Hey, its Saturday, lets see what`s going on! Do you remember leaping out of bed at the weekend, excited by the possibilities? So why do we not do it now? Something to ponder as you brew your coffee.
This week has been slightly less hectic with only one vet visit. And despite it being an early one, it did not involve an operation, thankfully.
Now lets start with a couple of amendments from the last newsletter - which you can still read online at https://csgb.co.uk/publications/newsletter/2023-07-22
Monday 24th July 2023
Ogden`s Ltd [tobacco : UK]
"Greyhound Racing" Second Series (1928) card 24 -
O100-526.2 : O/2-152.2 : O/101 (RB.15/101)
Now if you look at the text I said there was an error, four lines from the bottom which reads "track, situate immediately to" - because the grammar is surely wrong and it ought to be "situated".
And I asked if this was ever spotted and corrected?
Well I had a reply from reader Malcolm Thompson, who said that he certainly used the word in his school mastering days, and on checking in his Oxford dictionary the reference stated - "sit'uated, sit'uate (arch.) aa In a specified situation (situated on the top of the hill)". In view of this he did not think the card was a misprint - just that this archaic form of the word was quite likely more commonly used in 1928.
Thursday 27th July 2023
now the original card we featured was -
Gallaher [tobacco : UK]
"The Great War Series Victoria Cross Heroes" - fourth series (1916) card 89 -
G075-160.4 : G12-20.4 : X1/Ha.492.3.A
However I asked if this brave piper was recorded on any other cards, and reader John Levitt, to whom many thanks, has written in with this lovely card, which shows that Daniel Laidlaw, our bagpipe hero, is also on this W.D. & H.O. & Wills series of "VC's (Overseas issue - New Zealand)" - card number 35.
Even better this card is an action shot, of his brave deed, encouraging his fellow men to keep onwards.
The entry in our original reference books to the issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills tells us that this set is :
339. 50 V.C.`s. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in green, with descriptive text. Issued in New Zealand, between 1925 - 30.
The listing of dates, which was originally published in the Wills Works magazine and wonderfully added to those Wills books when they were reprinted as a single hardback volume, says that this set was issued in March 1926. But as usual, to save on space, the description in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes is simply "Sm. Nd. (50)." The codes alter though, being W675-688 in the updated millennial version and W62-479 in the original 1956 version.
By the way, Mr, Levitt also adds that this set was reprinted in 2003 with an identical front. It also looks very similar on the reverse, apart from the fact that the reprint has a purple back not a grey one. Most importantly if you look at the bottom plinth whilst it still says "W.D. & H.O. Wills" as the top line, instead of the "Bristol & London" beneath it there is small lettering that reads "Reproduction authorised by Imperial Tobacco Ltd (c) 2003 / Issued by Card Collectors Society"
And he has also subsequently discovered that there is actually a reprint of our original Card of the Day, because all eight series of that Gallaher "Great War Victoria Cross Heroes" (1915-16) were reprinted. Series one to four were (re)issued in 2001, with series five, seven , and eight following on in 2003, and then series six, which was not added until 2017. Series six was issued by Card Promotions but we are still investigating who did the rest. We are also not sure why it took so long to issue that sixth series - perhaps copyright issues? If you know, do tell us.
Anyway technically this means that were now have four cards of piper Daniel Laidlaw - two originals and two reprints.
However I remain no closer to finding anything about Aunt Martha Bread, though I did find a shop counter unit of theirs that had been sold recently at
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/en-gb/price-result/aunt-martha-bread-bakery-store-display-table-32-12-h-48-12-x-24-12/
So this week we have a lot more to investigate, It starts with luscious lips, and moves on through a final feat, a pleasant pillory, a Swiss Celebration, a very attractive actress, an immediate inauguration and closes with a time tunnel. So lets get started with the first of these, which is.....
W. A. & A.C. Churchman [tobacco : UK] "Howlers" (July 1937) 6/40 - C504-520 : C82-54 : C/74 (RB.10/74)
Lets start with a spot of colour, which brightens up the day for the wearer too, because today is National Lipstick Day. And is it making a comeback, yet, I ask, because during covid, sales of lipstick plummeted, for two reasons. One was that if you wore a mask your lips were not visible. And the other was that even if you only wore a mask on public transport, then did not wear it in the office, wearing lipstick beneath it soon became very messy, and it was rather troublesome to have to keep applying and taking off all through the day as you masked up and down.
On the other hand, or eye, eye shadow sales boomed with covid, because your eyes were still visible above the mask.
Today with masks seemingly not such a necessity it seems that we have forgotten how to paint our lips again. And yet it is not just for "cosmetic reasons", as many of them include sun screen. It does seem likely that it will return to fashion again though, for it has come and gone throughout the millennia, starting in Ancient Sumeria, where it was made from crushed gemstones (which sounds rather scratchy) or beetles, hoping to capture the iridescence of their shells, but not entirely being successful, much as when you take a shiny pebble from under the water at the sea and it dries to just a dull stone. In Ancient China, they used beeswax, which is still an ingredient today, because it moistens and protects the lips. It is a natural substance as well, but because it is an animal product it is not vegan.
Through the early centuries it came in and out of favour, but it was the elaborate fashions and make ups under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I which was one of its finest hours. In those days the trend was to have the whitest face you could, and the brightest reddest lips. However after she died in 1603 so did the fashion. And we did not have another Queen for a hundred years but one, Queen Anne coming along in 1702.
All the lipsticks of this time were home made, or made to order. However in 1884 a French company called Guerlain made lipstick and sold it commercially, the first to do so. It was made in a similar way though, from beeswax, with tallow, and castor oil. The Suffragettes wore it in the early 1900s, as bright as possible. And during both World Wars it was more important than ever, there was even a shade called Victory Red, though the ingredients were scarce and it was used sparingly. In fact when you got to the end you would save it, and when you had a reasonable quantity of little bits you would melt it and try to make a new one from them. The arrival of the 1960s and 70s saw new brighter colours being adopted by both sexes, highly influenced by the Glam Rock musicians of the time - and Punk gave us black lipstick, although this had been a trend before, on the big screen of the 1920s.
This set is listed in our original Churchman reference book as :
74. July 1937 40 HOWLERS (titled series) Size 2 11/16" x 1 7/16" or 67 x 36 m/m. Numbered 1-40. Fronts printed by letterpress, 4-colour half tone process. Backs in dark green, with descriptions. Printed by Mardon, Son & Hall.
By the way this set was also issued, earlier, in October 1936, as a set of sixteen large cards. I am fairly sure I have used it before, so when I stumble across it I will hopefully be able to exchange one of them for one from the larger version and alter the description at the same time, though the truth is that the listing on the large cards simply gives the size and asks you to look above to the standard sized set for everything else
In our World Tobacco Issues Indexes the small and large sets are under the same code as A. Small (50) and B. Large. (16)
Now there is something missing from this description, and that is the artist. It was Rene Bull, who also drew the subjects for their 1931-1934 sets of "Eastern Proverbs" - and those sets do not mention him either - but luckily. you can quite plainly see his signature at the bottom of the card.
A & B. C. Gum [trade : chewing gum : UK] "World Cup Footballer Stamps" (1966-67) Un/50 - AAB-780 : ZJ11-3
This set celebrates the World Cup Final, played today in 1966, in which we beat West Germany. And here is one of the players, who you may know better by his nickname of `Nobby` Stiles, though he was indeed christened Norbert Peter Stiles.
His earliest moments were almost certainly chaotic, for he was born on the 18th of May 1942, whilst his mother was sheltering in the family cellar during an air raid. In later life he played for his childhood favourite team of Manchester United, for eleven years, but he also played briefly for Preston North End (who he also managed), Middlesborough, and of course for England, which saw him at Wembley with the F.A. Cup in one hand and his teeth in the other, a photo that once seen stays in the memory forever.
Apparently he either lost his own teeth in a fight, or they were damaged in a fight and had to be removed and replaced with false ones.
The trading card database / Nobby Stiles has him on almost a hundred cards, so I will direct you there to have a browse.
Now these cards are quite rare, so many thanks to Mr. Cohen who allowed us to feature one of his in our newsletter. One of the reasons why it is so rare is that the packets, which cost 1d., contained one piece of gum and one sticker, which, being rather fragile, was often creased or damaged by the gum, and in hot weather it was a contest between which could stick to each other more permanently.
There is a mixture of styles as well, some are teams and some single players, as well as the fact that some are portrait format and others landscape. However it is all one set. You can see all the cards if you nip down to Nigel`s Web Space / World Cup Gallery.
Apart from Pele, the "one they all want" is definitely Bobby Moore simply because it actually says "England for the Cup" - and what great prophesying that turned out to be..
It is hard to track this set down in our British Trade Indexes, but you know me, dogged to the last, and I have found it, in part II, which was published in 1962. There it is listed under "Anonymous issues (3) with plain back," and subset "(C) POSTER STAMP ISSUES. Printed on paper, perforated, adhesive back""
It is catalogued as
FOOTBALLER STICKERS (A). Sm. 76 x 30, perforated. Unnd. Two styles -
1. Vertical format, 22 known [with names]
2. Horizontal format, with national flag, 7 known [with names]
But I will scan this section later as it lists all the players found to that date, quite useful information - and at that time there were 22 vertical format cards, and 7 horizontal ones with flags.
Then it is listed in the main body of the original British Trade Index part III, published in 1986, as :
FOOTBALLER STICKERS - WORLD CUP 1966. See Anonymous set ZJ11-3 in II and III.
1. Vertical format. 27 known
2. Horizontal format, with flag. 8 known.
Checking the back of part III gives us an addendum, of
Set ZJII-3 (Football Stickers)
1. Vertical Format. Add :
23. A. Carujal - Mexico
24. B. Charlton - Manchester United
25. J. Connelly - Manchester United
26. L. Eyzaguirre - Chile
27. A Battin - Argentina2. Horizontal format, with national flag Add :
8. Saludes Brasil - Pele
And a few more turn up in part IV, published in 1997, namely
1. Vertical format, add
28. George Cohen - Fulham2. Horizontal format, add
9. Hoira Magyarak - F. Bene
10. England for the Cup - Bobby Moore, Captain
Whilst in the updated British Trade Index it appears as "WORLD CUP FOOTBALL STICKERS (A) 1966. 76 x 30. Perforated. Unnd. (50) See HA-40," which is the handbook and presumably a list of all the cards. I will scan that too, as soon as the yellow ink cartridge appears, so that you can see the cards that turned up in the meantime.
Nicolas Sarony [tobacco :UK] "Links with the Past" - New Zealand issue (1926) 9/25 - S111-350.2.D.b : S26-11.2.D.b
Now this is a rather romantic story, because today in 1703, after having been a bit of a rabble rouser for some time Daniel Defoe was put in a pillory just like this one. In fact he is mentioned on this card, which calls him a notable victim. The idea was that he would be pelted with rotten fruit and all manner of unmentionable items, but instead he was applauded, and the only things thrown at him were flowers.
Why he was there was mainly due to the publication of a rather scurrilous pamphlet that was intended to poke fun at the Church, but was seen, instead, by several people with no sense of humour, to be serious.
He was arrested and put in the notorious Newgate Prison to await his trial, at which he pleaded guilty, for some reason, and as well as a fine, he had to serve three spells in the pillory.
He also appears in a pillory as part of Churchman "The Story of London". He is card 30 of 50, and it mentions the fact that whilst he was awaiting trial he had written a poem which he had printed and which he sold, as a souvenir, to the crowd. And it also tells us that the pillory was situated at Temple Bar.
This is the second series of Nicolas Sarony`s "Links with the Past", but in the more unusual D. Printing which was issued in New Zealand. You can tell that quite easily, not just because the back is in blue, which is also the case for the Australian issue, but from the address to send your cards back to for binding into the special album, which is in Christchurch.
W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK] "Houses of Parliament" (February 1912) 27/32 - W675-588 : W62-416 : W/23 : RB.21/200-237.B
This card is for two events, the first being The Old Swiss Confederacy Day, which dates from 1291, and the second being Swiss National Day. The first is a more solemn affair, remembering the original group of independent states that were at first held loosely within the Holy Roman Empire, and how they came to form the modern Switzerland. However the second celebration is much more riotous, with bonfires, paper lanterns, and fireworks.
This set was first listed in our original Wills reference book part IV as various versions, though all measuring the same 64 x 36 m/m, and all being exported. These are :
A. The only other Wills version, a set of 33 cards issued with "Pirate" brand in China, the extra card being of China, which exists in no other printing.
B. Our set, red backs, with Wills` star and circle trade mark, brief textC. Red anonymous back, brief text - presumably issued through British American Tobacco
D. Plain back, on (a) thick or (b) thin card
Now here they stop the alphabet, though they then mention two more sets, which I have continued to label in that way -
E. A similar series issued by African Tobacco Manufacturers of Cape Town
F. An anonymous set with two line diagonal verse on back, inscribed "Printed in Germany" (though not necessarily issued there)
Now the date given in W/237 is "between 1905 and 1910", but only one date was ever listed in Wills Works Magazine, luckily this is our set, and the date was February 1912.
As to the other versions, the British American Tobacco sets are in several dealers catalogues with a date of 1912, whilst the "Pirate" branded cards are in the Murray catalogue of values as 1914.
The African Tobacco version, however, is not only dated as 1923, or 1924, but there is also some confusion over the number in the set because some catalogues say it has 33 cards, and our original World Tobacco Issues Index says that it has 32 cards but that "Saxony not seen in this printing". So does that mean that there is a card of China in this African Tobacco Set?
In our World Tobacco Issues Index our set is described as being "HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT. Sm. 63 x 36. Back in red. Nd. (32) See RB.21/200-237.B
This RB.21, the original British American Tobacco Company Booklet of 1952, simply summarises the sets, in a slightly different way, and agrees with me in making the African Tobacco set into "E", but it puts my "F" as "C.2". Anyway at some stage I will scan it - once my yellow ink cartridge comes, because for some reason the printer will not scan if I am out of one colour, even though I am not actually doing any printing so it does not matter if the ink is not there. But you cannot tell this to a computer. Just another failing of Artificial Intelligence.
In addition that page also shows one of the diagonal verse backs, which says "What can be sweeter in this life / Than a good-natured tender - husband?". Not sure if there are other verses. The index also adds our set was issued in Malaya. And that helps track it down in the World Tobacco Issues Indexes for it falls under "English Language Issues 1901-17. Issued chiefly in Channel Islands, Malta, India and Malaya".
British American Tobacco [tobacco : O/S] "Cinema Artistes" (1932) 8/50 - ZA08-175.1 : ZA8-5.1
Our birthday star this week is Myrna Adele Williams, as seen here under her stage name of Myrna Loy. She was born in the same place as Gary Cooper, Helena, Montana, but four years after, and she moved to Los Angeles as a teenager. She hoped to become a dancer, but was instead spotted as a possible actress. In fact her discoverer was Rudolph Valentino`s second wife.
Now this card shows her as quite the femme fatale, and at the start of her career she did often play oriental beauties, lazing around in dressing gowns. I have not been able to find this film yet, but one day I am sure I will.
The turning point was auditioning for a film called "The Thin Man". She got the part and in total made six films of that series, co-starring with William Powell. It was a detective story, but also with a great deal of humour, and it included a wonderful performance from a little wire haired terrier called Asta.
In the 1950s she moved into television work.
She married four times, starting with Arthur Hornblow Junior, film producer. The marriage lasted for six years, and ended, like the other three, in divorce. She never had any children. She died in December 1993.
This super set is anonymous but it was issued through British American Tobacco, and, in my view, has one of the most glamorous backs ever. Unfortunately, as our card shows, it does suffer a bit from offset; and if you look to the side of Miss Loy`s head you can clearly see the title block and the words inked in reverse.
Now finding it can be rather elusive for the text does not appear to mention the siren luring you to the balcony. Our original World Tobacco Issues Index merely describes it as
CINEMA ARTISTES. Sm. 68 x 36 Black and white halftones
1. Set 1. Nd. 1/50 . See RB.21/253-1.A
2. Set 4. Nd. 101/150. See RB.21/253.4.A.2
(if you are wondering where 2 and 3 are they are catalogued below this, under ZA8-6, because they are not black and white halftones but brown gravures)
However if you go to RB.21 the picture of the back does appear - and in two versions of the set, ours, and, another, which has the bottom pillars of the balcony removed and the space converted into a box in which it says "Cigarettes Albert". For some reason the top rail of the balcony remains, but it has been turned upside down so it curves not into the balcony but up into the text, this seems a rather long drawn out process but it does have a purpose for it allows the word "Cigarettes" to fit in above the "Albert". In addition, on this Belgian version, the title of the set has altered, to Artistes de Cinema".
And the same set is also available in a third printing, for Westminster`s "Emblem Turkish Cigarettes".
Topps [trade : gum : O/S : USA] "U.S. Presidents - Campaign Posters" (1972) Un/15
So here we have Calvin Coolidge, inaugurated for the first time as president today one hundred years ago - and it was just a newsletter or so ago that we were marvelling at the President before, Warren G, Harding, driving a railway train.
Some things change very fast.
In fact this first inauguration is often forgotten and it was a very low key affair, at his house in Vermont, and it was held at midnight, between the 2nd and the 3rd of August 1923, with only his wife and father, plus two officials, in attendance. That was simply because there had to be a new President on the death of the current one.
This set contains some lovely images, which use much of the imagery and wording from original campaign posters. You can see the whole set at the trading card database / Topps posters - and as you might imagine the one that is most sought after is the one of President Kennedy.
However there was also a slight problem with this set, that being the fact that the posters measure 5 x 7" and the packet did not - so the decision was made to fold them into four to fit them in.
I am not sure why they did not adopt the German idea of putting a coupon in each pack and then in return for a certain number of them a lovely new unfolded poster would have been sent in exchange. Anyway every one of these posters has fold marks, and it is just accepted that they can be in very good condition, even though they are creased.
Churchman [tobacco : UK] "Wonderful Railway Travel" (April 1937) 12/50 - C504-710 : C82-92 : C/156 (RB.10/156)
And we close with another centenary, the Otira Tunnel in New Zealand, which was opened today, the 4th of August, in 1923. It is on the Midland Line, on the South Island of New Zealand, and runs beneath the Southern Alps, a length of approximately 8.5 kilometres.
Unfortunately it is no longer the longest tunnel, that is now the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland, at a huge 57 kilometres long.
Our longest tunnel in the United Kingdom is the Severn Tunnel which goes under the Bristol Channel. at 7.1 kilometres.
You can read more about our tunnel at https://wondersofworldengineering.com/otira-tunnel.html
This set is the last in our original Churchman reference book RB.10, published in 1948, though technically that honour goes to the large sized twelve card version of this set. This set is described as :
156. April 1937. 50 WONDERFUL RAILWAY TRAVEL (titled series). Size 2 11/16" x 1 7/16" or 67 x 36 m/m. Fronts printed by letterpress, 4-colour half tone process. Backs in dark green, with descriptions. Printed by Mardon, Son & Hall.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index the small and large sets are not divided, but under the same code as A. Small (50) and B. Large. (12) And if you think that short, the updated version truncates it still smaller, to just A. Sm (50) B. Lg (12)
This week's Cards of the Day...
so this week was a bit of a teaser, but if you look at the events of July the 28th, 1858, you will read that on that day fingerprints were first used for identification, in India, when a magistrate, William Herschel, asked a local businessman to put his print as additional security on a contract. And yes, he was indeed related to the famous astronomer, John Herschel - being his son.
However this "first fingerprint" is not strictly true, as we will discover. For one thing that print was a whole hand print, not a finger print - though within a short time the magistrate had discovered that the marks on the fingers varied, and that they could be used for identification. Secondly saying this was "the first" fingerprint is nowhere near correct, And thirdly, Herschel`s letter was printed very shortly after someone else had reached the same conclusion.
So lets get the ink out and start the discoveries...
Saturday, 22nd July 2023
Our first clue card was a great one in so many ways, you have the goalkeeper, who is the only one in the match legally allowed to use his hands in play. He is also wearing thick gloves, which is the best way not to leave fingerprints behind you. Finally, he is being manhandled by a policeman, representing the law, who hope to find fingerprints at the scene of the crime and then attempt to match them with those already found at other sites. And this is the key, because if those fingerprints are not already in the system they have to wait for the perpetrator to commit another crime and be just as careless to leave them again, though by that time they have almost certainly learned how not to do this, or they will have taken to wearing gloves.
This set is one of several similar by Faulkner that take a saying or sporting term and add a humorous slant to it. Of course the football one is especially sought after, but they also did cricket, golf, and a set called "Sporting Terms" which was based around horse racing.
Two series of "Football Terms" were issued, and you can tell them apart from the lettering used for the captions. Our first ever reference book (RB.1) devoted to Faulkner issues, describes the pair as :
1900. 12. FOOTBALL TERMS (titled series). Size 2 3/8" x 1 1/2". Unnumbered. Fronts lithographed in full colours. "Football Terms" above subject, no border. Subject title below with "Grenadier Cigarettes", "W. & F. Faulkner Ltd., London, S.E." Backs plain. Printed by A. Hildesheimer & Co."
Both the sets carry this same description, and below each is a list of the titles in the set. After that it reveals that "The `Term` on the first series is printed in capital letters only : on the second series it is in capital and small letters.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index there are brief biographical details. But because it rained all afternoon and I had no internet I spent it in starting a new blog "F for Faulkner", which is the start of the company`s story, in which those details will be expanded.
The actual description of this set in the original World Tobacco Issues Index is
FOOTBALL TERMS. Unnd. See Ha.153
1. First Series (12) captions in capital letters
2. Second Series (12) captions in capital letters and small letters.
This is only slightly changed in our updated version, adding the size (59-62 x 37-39 m/m), and altering the handbook code to H.153.
And the handbooks just list the cards in the sets.
Sunday, 23rd July 2023
Our second clue card was a bit technical but the word we were after was "loop", and that is one of the main distinguishing marks on a fingerprint. It is a simple one too, it just goes up, curves round, and returns.
In fact they look very much like the result of curving wire round the nose end of a pair of pliers, repeated one after the other, growing gradually smaller in width. They are off centred, and usually the loop, or closed end, points towards the thumb of that hand. However, sometimes, this is reversed, and the open end points towards the thumb.
Loops are the most seen of all the marks on a fingerprint, as almost three quarters of the population have them, in varying sizes and slightly different shapes.
This is the third in the group of sets issued by Godfrey Phillips which were intended to encourage people to build their own wireless equipment, starting with a wireless set in 1923, and adding a valve amplifier the following year.
Our original Godfrey Phillips reference book, RB.13, describes this as :
91. 25. How to Build a Two Valve Set. Small cards, size 67 x 35 m/m. Fronts lithographed in brown and white. Backs in brown, with descriptive text. Issued 1929.
As usual, this is very much cut down in our World Tobacco Indexes, to simply "HOW TO BUILD A TWO VALVE SET. Sm. 66 x 35. Brown and black. Nd. (25.)"
Oddly this size is different to that quoted in RB.13.
Monday, 24th July 2023
Our third clue followed the above theme, and, buried rather deeply in the text, is the word "whorl", which is like a circle with interior spiralling, or even whirling, lines, either in one, or more directions.
The whorl pattern appears on just over twenty-five per cent of fingers.
The other main feature on a fingerprint, by the way, is "arch", which is sometimes broken into a second category, "tented arches". These are really scarce, and even considered together there are less than five per cent of us who have them on our fingers. Yet the simple arch is indeed simple, they just curve gently off straight-ish line. The tented arches are a bit more complex though, raising steeply off the line, and they do look very much like a tent in the middle of a field, with a prominent top, as you see when the canvas sides slope down to the ground and away from the pole.
Our Wills Reference Book part III lists this as :
45. 50. AUSTRALIAN WILD FLOWERS. Fronts lithographed in colour ; backs with descriptive text. Australian Issues, 1913 ;-
A. Backs in grey brown, with advertisement for "Wills`s Specialities."
B. Backs in green, with advertisement for "Wills`s Specialities."
C. Backs in grey brown, with advertisement for "Wills`s Havelock."
There seems to have been no month of issue recorded for this set, for it does not appear in the list of such that was added to the five Wills reference books when they were reprinted together under one hard cover.
Our World Tobacco Issues Index adds the size 67-68 x 36 m/m, and also that the sets were issued through British American Tobacco. It lists the set as :
AUSTRALIAN WILD FLOWERS. Sm. Nd. (50). See W/45 and RB.21/200-45
A) "Wills`s Specialities" back in (a) grey-brown (b) green
B) "Havelock" back
This information is virtually identical in the updated version of the World Tobacco Issues Index but it does add something very intriguing, which I will have to research, this being
A. "Wills`s Specialities" back in grey-brown, sometimes climatically affected to green.
Tuesday, 25th July 2023
so why, you may ask, do we have a card of ancient Babylon? Well the answer is because this is where fingerprints were actually first used as a means of identification, all the way back to the reign of King Hammurabi, almost two thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ. And their primary use was exactly the same as our Indian Magistrate, to seal a contact so that there was no dispute at a later date. And, even more startling, the Babylonians also routinely took fingerprints from anyone caught committing a crime.
This can be a confusing set, because not only did Cohen Weenen issue two sets with the title of "Wonders of the World", the subjects and pictures are the same. The only difference is that the first version has standard white borders and the second, ours, was gifted these super golden ones.
Yet if you look at our original World Tobacco Issues Index this rather important fact is entirely missing. So, without thinking, or without knowing, you have a choice of either C102-36 - Series No.6 - WONDERS OF THE WORLD. Sm. Unnd. (30). See H.104 - or - C102-53 WONDERS OF THE WORLD. Sm. 63 x 36. Unnd. (30). See H.104. Admittedly they are in different sections of the Cohen Weenen listing, the first being under section 4, "Series 1 to 6, issued 1904-1909. Small size 63 x 35 m/m, unless stated", with the second being under section 6. which simply says "Issues 1923 - 26".
However if you had a copy of the Handbook, published by the London Cigarette Card Company, a co-production between their Charles Lane Bagnall and our own Edward Wharton-Tigar, a look at H.104 immediately tells you :
Pre-1919 Inscribed "Series No.6". Plain borders to front
Post-1920 Gilt borders to front.
So why this did not appear in our volume I do not know. And it must have confused several collectors, because it has been added to our updated version of the World Tobacco Issues Index, where the first set now inserts "White border" between the "Sm." and the "Unnd" - and our set inserts "Gold border" between the "63 x 36." and the "Unnd."
There is a further note, because in many dealers catalogues you will find them catalogued in another way, the 1908 set being recorded as "Green Back", and our 1923 version as "Grey Back".
Now, strangely, the earlier set, despite the less exciting borders, definitely has more commercial value too, and as early as 1955 odd cards were being retailed at between 2/6 and 7/6 each, with sets at £12 - whilst our set was priced up at 6d. a card or 20/- a set.
Wednesday, 26th July 2023
So why do we have this card, of Tokyo?
Well there are three reasons.
The first is that the first time that prison inmates were routinely fingerprinted was in Japan in 1908.
The second, that the police force in Tokyo began adding fingerprinting to their list of detection tools just three years later.
But the third is the most important, as it was a missionary doctor in Japan who first wrote a paper explaining how fingerprints could be used to solve crime.
His name was Henry Faulds, and he was born in Scotland in 1843. He arrived in Japan in 1874, newly married, and coming via India, where he had been working in a hospital for two years. His task was to set up a mission and hospital based in Tokyo, and this occupied the first few years of his stay. Then, in 1878, he went on a trip with a friend to an archaeological dig, in Tokyo. Whilst there, he found some pieces of discarded pottery, and was amazed that some of them still showed signs of the prehistoric potter`s hands, left visible for all time, as they just went about their trade and worked the clay. He took several pieces home and studied them, and one day the light was just perfect and it even illuminated the tiny ridges that were on the potter`s finger tips. This fired him up (bad pottery pun, sorry). He also used his knowledge to solve a crime, for during his initial observations there was a break in at the hospital and a man was arrested. Faulds did not believe this man guilty and set about investigating on his own, by using fingerprints taken from the room and from the man in custody. These did not match and, quite amazingly, the police let the innocent man go free.
In 1880 Faulds had reached the stage of writing a letter about how you could use marks on the hand to identify a person, and sending it up to the journal "Nature", which was devoted not just to animal and plant nature but to many other branches of science. This was published, as "On the Skin Furrows of the Hand", in the October edition, and you can read all about what happened after that at
http://www.yoshabunko.com/fingerprinting/Fingerprinting_Japan.html
https://galton.org/fingerprints/faulds.htm
So on to the story of our card, and to Guerin Boutron, the issuer. This is fascinating, and lengthy. The company was founded, in 1775, by a man called Pierre-Joseph Roussel, who is recorded as being a grocer and chemist, though maybe this just means that he sold medication as part of his wares.
He had started making chocolate in 1769, but not as a block, as a syrup, or pouring chocolate, in a bottle, and advertising it as "Chocolat Oriental". The block chocolate came later in 1775. When he died in 1805 his wife took charge, and under her stewardship it attracted the attention of none other than The Duke of Bordeaux, who allowed her to add his name to their advertising and packaging. Towards the end of her life her son in law took control. And it remained in the family, through a succession of sons in law, though it did frequently relocate.
The cards were issued, in sets of six, between 1870 and 1920.
The company was bought by another grocer, and card issuer, Felix Potin in 1942.
Now there is the most amazing website devoted to this manufacturer, with a long biography, albeit in French. However the site also showcases many of their beautiful cards and is definitely well worth visiting. The link is
https://www.vivachocolat.fr/dictionnaire-des-chocolateries/france/guerin-boutron
They also have an instagram site, where several cards appear - this is at
https://www.instagram.com/chocolatguerinboutron/?hl=en-gb
Thursday, 27th July 2023
Here we have fingerprinting in action.
The album features Shaw Taylor, who presented a factual television show about the police force, called "Police Five", so called because it was only five minutes long. That was first screened in 1962 and lasted for thirty years.
His name was not actually Shaw, but Eric Stanley Taylor, and he had been born in 1924. He served in the Royal Air Force and then, via the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, became a theatre actor. In the 1950s he moved to television, and was involved with a variety of acting and presenting roles. He also hosted several quizzes. He died in 2015, about a year after Police Five had been rebooted as a weekly show on Channel Five, with him presenting.
Now the first thing to mention about this set is that it was only ever printed with black backs, there was not a different colour original and black back reprints.
This set only appears in our original British Trade Index part III, published in 1986, as : "Police File. Nd. (40) issued 1977". Whilst the heading tells us that the cards measure 68 x 37 m/m. However it is not in our updated volume, which ends at 1970
Friday, 28th July 2023
And this card closes the week with an actual fingerprint. Except that this is a replacement card, for the original was A & M Wix`s "This Age Of Power & Wonder" (1935) 192/250. And we already had a card from that set.
We asked for assistance, and were told of other cards, Sandwell Crime Prevention No 15 - and Barratt Interpol No.3. However we were then sent this scan by a reader, and look, it mentions William Herschel on the back. How perfect is that!
Like the Wix card there is no identity to say whose fingerprint this is, something I find very intriguing. Was it just an office worker at Topps, immortalised for all time? Or was it someone famous, though in that case I imagine they would have wanted to be credited with their name on the reverse. Famous folk are like that.
Now "Great Scott" was a set of only ten cards showing technological advances, and it seems to be quite scarce in this country. The cards are :
1. X-Ray Diffraction
2. Big Bang
3. Polio Vaccine
4. Large Hadron Collider
5. Artificial Heart
6. Deoxyribonucleic Acid
7. Continental Drift
8. Search Engine
9. Fingerprints
10. Dolly the Sheep
Unusually we were originally told that only these ten cards were issued, not any of those awkward autograph/relic extras to hunt for. However a bit of research now says that this was actually a sub-set of a much larger set of 350 cards which did include all the paraphernalia. So if anyone can add a bit please do.
We would also be intrigued as to why this set was called "Great Scott"
And with that I have to close. Time is running out, which is my explanation for the fact that the last Card of the Day has a rather sparse description. Anyway at least you got to see an actual fingerprint. And I will update it over the weekend for you all, when i may have more time.