Updated 24 June at 09.06 am
well this has been an exciting week, but the newsletter was always going to be a bit hit and miss, at 11 pm on Friday night I was still in the garden, with no card of George II, and no back for Friday`s Card of the Day. However both those things are present and hopefully correct - and many thanks to "A Reader" who donated the scan of the reverse of Duke "Musical Instruments" to save me fettling the terrible one I had before. Guess it will stay now
Amalgamated Press/The Rocket [trade : magazines : UK] "Famous Knock-Outs" (1923) 6/11 - ROC-050 : ROQ-1
Today, in 1895, William Harrison Dempsey was born. According to Churchman`s "Boxing Personalities" (1938) 12/50, he was born in Manassa, and grew up there in Colorado and in West Virginia. However, Burstein Isaacs "Famous Prizefighters" card 33 tells us that he was born at Salt Lake City and that is quite intriguing, as well as very possible, because his parents were Mormons. And it is easy to see how things may have gotten mixed up when you learn that he had ten siblings.
It is said that he took the "Jack" in tribute to an earlier boxer called Jack "Nonpareil" Dempsey. But Nonpariel means none better, so must have been a nickname about his sporting prowess, which was much indeed.
Our Jack Dempsey had his first fight in the sawdust ring in 1914, and he was the World Heavyweight Champion from 1919 to 1926. His punchy, aggressive style led to his nickname "the Manassa Mauler" and the general public loved him, so much so that his fights started to be broadcast live on the radio. And that is how live sport began.
Our card is one which would have thrilled a generation of little boys, for it shows actual boxing footage from the July 2nd 1921 Dempsey vs Carpentier match. This event was held in Jersey City, New Jersey, and it took a million dollars in admission fees, the first boxing match to do so. Strangely it was promoted by none other than George Bernard Shaw, who despite sharing Dempsey`s Irish ancestry, went against the pubic and firmly believed that the war hero Georges Carpentier would win. And he may have, if he had not broken his thumb during the match.
This card was issued with "The Rocket" a boys magazine, and it was number six in their series of "Famous Knockouts". We also know, thanks to the reverse of the card, the very edition of "The Rocket" which contained it - namely March 24, 1923. If this was not thrilling enough, the reverse also promises "next week, Kid Lewis v. Johnny Basham". And "Basham" is one of the most humorous names for a boxer that I have ever heard, not that I would dare tell him, just in case...
Now you may not have heard of "The Rocket" , and that is really not surprising for it blazed a mighty trail of short stories starting in February 1923, but only lasted until October 1924, when it was renamed, to "The Triumph". And that magazine really did triumph - for over eight hundred issues, right until May 1940. Then it became incorporated by "The Champion", which had started life in 1922, and lived until "The Tiger" ate it, in 1955.
In the British Trade Index part one this set is listed under R for "The Rocket", Periodical. There seems no connection with Amalgamated Press, whose issues appear under A, and as far as I can see no other sets under that place were issued by "the Rocket". Given that the magazine was of such relatively short duration, perhaps this was the only set they issued and it slipped beneath the connection radar to Amalgamated Press. This is backed up by the fact that the listing for "The Rocket" says in the header section : "Cards issued 1923". The description here is :
FAMOUS KNOCK-OUTS. Sm. 70 x 45. Black glossy photos. Nd. (11). Cards are dated 17-2-23 to 28-4-23.
Oddly they are still listed under R for "The Rocket" in our updated British Trade Index, with a similar description, the only changes being the deletion of "Sm.", and the fact that "Cards are dated..." has been reduced to simply "dated..."
BP/British Petroleum [petrol stations : UK] "Smurf Stickers" (????) Un/???? - unlisted
On this date, in twenty eight, by which I mean 1928, Pierre Culliford was born in France. He was a talented artist and cartoonist and combined the two by working on comics, one of his most famous being "Johan et Pirlouit", a medieval extravagance that started off as one man, Johan, on a quest for adventure, during which he encountered Pirlouit, and all manner of other characters, including some little blue people called The Smurfs.
Curiously, for this musical week, the Smurfs first appeared in a story called "The flute with six holes." It was a magical flute, but also cursed, for it made the audience dance until they dropped. That led to a series of robberies, so the daring duo went off to find the makers of the flute, and they were the Smurfs.
Our card is a sticker, and I guess you could call it borderline cartophilic, but it was issued by BP, or British Petroleum to give them their full name, and it was given away, with qualifying purchases of petrol, in many countries, from the late 1970s.
Now I am sure you have seen, or remember, those little blue plastic smurfs? Well they were given away by BP as well. Now if you look at some of the early advertising - and I definitely recommend http://www.thecursedcountry.com/bpaustralia.html - it actually states that these Smurfs were exclusive to BP. But I am not sure how they managed to accomplish this, if it was true.
Now the first ever UK Smurf collectables were issued under the guise of National Benzole, though this had been actually part of Shell-Mex and BP since it was bought out in 1957. There is some thought that BP did not want to be associated with these little guys until they were sure the idea would take off, or even not be laughed at for all the wrong reasons. In fact National Benzole, later just National, lasted as ostensibly a separate company until the 1990s. And it was National Benzole who was granted the entire rights to sell Smurfs within the UK.
Anyway the first ever Smurfs hit the counters at selected National Benzole petrol stations inside Greater London in 1977. These were the small plastic figures, and though they were sold commercially, for under 50p each, they do also count as cartophilic because some could be exchanged for vouchers with no money changing hands.
All the stickers were free, they were just piled up in boxes and you could help yourself. The idea behind this was that they would be stuck on your car and act as extra advertising, so that wherever you pulled up someone would be tapping on your window and asking where you got the sticker so that they could get their own.
In 1978 the scheme went countrywide, and a lot more merchandise started to appear, clothing, games, and larger plastic models, including a Smurf with a BP petrol pump.
My backing paper, showing here, is blank but sometimes there are words on them. However they are quite scarce now because the intention was that you got them, peeled the backing paper off to reveal the stickiness beneath, and stuck them on whatever you desired. There were several styles of these, it is just that I happen to have a surfing one, "Smurf the Surf" in my stock, and sometimes, for speed and in desperation, everything is fair game to be scanned.
Later on these paper non-see through stickers were replaced by clear ones, called window clings, which went on the car window - by which I mean the side ones, not the windscreen, though I did once have some clear plastic "mock bullet holes" on one of my windscreens, which a particularly grumpy MOT examiner found way less fun than I did.
M.E. Notaras Ltd [tobacco : UK] "Chinese Scenes" (????) 8/24 - N60-1 : N914-150 : X1/Ha.632.A : RB.113/625
Today, One Hundred Years ago, in 1923, a huge fire devastated The Forbidden City in Pekin. There had been a wave of feeling against the ex Emperor of China, who was the last in line after twenty three others, and who, when he abdicated, was seen to have stayed on in the palace rather than leaving.
In fact this was incorrect, for the new government refused to let him leave, and he only had access to small parts of the grounds not the entire complex. Possibly because of this, things started to go missing.
This all came to a head when the ex-emperor was told, by his English teacher, that these were being smuggled out and sold for cash, and that all the treasures would disappear. The teacher, whether rightly or wrongly, blamed the eunuchs, and said that all the belongings must be counted and marked.
However before this could be done, a huge fire broke out, destroying most of the items and the beautiful gardens. Some say that this was started deliberately to hide the amount of the thefts. But the truth is we will never really know.
This set is the original version - and it was issued just two years after the fire.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index it is listed as "CHINESE SCENES (A) Sm. 68 x 43. Brown gravures. Nd. (24). See X1/Ha.632.A".
This X1 reference appears in the handbook, which was originally a separate volume, but, when reprinted, was attached at the back of the same book, and it has a further description :
CHINESE SCENES. Front brown gravures. Numbered series of 24
A) Notaris (sic) Medium size without series title
B) United Kingdom Tobacco Co. Small size, with series title.
Our updated World Tobacco Issues index lists this set very much the same as in the original, but there was no handbook reference. Instead it directs us to RB.113/415, which is the updated Godfrey Phillips book and I do not have that.
So if anyone would like to supply a scan of the text, that would be very kind.
The United Kingdom Tobacco version - which we featured in a previous newsletter as the diary date for Wednesday 11th of January 2023 - was not issued until 1933, ten years later. The subjects are the same, but they are in a different size and format. Our card is a medium size, and squarer in appearance, whilst the other is the standard oblong.
W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK] "Kings & Queens" (April 1897?) - W/9
This was the missing card, my fault, I had a really good card but when I had done it and squinted it was George III, whilst we are today celebrating George II, for in this day he became the last King of England to lead his troops into battle, at Dettingen.
To me, that seems a very odd thing to have allowed to happen, not only with the risk of the monarch being killed or abysmally wounded, but if there was no immediate heir, one would have to be hunted, wherever they were and however distant they were a relative.
Now this set is quite a complex one, and not just because there are various sets. What is known as the "long set" first appeared in the original Wills reference book, and was updated in part two. The first question is about the date, because the "April 1897" quoted is believed untrue, mainly because not a mention was made of Queen Victoria`s Diamond Jubilee, to be celebrated just two months ahead. It appears that the first date of issue was in November 1901, but there were several errors to the reverse text and the card of her was reprinted and replaced, at which point it did include the Jubilee. It was then replaced again in 1902, showing her death.
Another quarrelling point is that the set is often referred to as "Kings & Queens of England" which is incorrect.
Some cards do not appear in all the sets, or appear with differences. Our card, of George II, appears in all the sets.
W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK] "Dogs" (September 1937) - W675-166 : W62-193 : W/187.B
Now here is a day for fans of canine confirmation, for it was on this day in 1859 that what is widely reported to be the first ever Dog Show took place, at the Town Hall in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. You may read that this was a two day event, (28th and 29th) but that refers to the whole event, which included poultry. In fact there were only two breeds of dog being judged, both gundogs, namely pointers and setters. And this card is very apt because it gives a list of things about the dog which would have been very similar to the list that the judges worked with, and they would have looked at the dogs as they paraded to see which conformed closest to the ideal.
However when you start looking, this was not the first ever dog show at all for in 1852 the Toy Dog Club had presented a show in Westminster, London. And there were Bulldogs, Greyhounds, Pugs, Spaniels, and Terriers taking part.
Bit more research needed, methinks!
So lets start with the original Wills reference book part four, which has the full description of :
187. DOGS (1937) - Light backgrounds. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Issued 1937.
A) Home issue, adhesive backs. Special album and I.T.C. Clauses
B) Irish Issue, non-adhesive backs. General album and I.T.C. Clauses
C) Channel Islands issue, adhesive backs. No album or I.T.C. Clauses.
These sets are parted in the World Tobacco Issues Index, so there is no B. to this code, for this Irish version appears under section 2, Issues with I.T.C. Clause, and sub section 2B., Issues 1922-39, excluding adhesive backs. However the description is just : "DOGS. Sm. Nd. (50) Irish issue. See W/187.B".
And that remains the same in every way in our updated version.
Martin Brinkmann A.G., [tobacco : O/S : Germany] "Bunte Filmbilder" - B693-100.2 : B110-3.2
Today, in 1901, Nelson Ackermann Eddy was born in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. His parents, and his grandparents were all singers, and it was their early recordings of music that he would sing along to which made him declare he was going to be a singer, and nothing else. But he could not afford to take lessons, and never sang in public, other than in Church, until he joined a musical club and they put him on the stage, something which brought him a teacher after all. And led him to his first concert in 1928 in Philadelphia. This was also a lucky break, because at one of those concerts was someone who worked in Hollywood, and asked if he would be interested in trying out for the movies. He was, and was signed up for seven years.
Most of his early films were with Jeanette MacDonald, showing here. The studio always denied that they were lovers in real life, but they were, and they continued to be together even after both married other people.
This card is from one of the many German film star sets that are so impressively designed with their mock frames in burnished gold. The reason why the back has no biographical details about the star is that the set was designed to be stuck in the lavish album which was produced for it, in which the text was already printed. And the film is "Rose Marie" (1936) which featured hits like Song of the Mounties and Indian Love Call.
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index tells us that the cards of this issuer, based in Bremen, were "German Language issues, period 1923-42. Special albums issued. Includes brand issues inscribed "Lloyd Zigaretten" and "Cigaretten-Bilderdienst, Dresden." It describes this set as :
BUNTE FILMBILDER (Coloured Film Stars). Sm. 60 x 33 (150) and Lg. 72 x 58 (100). See X24/2B
1. First Series (250) with firm`s name
2. "II Folge", Nd. 251/500 (250). "Lloyd Zigaretten" brand issue
Panini [trade/commercial : cards and stickers : O/S : Italy] "Dream Cars"
If you have ever had a hankering for a Chevrolet Corvette, it all stems from today, in 1953, saw the first one roll off the assembly line.
I expect that to our younger readers these are seen as antiquated, and, as 1953 was seventy years ago, they may well be right. I never was a sports car fan myself, either, much preferring trucks and tractors.
In fact the design was produced as a concept car to take to a motor show, where everyone loved it, and so it was quickly produced, being made more roadworthy, keeping costs down by adding parts from older vehicles in its construction, and using fibreglass rather than the plastic of the show model for its body panelling.
They also short ran it, only producing three hundred vehicles in that first year. It was not as great a success as had been predicted, but the buyers loved it, and over two hundred cars are still alive today
This week's Cards of the Day...
have been looking at World Music Day, which was on Wednesday the 21st of June - but not in the way of buying the most expensive musical instrument you can, more in the way that music brings people together and allows them all to join in.
Saturday, 17th June 2023
so here was your first clue to this weeks them, the referee, and what do referees all have? A whistle. But our clue referred to the fact that whistling only needs a mouth to do, not any kind of special equipment. And it matters not how well you whistle, because if you are in company someone else will certainly join in and attempt to harmonise.
This set was a base set of 485 cards but there were also limited edition special cards - club badges and autographs, as well as the fact that different players appeared on the packets. A full list of everything that was included in the entire range appears at the Football Cartophilic Info Exchange / Match Attax 2010
Now something I have been told by a reader, already - and many thanks - is that these Match Attax cards started with the 2007-2008 season, and that they were a cross between trading cards and playing cards, that is why there are the points on each card.
Topps lost the UK rights to feature Premier League players for the 2019-2020 season, and Match Attax disappeared. However these rights were picked up by Panini, and they started producing their Adrenalyn XL cards.
Topps did not give up issuing cards though, because they managed to negotiate the UK rights to the UEFA Champions and Europa Leagues.
Sunday, 18th June 2023
Time for clue number two, and that was what bees do, when they fly, which is hum. And humming is another simple noise for anyone to produce, using, once again, just their mouth. Actually the bee does not make the humming noise with their mouth, but with their wings, which vibrate fast enough to disrupt the air and create sound waves.
This set is first recorded in our original Churchman reference book (RB.10), published in 1948, and listed as
103. October 1930. 25 NATURE`S ARCHITECTS. (titled series) Size 2 11/10" x 1 7/16" or 67 x 38 m/m. Numbered 1-25. Fronts printed by letterpress, 4-colour half tone process. Backs in dark green, with descriptions. Printed by Mardon, Son & Hall.
Now if you are not careful, you will close the book and wallk away, but wait. Because directly below it, there is this :
104. May 1930. 12 NATURE`S ARCHITECTS. Similar format to (103) but size 3 5/16" x 2 9/10" or 80 x 62 m/m
Now my first thought was to wonder which twelve were selected, but this was not the case, and if you look back at the dates you will see that the set of twelve large cards were issued first, five months earlier.
Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes list the sets, but without listing the months, as simply :
NATURE`S ARCHITECTS. Nd.
(A) small (25)
(B) large (12)
Monday, 19th June 2023
Now our last clue, which showed the nightingale, the bird with the most beautiful song. But again it, and us, only need our bodies to produce the notes and then string them together, and then we are singing.
This is a very pretty little set dealing with our feathered friends in their natural settings. However it is quite hard to find any information about it, and the original New Issues Report must be in a magazine I do not yet have - though there is a checklist of all the cards at The Trading Card Database / Carreras BOTC
Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes both describe it very simply indeed as
BIRDS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE. Sm. Nd. (50)
Tuesday, 20th June 2023
This follows on from the birdsong of yesterday, because I imagine our prehistoric forbears hearing a bird and trying to copy its tunefulness. I will gloss over the fact that pterodactyls only ever said "caw caw" and move swiftly on to remind you that imitation is in our nature, who amongst us has not heard a bird late at night and tried to whistle back?
Singing is the most natural of all the ways for a human being to make music, and just like the birds it provides a signal that we are in the area, or were there first. It attracts a mate, or, even better, a friend. The minstrels on this card did eventually make themselves instruments, or get someone else to do so, but they started, like our week, with a whistle and a hum and then giving words to a song.
Now this is a set I have not encountered before, which is always fun, and it also comes in several variations, so you can definitely expect to see more of it, and other cards of the series, in the future. Its first appearance I have found is in our original British Trade Index part 1, and it says :
THE OLD AND THE NEW. Sml. 76 x 36 with coupon, 67 x 36 without.
A) No`s 1/25, panel at base of back inscribed "Rowntree`s Elect Chocolate" only.
B) No`s 1/50, same panel at base of back, words "Rowntree`s Elect Chocolate" reset in smaller lettering with further line added, e.g. "Delicious & Sustaining..." Vari-backed, five wordings.
However book two of the British Trade Index kind of turns this on its head, with
THE OLD AND THE NEW.
A) 1st Edition 1/25, coupons are found inscribed on left a) 3d. series - b) 6d. series.
B) 2nd Edition. Delete 1/50 and substitute 1/48. Text varies from A) at 4, 10, 11, 13, 18 and 22. Coupon inscribed "3d. series". Backs listed in N&N Vol.14, page 12.
So does anyone know whether those text variations are in the descriptive text and if so what they are ? And does anyone have N&N Vol.14, page 12 ? For this is not the Cartophilic Notes and News, in which the pages, at that time, just carried on one after the other, so has to be the Cameric Notes and News, of which I do not have volume 14.
Now on our modern British Trade Index, reduced to a single volume and a handbook, the text is again slightly altered to read
THE OLD AND THE NEW 76 x 36 with coupon 67 x 36 without. Nd. Text varies in the two issues at no`s 4, 10, 11, 13, 18 and 22. Coupons found with a) 3d. series b) 6d. series on front.
1. No`s 1/25, base of back panel with "Rowntree`s Elect Chocolate". In this issue, the vouchers have differently worded backs, see HR-40.1
2. No`s 1/48, back panel "Rowntree`s Elect Chocolate" as above, in smaller lettering, with further line added. 5 wordings known. Vari-backed. See HR-40.2. In this issue the only wording on the back of the voucher is "Keep this Voucher - It is of Value".
So what was the voucher for? And does anyone have our card with the voucher still there?
By the way, the HR handbook references list the coupon backs and card backs. HR.40-1 refers to the coupon backs (10) series of 48, which start with either :
1. Athletes appreciate the sustaining ...
2. Bananas are sustaining, but a 3d. packet ...
3. Elect Chocolate is a delicious sweet ...
4. Elect Chocolate is free from excessive ...
5. "Elect" is the up-to-date chocolate ...
6. The food value of a 3d. packet of Elect ...
7. A 6d. packet of Elect Chocolate has the ...
8. A 6d. packet of Elect Chocolate is a meal ...
9. A 3d. packet of Elect Chocolate
10. You should never be without Elect ...
The card backs, in the series of 25, are :
1. As smooth as velvet
2. Delicious & sustaining
3. Has a delicious flavour
4. Is of the finest quality
5. The pocket lunch
We have included this information, and the hashtag #Rowntrees in order to involve other collectors who are not cartophilists, those who collect ephemera, and food memorabilia, specifically chocolate. For it is in those "hidden" collections that cards we have no knowledge of may lie sleeping.... waiting to be recorded.
Wednesday, 21st June 2023
That was a surprise, wasn`t it? You expected the Wills` "Star and Circle Back". But more about that later
Lets start with the reason why we have a drummer, which may not seem to fit our theme of natural music, but, in case you did not know, when you make a rhythmic tapping sound with your fingers on a table or similar surface you are said to "drum" your fingers. By the way it makes a different noise depending on the length of your fingernails, short nails make a muffled noise, whilst long nails make a louder sound, and have the ability to scrape and swoosh for added emphasis at certain points. And if you want to grow your nails, such rhythmic tapping is supposed to encourage the nail bed to put forth more effort and strength. But I sadly do not know whether they named the drum after the action, or the action after the drum.
Now I think that this card is in contention for the longest top line details ever, but maybe also the most fun, because, yes, we, or more correctly, our London Branch produced this card. And now I also get to add it to the London Branch home page, and link back to here. If you still have your own card, presented in 1985, well done. I bought this one, on eBay, which must mean it was a bargain, but, if you were the seller, see, I kept it safely, and still treasure it.
Now you may not know this but quite a few of our Branches and clubs produced single cards, or sets, for special events. I know of a few, but not all. However some, like this one, are listed in the British Trade Index, which is where, in part 3, this CCM-1 code comes from. So one day when I have nothing to do, or, more likely, am trying to find something to occupy my broken heart, I will work through and get at least the titles uploaded.
The write up in there for this card is :
The Cartophilic Society of Great Britain Ltd. Publishers of this volume. Cards issued in the 1980s.
"1935-1985 - 50 Years of Cartophily" 68 x 36. Reproduction of subject "England - Drummer, Coldstream Guards" from Wills set W/13. Presented to members present at Golden Jubilee meeting of London Branch on 28th September 1985".
Now two things need to be mentioned at this point. The first is the identity of W/13, which is "Soldiers of the World", and the second is that if anyone out there has this card from that original set, and could scan front and back we would be most happy to add it in as a comparison, because there are differences, most notably the "Wills Cigarettes" on the original bottom line, which is not present here.
The following two scans come from our Cartophilic Notes and News magazine
This one came first, in Volume 13, No.133, September/October 1985, and it simply shows the reverse of the card in black and white - though in 1985 colour was a scarcity in our magazine - plus a line of type, which for some reason was sideways, rather than beneath.
There was another one in the next edition, Volume 13, No.134, November/December 1985, but it is rather unwieldy at the moment so I might fettle with it and see if it cannot be altered so that all the text is on the left and the card, reduced, on the right. Stick with me on that one.
Thursday, 22nd June 2023
Now this may seem to have nothing to do with music but stick with me, because the oldest musical instrument ever found in the entire world is a flute made from a bone just like this. And this story gets even odder, because if you look at a list of the eight oldest musical instruments in the world, five of them are flutes, made from mammoth, or bear, or even swan and vulture bones, from France, Germany, Eastern Europe, and even China.
However all of these have holes in them, which I believe must be a later development, the first attempts surely being just blowing through a hollow bone they picked up in the field or at the back of the cave, and then, perhaps, finding a broken and holed one that made a different noise, which led them to experiment with manufacturing these holes in other bones. And that means that the un-holed bones, the true earliest musical instruments have been lost to time, mistaken for just bones on the floor, discarded.
This card is one of a lengthy set which eventually covered six series each of twenty-seven cards. In addition, our set, the first set, could be collected in (a) matt format, or (b) glossy format.
Friday, 23rd June 2023
Now this started off as a bit of a disaster, mainly the back, which was damaged, something I did not immediately notice. But "A Reader", all the way from America, came to my rescue and supplied this super and unblemished reverse.
I have a bit of a soft spot for Duke, or less informally, W. Duke and Sons of Durham, in North Carolina. They were not the first cigarette manufacturer in the World, but, as they so proudly say on this card, they became the largest - and I am sure that this was influenced a great deal by their super cards, which were always so well drawn.
W Duke was a person, not a brand, and his first name was Washington. He was born on December 18th 1820 and he was in the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War, which was not an easy life.
This set is backlisted in alphabetical order - and backlisted just means that all the cards in the set are listed on every card, which is a great incentive to "collect them all" and also to instantly see not only what you are missing, but also almost certainly at least one unfamiliar name to provide a little frisson of shuddering excitement.
Actually this set has a lot of that, for the musical instruments are being delicately handled by attractive ladies, and, for the military instruments, they are wearing military attire. However it is all being done in the best possible taste, these are cards that you could allow anyone to look at without a qualm. And there are also "off camera" suggestions to excite you still more - look at "the Bugle" and you will see that in the free hand there is unmistakeably reins, so this lady is on horseback. Look closer and she is also on a saddle, astride, just like a man - in other ways too, for the saddle would not show in this way if she were wearing a dress, it would have had to ruck up and be bundled at the front of the pommel, making the saddle way less visible. This can only mean she is wearing trousers.
If you would like to see the entire set, it is wonderfully displayed at Interlude/DukeInstruments And there is something really wonderful that we also need to tell you about the very cards they use, for they fully admit that these cards are from the collection of the The Metropolitan Museum of Art - where they form part of The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection.
so pop back tomorrow for the missing - that is mainly the card codes and the card write ups. Just ran out of time. But seriously, this week, I never had a moment.