So here we are at last, just a few hours late. Yesterday was not great for my brain and nothing worked. On those days typing is almost impossible, the keyboards are just a big blur, both the standard and the on screen versions, and though you can start at 1 and work along every line it is way too slow to write a newsletter.
But we are here now - enjoy, and be inspired.
And thanks to my brain for functioning a bit better today...
W. & F. Faulkner [tobacco : UK] "Street Cries" untitled (1902) Un/12 - F150-350 : F14-16 : Ha.169 : H.169
Now this card celebrates a very odd fact, that today, in 1879, milk was first sold in glass bottles. Now this was in America, and it is stated that before that people bought their milk loose, but what they mean is that they would take something up to the farm or the shop and the milk would be ladled out of the churn for them. It was supposed to be a great improvement in disease prevention and in convenience, but it had drawbacks - breakages for one. And eventually it was abandoned in America.
Our first glass milk bottle was filled in 1880. It carried the name of the dairy, which was actually the Express Dairy, and that played into the hands of the quick and convenient new method of getting milk, especially as Express delivered the milk to the householder.
Right from the start these bottles were to be returned to the dairy from where they came from, and then they would be cleansed and reused. Early recycling, at its best. It was not a total success because there was a worry about the cleaning, but these fears were soon set to rest.
This is an unusual set and it is described in our first ever Reference Book (RB.1) as being :
1902 12 Street Cries (untitled series) Sizes 2 3/8 x 1 1/2". Unnumbered. Fronts, printed full colour by lithography, "cry" above subject, "Grenadier Cigarettes" "W. & F. Faulkner Ltd. London" in brownish ink below. backs plain. Printed by J. Causton & Sons Ltd., London. Subjects numbered for convenience.
1. All O
2. Ave A Teaser, Mum
3. D`Ye wa-a-a coal ?
4. Extry Speshul
5. Meat, Meat
6. Milk - O!
7. Muffins
8. Scissors to Grind
9. Swe-e-p
10. Those tormentin` flies catch `em all alive
11. Will you buy my sweet lavender
12. Who`ll have a cooler?
Today the cries are but a memory, I will even have to look them up to see what some of the wares were that were being advertised with these once familiar phrases.
If you look at the seller, he does not appear to have prefilled glass milk bottles though, only a portable container and a jar. His hat is also interesting for the circle is a brass label that you can slightly see says "Dairy". It ought to be possible to find this badge online, but maybe not tonight!
Despite this list being printed in the Reference Book, following the Ha. and H. numbers to the handbooks just leads you to the same list, so this reprinting of the list was obviously done to fulfil a need after this booklet was out of print.
Reemstma [tobacco : O/S : Germany] "Olympia 1936" (1936) Bild 51 Gruppe 20 - R189-525A : R16-19A
This set is really a partwork, though it had a special album for that set alone. There were two versions, A) ours, contains colour cards as well as black and white, and mentions Band I only - whilst B) is only black and white and refers to both Bands I and II. I will look up what the Bands actually mean later... unless you would like to enlighten me first.
Like a lot of German cards, you did not get a card in the packet, only a coupon, and you collected those until you had enough to send for the cards, which arrived in a glascine envelope. The albums were really grand, thick hard backs, just like books, with velvety looking covers - on this one the Olympic rings are placed centrally and shine out.
This set might be best known for the fact that it was issued for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but it also contains many quality images of sportsmen that have nothing to do with politics or war. Indeed, the group of cards that our image comes from relates to the 1932 Olympics, which were awarded to Los Angeles in California on this day.
I am not sure how long it took them to make that decision, but I would not think too long - for California`s bid to host the Summer Games was the only bid that had been received by the closing date.
A very odd point was that in 1932 America was racked by the Great Depression, so surely the money spent on the games, even then, would have been better spent helping their people, very few of whom would have paid the games much notice at all.
Our man is cited as M. Jarvinen of Finland, and I note that he is wearing glasses. He is also not wearing tracksuit bottoms, so this must be a very early photo - because, oddly, the Finns found Los Angeles very cold, and it affected their throwing, so they competed in those instead of shorts. Whether this affected the result will never be known but gold, silver and bronze in this event all went to Finland, gold being to our man, whose full name was Matti Henrikki Jarvinen.
He had been born in 1909, and his father was also an Olympian, a discus thrower, winning a gold medal in 1906 and a bronze in 1908. In fact he was the first Finn to win an Olympic medal. And his three sons were all Olympians - the oldest, Kalle, with the shot putt at the 1932 games - Akilles for Decathlon in 1928, 1932, and 1936 - and the youngest, our man, Matti, for javelin in 1932 and 1936.
However only Matti survived the Second World War.
R. & J. Hill [tobacco : UK] "Music Hall Celebrities - Past and Present" (1930) 21/30 - H554-540 : H46-59 : RB.13
This card is in honour of National Siblings Day, which basically means brothers and sisters. So make sure you think of yours.
We have gone with this card because I knew nothing of the sisters, not even if they were true sisters, but yes, it turns out that The Houston Sisters were indeed sisters. Their act was a bit of everything, comedy, drama, music, youthful impersonation, and cross dressing, because as part of their act, shown here, one sister would impersonate a man, often with blond hair.
The two girls were Scottish, Renee was, we think, the oldest. She was born in 1906 and christened Sarah McMahon Gribbin. She died in 1972. The other sister was Katherina Rita Murphy Gribbin, and nobody seems to be sure of her year of birth. She died in 1980.
RB.13 starts off our research into the set by saying
1930 30 Music Hall Celebrities - Past & Present. Inscribed "First Series" (titled series). Size 2 5/8 x 1 1/2". Numbered 1-30. Fronts printed in three colours from half-tone blocks. blue border line and white margins. Backs printed in blue with descriptions and "Issued solely by R. & J. Hill Ltd." Printed by Ripley & Co. London.
Below it is the same set, but in a larger size. By the time of our World Tobacco Issues Index the two sets were listed together, but the small sized set was a) and the large sized set b)
Now the thing you are anxious to know is where is the second series? And I have no idea. My first thought, that it was shelved by war, cannot be true, for it is too late for the First World War and too early for the Second. Is there a Phillips researcher out there who can enlighten us?
W.D. & H.O. Wills `Scissors` brand [tobacco : UK] "Regimental Pets" (December 1911) 15/33 - W675-517 : W62-368 : W/309A
On National Pets Day this set shows a different kind of pet than one we have on our homes, for this deals with the animals associated with the military forces.
This dog seems quite a character, just read the description of why he was sporting the muzzle when he was painted. And you can still see him, online, and in person, for he was turned into taxidermy after his demise, and is now in the regimental museum. He looks such a character that I cannot help hoping that he comes to life at night after the museum is closed and continues to enjoy thrilling escapades.
The most recent version of the World Tobacco Issues Index states that there are "many subjects with alternative captions" - whilst our original Wills Reference Book part IV tells us there is only one error, card 32, which can be found with "Pet Goat", or with "Pet Sheep". (By the way it is a sheep). And thirty three does also seem a very odd number for a set, don`t you think?
The Wills Reference Book Part IV actually also tells us that the cards measure "63 x 37 mm. Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs with descriptive text. Issued between 1905 and 1910" This is despite Wills own Works Magazine being pretty firm on December 1911. However the confusion may have resulted from there being another version, a general overseas issue with anonymous backs in black. If this was issued in 1905, it is possible that it continued until 1910, and then the Scissors version was released.
As this might be sorted out with a list of the animals, here they begin
(S) 1. "Daisy", the pet wallaby of The Victorian Mounted Rifles
(S) 2. "The Antelope", of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment
(S) 3. "Billy", the goat of the 2nd Battalion of The Welsh Regiment (69th Foot)
(S) 4. "The Derby Ram" Regimental Pet of The Sherwood Foresters
(5) 5. "Jack", Frank Buckland`s Pet Monkey (2nd Life Guards)
(S) 6. "Vonolel" Lord Roberts`s veteran Arab charger
(S) 7. "Copenhagen" The Duke of Wellington`s charger at Waterloo
(S) 8. "Ronald" Lord Cardigan`s favourite charger
(S) 9. The Regimental Deer of The Seaforth Highlanders
(S) 10. "Jimson", pet mule, 2nd Batt. Middlesex Regiment
(S) 11. Goat of The 1st West India Regiment
(S) 12. The pet deer of The West Yorkshire Regiment
(S) 13. "Lizzie", the pet bear of The 17th Lancers
(S) 14. Pet crane 16th Lancers
(S) 15. "Billie", the pet bulldog of The Royal Irish Rifles
(S) 16. The pet wildebeeste of The South Wales Borderers
(S) 17. The goat of the 1st Battalion The Welsh Regiment (41st)
(S) 18. The wolfhound of The Irish Guards
(S) 19. "Billy", the goat of The Royal Welsh Fusiliers
(S) 20. "Plassey" the tiger cub of the 102nd Royal Madras Fusiliers (now 1st Battln Royal Munster Fusiliers)
(S) 21. The baby elephant of the 78th Highlanders (Rosshire Buffs)
- this is incorrect, it ought to be "Ross-Shire" Buffs
(S) 22. The bear of The Royal Horse Guards
(S) 23. "Cheeky", the old pet of the 24th Regiment
(S) 24. "Derby 1" the original ram of The 95th Derbyshire Regt.
(S) 25. "Teddy", the pet bear of The 2nd Battalion King`s Royal Rifles
(S) 26. "Drummer", the pet dog of the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers
(S) 27. "Jennie", the old drum horse of the 7th Dragoon Guards
(S) 28. "Don", the pet baboon of the 2nd Battalion, Middlesex Regt. with baby Chico in his arms
(S) 29. Regimental pet bear 1st Life Guards
(S) 30. "Kruger", pet monkey 14th Hussars
(S) 31. "Jacko", the pet monkey of the 2nd Battalion East Yorkshire Regt.
(S) 32. Jimmy Durham and pet goat 2nd Durham Light Infantry (reverse says "pet sheep")
(S) 33. "Joey", pet of 2nd Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
Here we have Jane Withers, born today in 1926, so when this set was issued she was ten years old. But she started acting at the age of three, and even hosted a children`s radio programme in her home town, Atlanta, Georgia. Her mother had dreamed of having a child who would become involved with show business, and fulfil her own thwarted dreams - so whose idea the radio programme was may never really be known. But it worked, and Jane Withers arrived in Hollywood, with her mother as chaperone, in 1932.
That casts a bit of doubt on the date given for her rookie card at the Trading Card Database / Jane Withers - so watch out for a bit more research.
Like most stars, the spotlight took a bit of coaxyorum before it illuminated on her. Her first real break was in a film with Shirley Temple, and oddly, looking at this card, she was the rich kid as opposed to Shirley Temple`s orphan. That was in Bright Eyes, in 1934.
Our film, "Ginger" actually reverses the roles, for here she is an orphan, given a second chance on a whim by a kindly judge. Eventually, as life really ought to, things work out o.k., and she is reunited with her father.
In 1947 she left the screen, but she did continue behind the scenes as it were, mainly providing voices. When cartoon films started to make it big she did a lot of work for Disney, right up into this century.
She died in 2021, just five years short of her century.
Godfrey Phillips [tobacco : UK] "Famous Boys" (1924) 16/25 - P521-320 : P50-57 : Ph/63 : RB.13/63
Handel`s Messiah was first performed at Dublin at the New Music Hall on April 13th, 1742 . As to why, well opera was in a bit of slump, when he composed this great work, so beloved and so performed today - though it must be recorded that it took him under a month to write, and the text was borrowed from the Bible and a prayer book.
So there was Handel, something to play but nowhere to play it, feeling low, and along comes the Duke of Devonshire, at that time the Lord Lieutenant of Dublin, who for some reason set up some concerts, for charitable purposes, two seasons of six. During the first of these Handel arrived in Dublin, and must have either gone, though he was pretty broke in the wallet, or heard about them. He then started making arrangements and meeting people in order to stage his own event, for charitable purposes, (though also to get his work and name an airing), either as part of the season, which never happened, or afterwards, which did.
The original Godfrey Phillips Reference Booklet tells us that these were "small cards, size 64 x 39 m/m. Fronts printed by letterpress in brown and black. Backs in back with descriptive text. Issued 1924"
R & J Lea [tobacco : UK] "Roses" (1924) 6/50 - L250-675 : L26-26
As today is Perfume Day, here we have a card of a rose, one of the most scented of all plants. And roses actually form the basis of the earliest perfume, attar of roses. Actually attar is a blend, including lavender and several other flowers and herbs, but they do use rose petals
Now this is a tenuous link, so if any readers collect perfume cards, please send us a scan of front and back and I will pluck this rose and replace it with an actual perfume card.
And I will tell you more about the rose if not!
This week's Cards of the Day...
celebrated National Walking Day. This day is always the first Wednesday of April, and it also right at the start of National Move More Month, which runs for the whole of April.
Walking requires no special equipment at the start, and you do not have to start by walking miles, in fact you can walk round your dinner table. And then slowly progress. You may find that you get out of breath quickly, the first time, but take it slow and your lungs and heart will thank you.
And if you are not too tired after your walk, do share a cartophilic walker, whichever social media you use, with #NationalWalkingDay #WalkingDay #Cartophily and #CigaretteCard or #TradeCard - and dont forget to mention @Card_World too
Saturday, 1st April 2023
So here we have another Australian footballer, the first clue to this week`s theme.
The clue here was rather obscure but on the back of this card it tells you that he was a "Rover". Now in Australian Football, you get three players that are together called followers, because they do not play in a particular position but can follow the ball all over the pitch. They have other names too, one is the ruckman, and they are usually the tallest person on each team, one is the ruck rover, who is slightly shorter, and the last one is the rover, a nippy little player, often the smallest on the pitch, who hangs out just waiting to get the ball from the ruck rover and send it towards the goal.
However a rover is also a wanderer, who has itchy feet if they are asked to stay in any one place for too long. They spend their lives going from place to place and are often, in fact for the most part, walking, or hitching rides from passing drivers.
Reputedly Sniders & Abrahams were the first Australian company to make cigarettes by methods of mass-production.
Now we have a comparison chart to these sets
By the way this set is described as having "head and neck in star, club colours surrounding" - and these are the colours used for the two stripes. It was issued in two formats, showing different brands, a) "Peter Pan" - and - b) "Standard". There is not a lot of difference to these backs, for it is exactly the same design, but the top curving banner either says "Peter Pan", with "10 With Holders 10" immediately below - or it says "Standard" with "Cork Tipped" below.
I have not been able to find out much about the Peter Pan "holders" so if you know anything, or have a picture of them from another set, do please share. And there is actually a link with Peter Pan, the book, if not that character, for Captain Hook used a purpose built "holder" that allowed for the smoking of two cigars at the same time.
I have found that earlier "Standard" branded sets have a larger advertisement design and that tells us they were ""Cork Tipped Warranted Hand Rolled - The Tobacco used is the very highest grade of Bright Virginia". And you can read more about why cigarettes were cork tipped at StanfordUniversity/Cork
Sunday, 2nd April 2023
So your clue here was the fact that these are Highlanders on the March. And a march is technically a way of moving along steadily with a rhythmic gait. It does not necessarily mean that you are in a group but it does mean that you are moving with purpose towards a target.
Despite the term "Quick March" you cannot march at a run, only at a walk. And marching is seldom done at a fast pace, for it is harder for a group to stay in time, and if they are out of time it makes it much less impressive. That is why ceremonial marches walk so slowly.
This set is listed in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
1. Caption in white border at base of picture. Sepia. (24?) See H.289
2. Caption on picture. Black and white, brown tinted. Two series of 25. Sepia. In 1 printing inscribed on back "Passed for Publication by the Press Bureau 10-2-17" See H.290.
Our updated World Tobacco Issues Index says the same but adds that "forty-nine different subjects [of 2. above] are known, excluding a second No.7". That problem was fairly quickly solved when it was realised that both the versions had the same picture as number seven but it came with both a caption in the bottom border and a caption printed within the picture.
Then I looked in the Handbooks, and found that Muratti was not the only issuer of this set - the others were tobacconist W.M. Taylor of Dublin, and trade issuers Edmondson of Liverpool (confectionery), Nicholas Hull & Sons (tea), Alfred Hughes & Sons Ltd of Birmingham (biscuits) and Meadow Dairy Co. Ltd of Newcastle (milk etc), in both a numbered and an unnumbered version. And they all issued different versions of the same set, sometimes adding new cards to it. Then it got really confusing, but fear not, for I am working on a grid to sort them all out and this will appear in the newsletter.
We are following the lists as they were found, but transforming it into alphabetical order. At that point you can all have a look through your cards and see if there are any differences, as well as to confirm whether cards with similar titles are actually the same card. If you have any other cards than shown do please tell us. Those with suffix `a` were the first to be recorded, and they were listed in the original part one LCCC handbook. The suffix `b` shows that same work but in part two, and only two new cards came from that second part. Those with suffix `c` first appear in our updated handbook issued in 2003.
Additional requests
We have a card listed as “Commodore, etc (Naval Officers)” (21 and 18 in the Murattis) and another listed as “Commodore, Surgeon, etc (36 in the Meadow Dairy) Is this the same card? This only came to light after they were listed in alphabetical order.
Card 3 in the Muratti is variously described as Admiral Sir Hepworth L M, and as Admiral Sir Hedworth L M. Which is correct?
Monday, 3rd April 2023
Lastly, the clue was that here we have a dog rose, which clambers its way along hedgerows and walls on long whippy stems that come right from the base of the plant. And that makes it a rambling rose.
A ramble is yet another term for a walk, but totally opposite to a march, for it is usually on a meandering route with frequent diversions to take pleasure in the countryside and other local sights, and often there is no time frame.
However a rambler is also a member of The Ramblers Association, a charity, founded in 1935, which arranges walks all across the country, and whose members are also to be found looking after the countryside through which they walk so that generations to come will still enjoy it.
This is the dog rose, or in the Latin `Rosa Canina. And apparently it is called a dog rose because superstition says eating the root would cure any side effects of being bitten by a mad dog.
The card tells us that its bears red fruits, called hips, in the Autumn, and that during the Second World War they were collected on a large scale to make rose hip syrup. In fact you can make it for yourself if you have a dog rose in your vicinity, and it is supposed to be very beneficial if you suffer with arthritis, but you do have to be a bit careful because inside the hip are many little hairs and they need to be removed by straining several times.
And you will also find the dog rose on Gallaher "Wild Flowers" (1939) 1/48
One of the medium sized sets issued by John Player with cigars, though it is a long medium at 89 x 52 m/m, rather than a square shape. Some of their cigar sets were issued with `Doncella` Cigars as well but this one is only available in the `Grandee` branded format.
Tuesday, 4th April 2023
Now the first quandary is that Walkers is stated to have been founded in 1732 in Liverpool - but not incorporated, i.e. made into a Limited Company, until 1919. However if you look closely you will find out that the original company was called Walker`s Tobacco, and it was based at the Mersey Tobacco Factory in Scotland Road. This company was wound up either fairly close to the start of the First World War or during it; then in 1919 a new company was started, called Walker`s Tobacco Company Ltd.
This set only appears in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index as W090-100.2 where it says it is :
size 67 x 35. Domino in black, inscribed "Reg No. 646862. Notched in centre of all four sides. Back in black, with firm`s name and "Smoke "Old Monk" Cigarettes.
Does anyone know why these were notched in such a way ? Is it something to do with the wording on the reverse that states "Held like Playing Cards, Played like Dominoes" ?
Now the reverses also state that "every packet of 10 cigarettes contains one Domino", which obviously are these cards. But then it gets confusing, and says "Every box contains 50 Cigarettes one coupon 100 Cigarettes two coupons. Walkers will give a complete Set of Dominoes in exchange for six coupons". But was that set a set of these cards or a set of three dimensional dominoes?
Actually Walkers also sold an "Old Monk Flake" Tobacco, which was billed as Pure Medium Virginia - and they also sold and possibly blended "Adelphi Mixture" and "Rich Dark Honeydew".
Wednesday, 5th April 2023
A companion to yesterday`s Card of the Day, here we have the later version of Walker`s Dominoes. I wonder why they felt the need to have a second set, entirely re-drawn too?
Anyway our original World Tobacco Issues index lists only this version, as :
Dominoes (A) Sm. 60 x 36. Blue. Back in blue, "W.T.C." monogram in centre oval, without firm`s name. Set to double six (28). See Ha.535.2
Our updated World Tobacco Issues Index says much the same but adds that the dominoes are unnumbered, and that they are inscribed "Copyright"
H and Ha codes always refer to the handbooks, and strangely though this set is there, and the back is shown, there is still no mention of yesterday`s card. Yet that quite unmistakably says Walker`s and Cigarettes - and neither of those words appear on these cards. That makes me wonder if the earlier issue was a much later discovery - and if I find that out as I go along I will let you know
Thursday, 6th April 2023
So here we have another Walkers, and they made potato crisps. Now this set was issued during a big craze for Tazos, which are discs that look like the cardboard caps that used to come on pints of milk, decades ago, and they were played with i much the same way, spinning and throwing to a target, or also to construct three dimensional shapes with, using the slots that were precut at the edges.
These do not appear in the British Trade Index, though they are within the dates of the original British Trade Indexes parts three and four. Was a decision made to exclude them on the ground that they were shaped? Tomorrow I will have a look in our magazines and see if I can track them down in there.
Now our subject for the day, the Road Runner, was first drawn by the famous cartoonist Chuck Jones in the late 1940s, and his first appearance was in 1949, in a Warner Brothers cartoon with Wile E. Coyote.
According to the TradingCardDatabase/RoadRunner his rookie card was in 1974, which seems quite late to me. Then there was a huge gap until he appeared again, over fifteen years. So if anyone knows of an earlier cartophilic road runner, do let us know, even a non-cartoon version!
Road Runners do exist in real life, not just in the movies. They do run, very fast, if they have to, but they also cover vast distances by walking. They very seldom fly though. And they are much smaller than you imagine, only about two foot tall.
Friday, 7th April 2023
What was it about Walkers Tobacco that made them omit their name from their sets? For yet again, just like the dominoes, here is a set that only says "Tatley" not a mention of Walkers.
And to make matters more confusing, there is another similar set of forty-eight black and white photographic cards that does say Walkers on it.
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index says :
Film Stars Sm. 65 x 35. Black and white photographs. Unnd.
1. With Series Title. `Tatleys` brand issue (32) see H.623-1
2.Without Series Title, with firm`s name (48) see H.623-2
The H. numbers point you to the handbook and these include lists of the cards in each set, which are different.