Newsletter - 2023-06-17

Saturday, 10th June 2023

Our first card should have given you the clue word of Derby, and most people connect that not with football but with horse racing.  Some of you probably thought that "Derby" meant The Derby at Epsom, but our intention was the actual Derby Racecourse, which was actually in Derby, like our Saturday Soccer Star, and was in use from 1848 until the outbreak of the Second World War. And this was not the only Derby Racecourse, for there had been racecourses in the town before that, the earliest from at least 1639.

The course at Derby does strangely feature on Sandorides "Racecourses" as card 48/50 - where it tells us that the course is one mile from Derby Town. 

This set first appears, very briefly, in the London Cigarette Card News, Vol.3, No.25, dated October 1935, under “Notes on Current Series”, by C.L. Porter. However as it the same set, bar the branding, it counts.

OGDEN, Football Caricatures. 50 small cards. This branch of the Imperial has specialised in sporting subjects, and the many collectors interested will welcome this addition to the gallery. The production (in colour) is good, rather reminiscent of one or two Players and Wills issues, with modern improvements. The players are Rugby League and Association (Football League) players, no Rugby Union men being included. Also issued by Hignett.

This set was next recorded, in a similar way, in our original 1950 issued Reference Book, RB.15, to Ogden`s Ltd as: 

83. 50 FOOTBALL CARICATURES. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour, caricatures signed “MAC”. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issue, 1935. Similar series issued by Hignett.

it is a bit odd that there is no reference here to the fact that it is Rugby League as well as Association Football. And I wonder how many Rugby League collectors even know this set exists. However if you are an Association Football collector, you will be wondering about the signature on the front because, yes, this is the same “MAC” who drew the footballers from another set, “Footballers, Caricatures by MAC” issued in September 1927 by John Player But there is no reference, save the signature, which could be missed, that they were also involved with this set.

Our original World Tobacco Issues Index lists this slightly more succinctly, as 

Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes list this set as "FOOTBALL CARICATURES. Sm. Nd. (50). See Ha.571-8"   And that handbook reference is the only mention that the set was also issued by Hignett.

Now despite not having a month of issue for the Ogden`s set, we do have one for the Hignett version; it was released in September 1935.  And strangely the handbook reference is missing in our updated version, so unless you looked first at the Hignett, where the header says “All similar to Ogden`s Series”, you would never know of the connection.

Sunday, 11th June 2023

So here was clue number two to this week`s theme - and they were a bit cryptic this week! The clue here was the rocking horse, for if you look at most rocking horses they have the same stance as are featured in those early, pre-Muybridge  engravings of horse racing which show the front and back legs all extended at the same time.

Now in the rocking horse there is actually a really good reason for constructing them like this and that is stability, because the child sits on the saddle exactly half way through the horse and the legs stretch out to support them. 

So this is Henry, or Little Henry, and this is the American version of the set which was also issued by J. Wix - which we featured in our 30th of April newsletter last year.  Always good to be able to show other variations. 

Our original World Tobacco Issues Index tells us quite a lot about this set, including the fact that American Tobacco Company may have been from America, this set was issued in the United Kingdom. It is described as 

HENRY. Md. 63 x 48 (79 known) Brand Issues. See ABC/T.78 and Ha.625. Ref USA/T.78.
A) Back inscribed "Tareyton`s finer quality"
B) Back inscribed "A cork tip..." followed by :
a) ...doesn`t get soggy
b) ...doesn`t stick to the lips
c) ...resists lipstick

Now the last one is rather odd, at that time, and makes me think it was a brand whose marketing was designed to appeal to ladies. Something to investigate. 

By the way, the Burdick catalogue, from where the T.78 reference comes, calls the set "Little Henry" but only values it at five cents a card. 

When our World Tobacco Issues Index was updated the top half of the description remained the same. However a new back had been found so the entry for B) above was slightly changed to read : 

c) ...is always firm
d) ...resists lipstick

Then, in the modern, updated handbook, there is another addition changing the  end once more, to : 

c) ...is always firm
d) ...prevents loose ends
e) ...resists lipstick

This handbook also includes photographs of the Wix version of the cards, and our card also appears in them as Series 2, card 8. Now we know that the American Tobacco set was a selection from the five Wix sets - or eight if you count different sizes, brands and printings, and it is rather fun to think that ours was one of just nine from this second set that was selected to appear in the American Tobacco Version. 

Monday, 12th June 2023

This card shows more than one camera, used to take different photographs at the same time or one immediately after the others, much as Muybridge used to record his stunning series of continuous photographs. On our card they are called "A battery" of cameras, though Muybridge called his a "bank of cameras" 

The first mention of this set in the cartophilic press was in The London Cigarette Card Company`s "Cigarette Card News" magazine, No.10, Vol.1 (July 1934), as part of the regular "Notes on Current Series" written by C.L. Porter. And that reads : 

B. Morris & Sons. How Films are Made. Series of 25 small cards. This is really original and interesting covering practically the whole processes involved in producing a film. Full and intelligible descriptions of the methods used are printed on the back of each card, The scenes of the "shots", etc, are reproduced in colour. They are, perhaps, in some cases, the weak spots of the series, as the printing is a trifle crude. Facilities for this production were granted by the Gaumont British Corporation, Ltd., at the Shepherds Bush Studios

In fact the bottom of the reverse actually says "Facilities for the preparation of this series granted by Gaumont-British Picture Corporation Ltd." though it does not say that they were at Shepherds Bush

Both our original and our updated World Tobacco Issues Index simply describes this set as : 

"HOW FILMS ARE MADE. Sm. 67 x 36. Nd. (25) 

That is not the entire story though, because there seems to be a piece of information which is missing. For in the London Cigarette Card Company catalogue for 1995 the set is retailed as either 

A) white card - 3d. each  - or 10/- a set 
B) cream card - 1d. each - or 1/6 a set

And this means that the two types of card were of sufficient supply that sets could be offered of each, as opposed to sets where one of the boards or printings was sold as a set and the other was only sold as odds.

The issuer, B. Morris & Sons, are just as intriguing. They were founded in 1810, and were recorded as being at Half Moon Passage in Aldgate, East London by 1826. Their claims to fame were that they were the first to make “compressed” cigarettes, the first to issue gift coupons in their packets, and one of the earliest to issue cigarette cards, yet today, to the general public, and even many card collectors, their name is quite unknown. They seem to have issued batches of cards then nothing, and then started again - their first cards were inserted in packets in 1897, this is recorded as M884-060, a group known as “Beauties (Collotype)” which have various backs and we still do not know how many were issued. From 1897 until 1900 most of their cards were of actresses and beauties, the difference between the two, for our newer readers, being that actresses were named on the cards and beauties were not. Several of these sets were also issued by other firms.

In 1900 they produced their first advertisement card, and some believe that they would have stopped here had it nor been for the Boer War, which led them to issue a set of twenty V.C. Heroes entitled “Boer War 1900” (M884-070) and a plain back, unnumbered set known as “Boer War Celebrities” (M884-080 – 1901 - known by the acronym “PAM”, the M being for Morris.)

After these they did halt, briefly, before issuing “London Views” (M884-090) in 1904. This either lasted in the packets a very long time, or there was another break, before, in 1910, or some say 1912, they produced one of my favourites, five sets each of six cards which are deemed to make up a set called “General Interest”(M884-130). I tend to favour 1910, but if so it took two years before another set appeared, and this was “Marvels of the Universe”. Again a war kept them going, the First World War, and in 1915, from seemingly out of nowhere, they suddenly issued several sets of silks, “Battleship Crests” (M884-220 - 1915), “English and Foreign Birds” (M884-240), and “English Flowers”, which was available as a set of 25 (M884-230.1), and a set of 50 (M884-230.2). The set of 25 can be found either branded for “Panel Cigarettes” or unbranded, and then there is a version with a very curious printing error which tends to support the theory that they were produced in another land, for instead of mentioning “Crewel silk”, it instead says “Cruel silk”.

After this flurry of silk production, they returned to cards in 1916, with their own “War Celebrities” (M884-180) and also becoming one of the many issuers of “War Pictures” (M884-190 - 1916), before producing “National and Colonial Arms” (M884-160) in 1917. And then, another break.

They picked up speed quite a bit in the 1920s and 30s, issuing nineteen sets, including ours, but again continually halting for short breaks. They did a super one called “Motor Series” (M880-350 - 1922) that covers their mechanics and parts, rather than brands of vehicle; and M884-360 is a very sought after one, for it shows the wonders of Queen Mary`s Dolls House, a much loved attraction at the 1924/1925 Wembley Exhibition, before being relocated to Windsor Castle.

Their last set was “Racing Greyhounds” (M884-670 – 1939/1940) issued with “Forecasta” brand, and this was almost certainly stopped by the Second World War. 

Tuesday, 13th June 2023

So this is a most interesting set, being copies of artworks from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and there are a variety of different sports included, including really collectable ones like cricket, boxing, boating, and fishing, plus some of which have come to be seen as less savoury, thankfully. 

Pre-War cards has a checklist of the set if you want to see if your sport is included. For this set is seldom made enough of, and so is very often, and sadly, omitted from thematic collections.

The original painting on this card, " Epsom, the Grand Stand", was painted by J. Pollard, engraved by Chas Hunt, and published in 1836. You can see it, enlarged, at the British Museum - where it says it has been housed since 1933, three years after this card was produced. It also says that before that it was owned by Mr. Charles Francis George Richard Schwerdt, who sold his entire collection of sporting memorabilia at Sothebys, from which this item was purchased by the museum, but that is incorrect for the sales were held between 1939 and 1946.

And the link with our theme is that it clearly shows the horses galloping in a very strange style, almost suspended in air with all their legs extended at the same time. 

Both our original and our modern World Tobacco Issues Index have the same brief description : "OLD SPORTING PRINTS. Sm. Nd. (25).  However the vintage volume ends by saying "See Ha.563" and the modern with "See H.563".Now for the most part there being a handbook reference like that means either that it is an unnumbered set, and the titles of those cards are listed, or it was also issued by at least one other manufacturer. In this case because we have already been told the set is numbered, we expect to see a similar series. And we do, that being Faulkner.

Now this is great, because whilst there was no reference book to the issues of Stephen Mitchell, there was one, the very first one ever, RB.1, to Faulkner. And in there we have the following description :

1930. 25 OLD SPORTING PRINTS (titled series) Size "A". Numbered 1 - 25. Fronts printed letterpress, from half tone blocks; four colours White margins with titles in the margins. Backs, printed in dark grey, with description and numbered. Same as Mitchell. Printed by Mardon, Son and Hall.

We do actually have a month of issue for the Faulkner version, and that is May. This comes from the London Cigarette Card Company catalogue of 1955. However they give no month against the Mitchell version. And 1930 is too early for any cartophilic magazine.

We also glean from the same catalogue that the Faulkner cards were scarcer, for they were listed at sixpence each for odds (or fifteen shillings for a full set), whereas the Mitchell ones were just a penny a card with complete sets at a shilling and sixpence. 
 

Wednesday, 14th June 2023

Sadly very little is known about this fine steed. His sire, Tracery. mentioned on the card is a bit more visible though and I found out he was born in 1909, in Kentucky, America. Again he fell foul of the Hart-Agnew betting law and was sent to England. He was third in the 1912 Derby and won the St. Leger the same year, becoming the first American bred winner, but he only raced for about a year, participating in nine races, and winning six. He was also the horse brought down during the protest at the Ascot Gold Cup of 1913, where a student with a flag ran on to the track in an echo of the death of Emily Wilding Davison, though, chillingly, this male student carried a revolver. 

In 1924, whilst at stud, Tracery contacted colic and died.

Now here we have a photographic representation of his son in motion which clearly shows how, at speed, rather than frozen in time, it could indeed look like all the legs were extended in an outwardly direction. 

Our original World Tobacco Issues Index catalogues the set as : 

FAMOUS RACEHORSES OF 1926.. Hand-coloured photos. Nd. (48). 
A) Small 65 x 34 
B) Medium 75 x 50

Both our World Tobacco Issues Indexes have this same description, but the updated version has the A and B variations printed on the same line. 

The London Cigarette Card catalogue for 1955 tells us that the small sized card were listed at a shilling a card, or seventy shillings a set, but the medium must have been scarcer, as whilst the odds are two shillings and sixpence each, there is but a line in the sets column, which means no full sets were available. 

Thursday, 15th June 2023

So here we have a very famous horse indeed, Solario. He was foaled in 1922, so he was a four year old when this card was issued. And he lived until 1945. As it says on the card he was bred in Ireland by the fourth Earl of Dunraven, from impeccable stock, his mother coming from a stallion called Sundridge, the Leading Sire in Great Britain and Ireland for 1911,  and his father being the 1918 Triple Crown winner.  Solario himself broke records even as a yearling, he was sold for the record figure of forty seven thousand guineas. This was to the man on the card, Sir John Rutherford.

The other man on the card was Reg Day, usually just known as "R. Day", and he brought the yearling on, preparing him for riding and racing. He was well known, and got results, and you can see him on several cigarette cards :

• Ogden`s "Trainers & Owners Colours" first series (1925) 6/25, which tells us that he was "...the well known Terrace House trainer." and that "..prior to the war he trained in Germany for the Graditz Stud and for five years he headed the list of winning trainers."

• Ogden`s "Turf Personalities" (1929) 15/50, which is a caricature, and tells us that he was born on February 20th 1883. It also mentions our horse winning the St. Leger. 

Both these cards say he was trainer to another man, Abe Bailey. And looking at Terrace House has brought up the facts that his father, Frederick William Day, was a vet, who emigrated to Australia and became involved with horse racing whilst there, eventually training a winner of the Sydney Cup. He then started travelling to England to buy stock, and was invited back to train horses for Sir Ernest Cassell. He used his son, Reg, as Head Lad and jockey, and Reg was good, so he became a trainer too, aged just seventeen, and he started at Terrace House in 1900. Then his father took over whilst he moved to Germany, to Graditz - which was actually The Royal Graditz Stud, and it was owned by The Kaiser himself.

Now I have read that it was the death of his father that brought Reg back to England but I think the truth is on the back of Ogden`s "Trainers & Owners Colours", cited above, where it states that he trained in Germany "...prior to the war..."

Solario won the 1925 St. Leger at Doncaster, and the Ascot Derby - in fact he was the last horse to win the Ascot Derby, because in 1926 it was renamed The King Edward VII Stakes, to be a permanent memorial to the King who so loved racing before his death. The following year he won the Ascot Gold Cup and the Coronation Cup at Epsom, which, coincidentally, was also named after King Edward VII, his Coronation in 1902. 

After this Solario was sent to stud. He was still there when Sir John Rutherford died, and he then moved to another stud, maybe he was sold, I am not sure. But he never left this new home, where it seems that he was happy and respected. He died there in 1945, and he is still buried there in the grounds. As a more pleasant link he had followed his father in becoming the Leading Sire in Great Britain and Ireland 

Now this is actually not that common a set, perhaps because it was an Irish issue. The pictures are amazing though, super colour, and gleaming horses, in authentic backgrounds, a mixture of stable and yard scenes, and of stirring action,

Our original John Player reference book (RB.17 - published in 1950) describes it as :

157.  25 RACEHORSES. Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Irish issue, December 1926.

As usual this has been very much shortened in the World Tobacco Issues Indexes, where it simply says "RACEHORSES. Sm. Nd. (25) Irish issue". 

Friday, 16th June 2023

So here we actually have the perfect card to end this week with, for it shows a direct comparison between “The Conventional and the Real Gallop”. It also tells us that “Before the introduction of the camera, artists … portrayed a galloping horse in a conventional manner with all four legs outspread as shown in picture 1.” 

However there is one very strange omission, and that is any reference to Edweard Muybridge. In fact it is worse than that because it seems to forget he even existed, and only say “To-day, instantaneous photography analyses and records for us every passing phase of the animal`s action which the eye cannot perceive.” But what of the past?

This set gets its first description in our original Ogden`s reference book (RB.15) issued in 1949. It does not have a very long text, only : 

114. 25 MARVELS OF MOTION. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issue, 1928-9.

Mind you the World Tobacco Issues Index is even shorter, just : “MARVELS OF MOTION. Sm. Nd. (25)