Newsletter - 2023-03-18

Saturday, 11th March 2023

The clue here was that these players come from MOTHERwell. This seems to be the only football team in the World that has Mother in its name - though there was briefly Mother City F.C. in South Africa, which was founded in 1999 and closed in 2002. 

If you know of any other teams, or have any cards showing Mother City F.C. please tell us. 

If you are a Motherwell supporter there are a huge amount of cards to collect - check out TheTradingCardDatabase/Motherwell who says the total is 1,266, starting with Gallaher`s 1910 set of Association Football Club Colours 31/100. That card shows Jimmy Murray, who was actually Irish. In his day the team played in a different strip to this shown, namely blue shirt and white shorts - and I always think wearing white shorts for a football match on a muddy grassy pitch is a headache waiting to happen for the team laundrymaid, who obviously had no say in the matter.

It appears that the first time our strip made its cartophilic appearance was on the 1924 set of "Footballers" by Glasgow confectioners John Fishill, for the only two cards of F & J Smith "Footballers (1912) that feature the team are black and white and show Jim Bellamy in a jumper (which I thought, wrongly, must mean he was the goalkeeper) and Colin Hampton in a suit and tie. 

So I cannot find this set in our original British Trade Indexes, the final set listed in part three is "Football 86", and part four simply diverts you to the previous volume without adding any extra cards.

The album for this set has a title box which is exactly the same as the title box on this sticker, apart from the fact that the circle on the album is a coloured Union Jack. At the bottom right is a box and logo which announces that this is the tenth anniversary of Panini, and also a notice that if you collected these stickers you could help raise £50,000 for Cystic Fibrosis. I have not found anything else out about this, so is there anyone out there who can explain how this scheme worked ? 

This sticker is from the final section of the set, and the fact that there are two strips does not actually mean that it is a scene from a match - it is simply the two strips that were used by this club at the dates given on the right and left hand side. 

There is a checklist, of sorts, at LastSticker/86-87  - it is actually a chart to allow you to swap the cards but it serves our purpose as well. 

Sunday, 12th March 2023

We wonder how many of you were surprised by seeing the back of this card ? And we bet quite a few. For this is not the Franklyn Davey set that most of you would have thought, nor the Ogdens version. The main difference is that this Wills version of the set has no issuer name at the top, whereas both of those sets do. 

So your clue here was the basic biological fact that it takes a mother to make a child, and that, also, commercially, children are the main focus as far as customers for Mother`s Day presents. This little girl is also the kind of idealised child that any mother ought to love - very girly, with her orange dress and bright orange bow in her hair. If I ever looked like that there are no pictures to prove it, but I seriously doubt I did, I was too messy and clumsy to be allowed a dress and a bow in my hair. I also doubt that the majority of American children looked like this either, it was probably posed in a studio. However the hair bow is rather a fascinating story which all started centuries ago, because the art of Ancient Egypt, Iraq, and Greece show men and women with ribbons in their hair. In Central America too. It has also refused to go away throughout those centuries, coming in and out of fashion, and developing a whole love language all of its own in the Victorian era, even as far as its placement on your head showing how you felt about who you were with. And in the case of the bow being at the very top of the head, well that meant the wearer was searching for love. That could make the truth behind this card a very sad one indeed. 

Lets start our card chat, as I often do, with our original Wills Reference Books - though for the most part I use the combined volume, which has a hard cover and all the parts reprinted inside, purely because they tend to be interlinked and it saves having to go up and get another. Plus when they were reprinted in this volume, two tables of dates of issue, home and overseas, were added. And for this set it gives the date we use above, March 1925, which was taken from the London records of British American Tobacco.

The text for this set reads : 

168. 50 Children of All Nations. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Subjects cut and perforated to stand out. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Issued in New Zealand, between 1925-1930. Similar to series issued by Franklyn Davey, Imperial Tobacco Co of Canada, Ogden, and United Tobacco Co of South Africa. 

That sends me to RB.21, the Tobacco War book. And entry 200-168 reads : 

Series recorded in W/168 [the Wills booklet] and RB.15/58 [which is the original Ogdens booklet]. All the printings of this series are summarised below :

A - Wills overseas issue
B - I.T.C. of Canada issue, inscribed 7718 
C - U.T.C. issue 
D - Ogden`s Home issue
E - Franklyn Davey Home issue

Printings A - C are B.A.T. issues, printings D - E are I.T.C. issues. Printings A, D and E are cut outs. 

The Ogden`s book, RB.15, is exactly the same text as in our Wills booklet except for the colour of the back, which is green (not grey). And at the end of the text it has been subtly altered, saying "Wills" where it formerly said "Ogden`s". That does actually make the list out of order, but the reason for that is almost certainly that these two changes, the colour and the issuer, were easily rectified by simply insetting new type in those spaces and reprinting. Whereas to move Wills to the end of the listing would have been a longer and costlier job. If this were done today with a photocopier we would simply print the two new words in the same way and stick them over the existing text, then copy the whole page - and nobody would be any the wiser.

Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes share the same basic text : "Children of All Nations. Sm. Subjects die cut to stand out. Nd. (50) See RB21/200-168A."

Monday, 13th March 2023

Here we have the Carnation, which is the official floral symbol for Mother`s Day, and has been for over a hundred years, since May 10 1908 when a lady called Anna Maria Jarvis, who had lost her mother a few years before, suddenly decided to celebrate mothers everywhere by arranging events in West Virginia and Philadelphia including abundant displays of white carnations. The reason for their being white was simply because that shade was her mother`s favourite, but just ten years later white carnations were being sold as the flowers to display in honour of a mother no longer living. In fact her mother, Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis, had always wondered why there was not a proper nationwide day to celebrate all mothers. She liked the idea so much that she actually gave a lesson at her Church Sunday School about it. And after she died, her daughter decided to make it so. 

Mother`s Day was not a proper national holiday until 1914, and it was to some extent forced upon the nation by her many campaigns. In this she had the spirit of her mother, who was very active in the State of Virginia during the American Civil War, and determined to bring food, clothing, and assistance to troops of both sides whenever they should need it, whilst personally nursing sick men from both sides during an epidemic of typhoid in the area.

However, and sadly, towards the end of her life, Anna Maria Jarvis was not happy with the way she saw it becoming less of a tribute and more of a chance to make money, and she did even try to have the day removed from the calendar, but to no avail. She died in November 1948.

Another change she would have opposed is that nowadays in America, Australia, Germany, China and Greece, Mother's Day is no longer on the 10th, but on the second Sunday in May.

Our card appears in the original Wills Reference Book part 4. The text is : 

225. 50 Garden Flowers (1933) Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey with "Wills for Quality" at head with descriptive text. Home issue 1933

The month of issue, January, is given in the reprint of the five Wills books combined beneath a hard cover, as part of the very useful table of dates of home and overseas issues that was added to the front of the volume. 

By the time of our World Tobacco Issues Index in 1956 this text had been reduced to simply "Sm. Nd. (50). Though for our Millennial update we had replaced the wording that said "Wills for Quality" at top"

There was another set of "Garden Flowers" cards by W.D. & H.O. Wills, but they are easy to tell apart because they say "by Richard Sudell" - a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society and gardening author. These were issued as a standard sized set in January 1939, and a first and second series of forty large sized cards in January 1938 and June 1939 respectively. 

Tuesday, 14th March 2023

So here we have a very proud mother with her twins. Penguins mate for life and both parents are caregivers, taking it in turns to sit on the eggs or to forage for food. They are found only in the Antarctic, and the name is after Adele, the wife of a French explorer called Jules Dumont d`Urville, whose crew was the first to discover the species. I am not sure why there is a discrepancy in the names Adele and Adelie though. 

Our original John Player Reference Book (RB.17) issued in 1950, gathers all the information that had been published in various sources. It is the final entry in the book. The description is : 

205. 25 Zoo Babies. Large cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey with descriptive text. 
A) Home issue, with I.T.C. clause. Issued October 1938
B) Channel Islands issue, without I.T.C. clause, issued December 1937. 

This is intriguing, because it means the Channel Islands issue was circulating for almost a year before it appeared in on the British mainland. 

Our original World Tobacco Issues Index, issued just six years later, is more concise, and simply says : "Lg. Nd. (25)" It also splits the Channel Islands off into a different section, quite a way later, and gives it the code P72-231. Though it does give a clue that there is something extra to discover by adding "see RB.17/205A" - for where there is an "A" there must be a "B", or even more letters! The updated World Tobacco Issues Index, fifty-four years later, has identical text, and also splits the Channel Islands issue off - but I forgot to write down the code for the Channel Islands version - never mind, I will have added it by Saturday

Wednesday, 15th March 2023

Whitehead were best known for making "Robin Hood Lollies", but this appears to be the only set of cards they ever issued, in 1980. That makes them too late for our updated British Trade Index, but they do appear in our vintage British Trade Index, part three, under WHK-1. The text for that is not very inspiring, simply "Kings & Queens. 105 x 70. Nd. (25)"  But we do have a better description, in our magazine, "Cartophilic Notes and News", Volume 8, No.96, dated November-December 1980. This could mean the set was issued in the latter half of the year, or it could point to it being a regional issue which obviously had less chance of being submitted to the New Issues Editor (who at that time was Clifford Duge) so that it could appear in our "New Issues Report". The piece says :

Whitehead (Nottingham) Ltd. "Kings & Queens". Series of 25. (Robin Hood Lollies). This is a series of large coloured cards (size 115 x 70 m/m) with white border and caption at base, the backs being printed in blue, and are numbered and contain an excellent description. The cards are well produced and worthy of a place in any collection. I do not know exactly how the cards were distributed but I doubt if they were actually packed with the lollies. 

So do you know how they were distributed ? And do you have any illustrations of the packaging of Robin Hood Lollies, or any information on the firm ? 

This image, currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery, is used on many cards but the artist remains unknown. And even they date it at "early 18th century" which is a long time after she lived. So was it taken from an earlier, unknown portrait? 

Catherine of Aragon is here because she could have technically called herself the Queen Mother, a term which, in its most basic sense, means a former Queen whose child is currently the reigning Queen, or King. And Catherine of Aragon was Queen to Henry VIII, and the mother of Queen Mary I.

The first Queen Mother was Queen Aelfthryth, who was the mother of Ethelred the Unready, who ruled from 979 to 1016.  I could not find her on a cigarette card though - can you? I could find Ethelred the Unready - he is on W.D. & H.O. Wills "Kings and Queens of England" (1898) 

Image

The easiest cigarette card of Catherine of Aragon to acquire is John Player “Kings and Queens”  22/50 – which was issued in two sizes, and intriguingly the larger card does not just expand the image to fill the space, but allows for more of the portrait, as you can see here – though it does green out the pillar, which our card includes. 

The text tells us that she was the “Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain … married Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII in 1501 … widowed five months later, and in 1509 married his brother, Henry VIII. For several years there was deep affection between them. But the deaths of all her children except Mary endangered the succession, and Henry`s decision to divorce her was hastened by his passion for Anne Boleyn. The marriage was annulled in 1533, bringing about the breach with Rome. The rest of her life was spent in harsh confinement.”

Carreras “Kings & Queens of England” 24/50 uses the same portrait but a lighter dress, greener, which softens her features. There is no mention of the portrait, but it adds that she was “scarcely sixteen” when she married “Arthur, Prince of Wales” and that she was a widow “in less than five months”. It also tells us that her marriage to her brother-in-law Henry VIII was only accomplished “by a special dispensation of the Pope”. And finally it tells us that “In 1527 Henry expressed doubt as to the validity of his marriage, and in 1533, Cranmer pronounced it illegal and Catherine was divorced”

Our card tells us that she was “born in 1485”, but leaves off Isabella, as if Ferdinand somehow produced her all alone. It agrees with the dates of the marriages, but adds that “When Arthur died she was betrothed to the second son who married her on becoming Henry VIII in 1509”. This hardly sounds very romantic, though it does say “Catherine received affection from him and children were born”. It also tells us that the ”anxiety about the male succession” (obviously he wanted a male son to follow him as King, as he had followed his father) “and his attraction to Anne Boleyn provoked henry to request annulment of their marriage. Rejecting Papal authority he obtained nullity from his own Archbishop so creating the breach with the Roman Church”. But, if you remember our Carreras card, the marriage was only accomplished “by a special dispensation of the Pope”, so it did seem rather bad form to want to go against it, and fairly quickly too.
 

Thursday, 16th March 2023

This is an unusual series showing pottery figurines, most of which were indeed produced in the Staffordshire area. You can read more about the potter, John Bacon, at TheChipstoneFoundation/Bacon - where he is called The Prince of Stoneware Potters.

The month of issue for this set is so far only listed in my 1950s London Cigarette Card Company catalogues, along with the fact that the set was issued either as a set of twenty-four small cards or a set of twelve extra large cards. However the month would have almost certainly appeared in our Carreras Reference Book, if the plans for that had come to fruition. Perhaps there is a whole list of Carreras dates somewhere, and I will stumble upon it when I start to work through all my magazines to add the information on to our website.

I do know that it would not have been listed as a new issue, because this set was issued in 1926, and the first ever "Cigarette Card News" was only issued in October 1933, a hundred years ago this year - little wonder that the ones I have are looking a little tired.

By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, only six years after my L.C.C.C. Catalogue, things have changed. This tells us that the cards are embossed (which I hope you can see by the back, if not the front, embossing is quite hard to pick up on a scanner, for some reason - but just in case the embossing is to the figure, to make it stand out), and also numbered. Most importantly there are now three variants. The full listing reads :

OLD STAFFORDSHIRE FIGURES. Embossed. Nd. ... C18-60
1. "A Series of 24". (A) small (B) large
2. "A Series of 12". Cabinet Size

I am not sure of the size of the cabinet cards, so if anyone has one do have a measure, and let us know, please. I am not sure when the large set turned up either, so maybe a Carreras specialist can tell us that too. 

This is not the end of the story either, for in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index there has been another shift, which must have turned up in the intervening years, and must be recorded somewhere, yet to find. This now lists the series as 

OLD STAFFORDSHIRE FIGURES. Embossed. Nd. ... C151-340
1. A. Sm. (24)   B. Cabinet Size (1-12 as 1-12 in A.)
2.  Lg (24, different subjects.) 

Friday, 17th March 2023

So here we have a card of quite an unusual size, and it turns out to be an unusual story as well. This set is just one of the "Noddy" tie-ins from Como, see at the very end of this section, but I have been unable to find out what the connection was between the two. 

Our original British Trade Index part two simply describes it as "Md. 64 x 64. Nd. (50)" However in between this volume of 1969 and part four in 1997 there has been a discovery. Suddenly our set, and some of the others, have also been recorded in different formats; as well as the backs in red, there are backs in blue or black, and of different sizes to the red originals, being 46 x 46 m/m. So all the listings are revised. In addition the original size of our card has been altered to 63 x 60, which I do not think can be correct, as this card is definitely square - to my eyes anyway. 

By the time of our updated British Trade Index our set is now described as

1. 1959. 63 x 60. Nd. (50) red back
2. 1970. 46 x 46. Back in (a) black (b) blue

So here is a quick note of the changes: 

• Noddy and His Playmates (50) 1962 - reprinted 1967

• Noddy`s Adventures first series (25) 1968 - reprinted 1970

• Noddy`s Adventures second series (25 - 26/50) 1968 - reprinted 1970

• Noddy`s "Budgie" & Feathered Friends first series (25) 1959 - never reprinted

• Noddy`s "Budgie" & Feathered Friends second series (25 - 26/50) 1959 - never reprinted 

• Noddy`s Friends Abroad (50) 1959 - reprinted 1970

• Noddy`s Nursery Rhyme Friends (50) 1959 - reprinted 1970

So your task is to find out the connection between Noddy and Como - also to find out why all these sets were suddenly reprinted in 1970. My thought is maybe that they saw what Brooke Bond were doing and did the same, but I have not hunted yet. Also, what happened with the Budgie set(s) ? 

As far as the subject of the card, here is Mother Goose, a popular character, but a total mystery, though she is and probably always will be eternally associated with fairy tales. All we know, and all we may ever know, is that Charles Perrault combined some of his retold fairy tales in a book called "Histoires ou contes du temps passe: contes de ma mere l’Oie" - in other words "Histories and tales of times past : tales of My mother, the goose"...