air according as to how it is touched. 

This set is fairly easy to acquire and it is bright and cheerful. Plus rather than being just an instruction manual they do feature the players of the time; the introduction of the album was also written by Don Revie, who was the England Manager of the time, from July 1974 to July 1977, so this card is pretty much at the end of his tenure. Stars that appear on the cards include Ray Clemence, Gerry Francis, Colin Todd, and our man Mike Channon But surely this should be Mick Channon?

Do let us know if you agree - and if there was a corrected card - or if I am completely wrong? 

This set only appears in our vintage version of the British Trade Index, in part three. It is described as : "Brooke Bond "Play Better Soccer" Nd. 40. Issued 1976. With album offer card"

so your first challenge is to scan us a copy of that card, front and back, as I do not have one.

Also it would be interesting to hear if anyone knows whether this was the first, or only, set to have an album offer card? 

Sunday, 5th March 2023

So your clue here was the name of the racehorse, Aristotle. Who seems hard to track down.

The real Aristotle was Greek, and it seems that his father was physician to the King, Amyntas His father delighted in sharing his knowledge with his son and fairly early on Aristotle went to Athens and became a pupil of Plato. After that he spent some time teaching - and one of his pupils was Alexander the Great.

He spent his entire life mastering of many sciences, including the physics that we have just seen demonstrated by football, but also the life sciences of biology and zoology, and the earth sciences of geology and meteorology. And he is still referred to as"The Father of Western Logic".

This is one of three sets called "Derby Entrants" issued in different years, namely 1926, 1928 and 1929. Anyone know why there was no 1927 ? I thought maybe it did not take place, but it did, on Wednesday 1st June. 

In our original Ogdens Reference Book, RB.15, issued in 1949, the three sets are listed and coded separately. This is understandable because without looking at the back title you would definitely think them completely different sets. The first one, 1926, is a set of twenty-five cards in colour, and shows the horse as the main picture and the owners colours as an inset. The second one, 1928, is a set of fifty cards in colour but only shows the horse, and our set is described in that book as "Series of 50. Fronts in sepia, horses, some with jockeys up". 

Our original World Tobacco Issues Index splits them up as well, but summarises the above into simply "Sm, Sepia. Nd. (50)" - and the updated version is identical, save a new code. 

Monday, 6th March 2023

Now this card might seem out of place, but it not only shows the science of Astronomy, but it was re-discovered by Claudius Ptolemy, a Roman astrologer, astronomer, geographer, and mathematician, whose writings, The Almagest, saw him cataloguing over a thousand stars, with their place in the galaxy, brightnesses, and related groupings. He writes that he plainly saw this cross shaped star from Greece and called it Crux, from its shape. However he was mocked later on, unjustly, only to be entirely vindicated when the earth shifted and it suddenly made a reappearance over Europe in the 15th century, to be re-discovered all over again. 

And I say that Ptolemy only "re-discovered" it because the Incas knew of it, and it appears in their art as proof. 

This set first appears in the John Player Reference Book RB.17. And this gives me a chance to explain something which I have been asked several times : 

186. Those Pearls of Heaven. Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in blue, with descriptive text. Home issue 1916.

Transfers - see item 204

187. 66 Transvaal Series

The reference to transfers is nothing to do with this set, which never had them, but it does look like it, squeezed in there before the number for the Transvaal Series. The reason it is there is that the word Transfers has been placed in alphabetical order in the book, but it refers to the several sets of transfer cards which were issued much later on. I can understand that it is confusing, but it is actually hard to imagine how else this could have appeared. 

The month, of July, is provided by the London Cigarette Card Company Catalogue for 1950, in which odd cards were priced up at 8d to 1/9 and sets at £2. 

Our original and updated World Tobacco Issues Indexes simply describe the set as : "Sm. Nd. (25)" Oddly RB.17 does not tell us that the cards are numbered, or give the number in the set. 

I am not sure where the title of this set comes from, there are biblical references to pearls and heaven but nothing fits this. Maybe it was just a poetic thought about the whiteness of the planets looking like pearls. Anyone know? 

Tuesday, 7th March 2023

I think, but stand to be corrected, that this is the only set of cigarette cards with the word "Science" in the title.

It is also interesting because we think that sports and science have only recently been linked, however here we are, with a card of over a hundred years ago, connecting science and sport. But in fact the Ancient Greek physician Galen knew about it too, writing many texts about health and fitness, realising that the more people exercised the better their muscular development was and the less injuries and ailments they suffered. And he even connected the food people ate with the way their bodies behaved. 

Sadly there was never a Reference Book devoted to the issues of Carreras, though one was in the pipeline, and its name even appears in print on the back of some of the volumes. It was also intended that the book would cover the issues of Alexander Boguslavsky. However, there could have been a reason for the inclusion of Boguslavsky and also for the book being eventually shelved, and that was the fact that during the production of our original series of reference books it was known that between 1888 and 1919, Carreras issued few sets. namely

• Black Cat Library (1913)

• The Science of Boxing (1914)

• Flags of the Allies (1915)

• The Handy English/French Dictionary (1915)

• Raemakers War Cartoons (1916)

• Women on War Work (1916)

• Types of London (1919)

And at that time, although we listed new issues in our magazine, a great many collectors were keener on these earlier, pre-war cards than they were on the inter-war ones that were issued between 1920 and 1940. This is shown even in the fact that the 1950 London Cigarette Card Catalogue is split into two sections at those dates. However, tellingly, they did not even include all of the sets above - only our set, the flags, Raemakers, Types of London and Women on War Work

Our set is listed in that catalogue as being :
A) "Black Cat Cigarettes" - retailed at between 1/- and 3/6 a card for odds and £8 a set. 
B) "Carreras Limited" - at 2/- to 6/- a card for odds and £15 a set. 

And six years later, in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, we still only list the 1914 - 1920 output of Carreras Limited as.our set, Raemakers, Types of London and Women on War Work. Our set is listed as:

The Science of Boxing Series. Sm. Nd. (50)
A) Back in brown, headed "Black Cat Cigarettes"
B) Back in a) brown b) reddish brown, headed "Carreras Limited". 

I have to say that it would take keener eyes than mine to tell brown from reddish brown, so I await to hear if it is easier than I think to spot the difference. 

In our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, issued to mark the millennium, the text of our set is exactly the same as above. But we do now include a new section 1B for Miscellaneous Issues, which are the Black Cat Library, Flags of the Allies, and the Handy French/English Dictionary. 

Wednesday, 8th March 2023

So here we have "the scientific hand" - and admit it, you are all looking at your palms right now! I am not sure that a true scientist would have much to do with palm reading, they would probably think that such a thing was most un-scientific ! 

This is the larger version of the set, and it is much more pleasing to the eye, having space to place the little head further away. I always think the standard sized set is rather cramped. In fact if I was the designer I would have left the head off of that set and then added it to the larger - though then you would have needed two lots of artwork.

Since we never had a reference book to Major Drapkin, we must suffice with the scant description in our World Tobacco Issues Index, which is simply "Size a) small b) large Nd. (25)" Though a quick trip to the 1950 London Cigarette Card Catalogue adds that the standard sized set was issued in June 1926 and the large in April 1927, which seems a very long gap. There was very little difference in the retail price either - the standard sized set being 1/- a card and 30/- a set and the large sized set being 1/3 a card and 40/- a set.

Thursday, 9th March 2023

This set only appears in our British Trade Index part three, and it is in the anonymous section at the back of the book, hence the "Z" number. They are listed as being "Gremlins 89 x 64. Inscribed "TM Warner Bros. Inc. 1984. Nd, (66)"

The set tied in to the film of the same name, which was also released in 1984. There are 82 cards, using images from that film, and featuring two of the characters, Gizmo, the cute and cuddly one, and Stripe, the tall and menacing one. 

Every packet you bought contained ten cards and a sticker. The sticker was the same thickness and size as the cards but had a peelable section, and the reverse of each is part of larger picture which you can reveal when you have all eleven stickers. We have used those as a card of the day before, on the 16th of September 2022, and the link is https://csgb.co.uk/cardoftheday/2022-09-16

Now I ought to say that these are thick stickers, more like cards. But there were also 180 thin stickers that were intended to go in a special album, and these were issued by Panini. The album was of twenty-six pages, and you can tell the American and English versions because the American version has a price on the cover and ours does not - the price is twenty five cents. However it was entirely designed as a pictorial souvenir, and there is little text. Some of these stickers are single pictures, and others are sectional, making up into larger pictures of either two or four parts. It also credits Warner Brothers, who produced the film. 

There was another set of Topps Gremlins, and another film, in 1990. Both were called "Gremlins 2 : The New Batch". They also came in packets, containing nine cards, and a sticker, plus the gum, of course. There were 88 cards and 11 stickers. You can read more about those, and find a checklist at Fandom/Gremlins2 

Friday, 10th March 2023

Now here we have the ultimate in science, a space craft made to explore other galaxies and not only to be impervious to whatever conditions it finds there but to protect its crew from them. 

This set only appears in our original set of British Trade Indexes, because it was issued in 1971 and that is one year too late for the modern update which ceases in 1970.

The description from that British Trade Index is : "UFO. 65 x 35 . Nd. (70). as set BAR-132." (and the exact description also appears at BAR-132 except it directs you to BAS-5). And the reason for this is that you can find this set with either a Barratt or a Bassett bottom, because Bassett took over its rival Barratt in 1966. 

Now if you look closely at this card, it is not just a spaceship, for you will see it credits "Century 21 Merchandising Ltd". And that is the magic name, one may even say the catnip, to Gerry Anderson, and to Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, etc. Originally it was called AP Films, after Arthur Provis, but in 1964 the Gerry Anderson empire, running out of Slough Trading Estate, rebranded itself Century 21. And many trade card series followed. 

However there is a very sought after pair of sets that few people know about and that was Como Confectionery Products`s "Supercar". These sets were each of twenty-five cards, and they were issued in 1961 and 1962. And that was the same date as the television show, made primarily for children by Gerry Anderson, Reg Hill, and Arthur Provis, and using the brand new Supermarionation system of animating puppets. The car was equally adept on land, sea and air, and even went into outer space. The cards are more cartoonish, but they do have details on the reverse of how to "join the Supercar Club and get your Pilots Licence and Wings badge" The club was actually called the Mike Mercury Supercar Club.

So were you a member? Or can you regale us with any more information?