Another week is over, but a new one will soon begin, and to take you there is our regular newsletter. This week has been even more chaotic than usual, so apologies for the lateness of this. It is partially my fault for not saving as I went along and partially mums who unplugged the internet whilst I was in the garden with the dog, though if I had been saving as I went along I would not have pressed to save at nine pm and found just a whirling wheel, which cleared to reveal pretty much nothing, and no pictures either. So I have re-chosen cards that I knew were not included in our indexes, and that helped me a great deal. And it also allows you to step forth and reveal of what you can add, which I much enjoy hearing about.
Next week, when I will have no car, no shop, and no market, I hope that the newsletter will rattle along quicker. However I still have to find a way to go shopping - which will be on foot, something I am looking forward to immensely, and I never buy that much food at one time. There are a few shops just around the corner as well, which I have never been inside, so that will be even more fun. Not sure whether they are set up to cater for a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, but I will need to get my frozen food somewhere and it is too far to carry that back from Waitrose. Though I have not ruled out the fact that a "new" car may suddenly fall into my lap - though not literally into my lap, as I am after an early Land Rover, and those guys are pretty hefty....
So what do we have for you tonight, at last, after my ramblings.... well, read on, and discover....
American Caramel Company [trade : confectionery : O/S : U.S.A] "Movie Stars" (1921) 92/120 - E.123
Today in 1923, a hundred years ago, a little four year old girl called "Baby Peggy" signed a contract which was for the largest sum ever given to a child star, a million dollars over three years.
This card was issued two years earlier, when she was only two, and that probably makes her one of the youngest people ever to be the named subject of a card.
Her real name was Peggy Jean Montgomery). She was born in San Diego, and got her big break in the movies when she was on set to visit her father who was working as a stuntman. Someone on the crew saw her, and suggested that she would be perfect for a simple film in which a baby played with a dog. However if you read the back of the Gallaher "Cinema Stars" card of her, (1926 - card 21/100) which announces that not only was she born in Oregon, but her discovery was totally different, that she answered a newspaper advertisement and beat three hundred others for the part. There had been advertisements looking for a small child though. And Gallaher they did get the name of the dog right, it was indeed Brownie the wonder dog.. And he was a bull terrier. and fox terrier cross. Sadly, poor Brownie died just a few months after the film.
Baby Peggy made over a hundred movies before taking a break in 1925-6 to go on to the stage. There were several reasons for this. She returned to films some time later, and then left again in 1938 to get married, to Gordon Ayres, who she met on a film set. This marriage ended in divorce after ten years. About five years later she met and married an artist, and had a son. This marriage lasted until her husband`s death.
After she left films she had started to write fiction more seriously, and also liked to tell stories of a Hollywood that few remembered. She was also much concerned with making sure that child actors were well looked after, and that their earnings were not abused by those who were supposed to be looking after it. She herself had suffered from this. And although most references will tell you that she retired from films in 1938, she did make another, in 2013. Called "Broncho Billy and the Bandit`s Secret", this was a tribute to the Essanay Studio, and to all the cowboys of the early movies, and I guess to the stuntmen too, just like her father. And it also fitted with her desire that vintage film should never be forgotten.
She died in 2020, aged 101.
Now most of her early cards were issued by the same factory as our card, the American Caramel Co., which is very famous to trading card collectors because they issued lots of cards, including baseball ones. They were founded in 1889, with a merger between two companies. Shortly after that merger they also bought out a third company, from where we get the Lancaster in the address. That company was owned by a man who had made sweets for some time and become very successful but did not think that sweets would make his fortune, so he sold everything to the American Caramel Company, stock, premises, and equipment. Then he decided that he would not include his chocolate making equipment after all, and see whether that would wirk better than caramels.
His name was was Milton Hershey.
Carreras [tobacco : UK] "Notable M.P.s" (1929) 5/50 - C151-335 : C18-59.b
Today, in another 1923 centenary event, Neville Chamberlain became Chancellor of the Exchequer. Now we spoke of him, very briefly, as our card of the day for the 26th of June, 2023 - but that card pictured his father, John Chamberlain. In fact there are several cards of him, but far fewer of Neville Chamberlain, ours is usually regarded as the earliest, and the Gum Inc, "Horrors of War" the last - it is an artist`s impression of him meeting Hitler in 1938. In the middle there is also Ardath "Empire Personalities" (1937 - which mentions his dad too). Anyone know any more?
This card is the larger version of the set, though it is technically medium. It is only described in our original World Tobacco Index as "NOTABLE M.P.S. Size (a) small (b) medium. Nd. (50)"
Lyons [trade : tea, etc : UK] "Australia" (1959) 3/48 - LYO-80 : LYO-26
And, don`t forget, today is a Bank Holiday.
Speaking of banks, we are going to speak of another national institution, parliament though not ours. For today is yet another centenary, of the first spade piercing the soil beneath which would eventually become the Parliament House in Canberra. And if anyone can tell me why Lady Baden Powell write the introduction for this set`s album, please do....
Now today we call this structure "Old Parliament House" because a brand new one opened in 1988. Then in 2009 our building was turned into the Museum of Australian Democracy.
The oddest thing about this card is the strange way it goes all around the houses to describe the architect, just calling him "a young American from Chicago". I am really not sure why they did this. Any ideas? That is also more letters than in his name, which was Walter Burley Griffin, though space would also be needed for that of his wife, and architectural design partner, Marion Mahoney Griffin. And in fact they designed pretty much the whole of the city of Canberra, which makes it even more surprising that their names were not included. They also designed buildings across the country too.
All it says in our British Trade Index part II (RB.27, published in 1969) is that these cards were issued with tea, and that a special album was issued. However the description is merely "AUSTRALIA. Sm. Nd. (48)" - and this is repeated in our more modern, updated version of that work.
Topps [trade/commercial : UK] "Jurassic Park" stickers (1993) 8/11
Now before I confuse you ever more, the reason this is here is that that section of human head belongs to today`s birthday boy, Richard Attenborough, or more correctly The Right Honourable Richard Samuel Attenborough CBE.
Though he played many roles in his career, there are few cards until he played John Hammond in Jurassic Park. Most of his appearances revolve around this film and its follow ups. Now on the Topps cards of the same film, issued in the same year, he is described on card 13 as "Forceful, energetic and sprightly, [he] is the visionary entrepreneur who conceived and built Jurassic Park. Seventyish, he walks with a slight limp and cane which might only be for show"
And by the way this image also appears on card 27 of the card series, also issued in 1993, though the title is different, there it is "Raptor Hatchling.
He was born in 1923, in Cambridge. His first film was "In Which We Serve", in 1942, in which he played a boy stoker. And his first appearance on a card seems to be generally regarded as the 1950 Maple Leaf Gum "Film Stars" card 35 of 243. In fact that looks like the only card not featuring Jurassic Park, but it cannot be, for he was in so many important films - and also directed many others.
He married Sheila Sim, the actress, in January 1945, and they were married until his death, in August 2014. She appears on three cards, which you can see at the Trading Card Database/Sheila Sim
Dutch Gum [trade : confectionery : O/S : Holland] "Film Stars" series F (1962) 45/150
Another birthday, but all the way back to 1896. For today Raymond Hart Massey was born, in Toronto, Canada.
Raymond Massey`s two first film appearances were in 1929, and his name did not appear in the titles. However in 1931, he played Sherlock Holmes, in the film "The Speckled Band" - though Gallaher Champions of Screen and Stage (1934 - card 34/48) insists that this was his "first screen work".
According to Gallaher`s "My Favourite Part" (1939 - card 7), his own was "Things to Come", made three years earlier. This was a futuristic sci-fi epic and included an image of which I am rather fond, the giant face being projected on to the building, but never knew what this was from until now. The story was by H, G. Wells and it was directed by Alexander Korda..
However this card shows him in later life, in the television series "Dr. Kildare", with Richard Chamberlain, and that ran from 1961 to 1966. He played Dr. Leonard Gillespie, and appeared in almost two hundred episodes.
W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK] "Crests and Colours of Australian Universities, Colleges and Schools" (1922) 2/68 - W675-405 : W62-258 : W/176
Now today is World Learning Day, which all of us can take advantage of, but very few seem to. And I am as guilty of that as well. The basic idea of World Learning is that you do not have to go to college, you learn online, whether this be by structured lessons delivered as a paid for course, or just by watching information on a subject you are interested in, or would like to know more about, via online services like YouTube, or even on tv. And it does not have to be a school subject either, it can be anything from crafts, to culture, or even to play a musical instrument or make your own clothes. There is something for everyone.
The first ever distance learning was shorthand,offered as a correspondence course as early as 1728. But that was in Boston, USA. So why do we have an Australian card here? Well it could be that in that country many of their children have always gone to school by listening to classes over the radio. In fact it was known as "The School of The Air"? Or that there is a branch of the writing which was invented there? Or even that the University of Melbourne seems to offer more distance courses and online ones than anywhere else - unless you know different?
Now our original reference book to the issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills (part IV), tells us that there is more than one version of this set, describing it as :
176. CRESTS AND COLOURS OF AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS. Medium cards. Fronts in colour, backs with descriptive text. Issued in Australia.
I. Printed on satin, backed with thin board. Issued about 1922.
A. Size 70 x 48 m/m. Series of 50. Fronts without borders. Backs in black Wills` name at base. No Album Clause
B. Size 70 x 52 m/m. Series of 50. Fronts with cream borders. Backs in blue, anonymous issue. No Album Clause
[for some reason this section B is in italics]II. Printed on board. Issued about 1929.
C. Size 70 x 48 m/m. Series of 65. Fronts without borders. Backs in black inscribed "Wills` World Renowned Cigarettes". Album Clause at base. Two grades of board (a) thin (b) thick.Series A and B have not been compared card for card, but appear to be similar, both in subject and sequence of numbers. Series C, issued subsequently, contains most of the 50 designs in the earlier issues, but the colouring and in some cases the descriptive text, varies considerably from the corresponding cards in A and B. The numbering sequence in all three issues appears to be identical up to No.25, but subsequent numbers in C vary from those in A and B, cards in C usually occurring one number lower than the similar subject in A and B.
Fleer [trade/commercial : O/S : United States of America] "Spiderman Ultra" base set (1995) 136/150
This is a curious card, which takes something that we all know about and hurls it into the realm of superheroes and villains. For here is the symbol of America, the Liberty Bell, which today, in 1752, arrived in Philadelphia, being used as a perch by Carnage. If you want to read about him head to Wikipedia/Carnage.
The Liberty Bell was actually cast in England, at what would become the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. It was commissioned to replace the original city bell, which had hung from a tree and been used to announce proclamations of importance. It may have still been there today if the State House had not been designed to include a bell tower, and needed a bell to fit it. The bell travelled from England by ship, then was hung on a stand because the tower was not yet ready. It was decided to test the bell, but as soon as it was struck the rim cracked. Local men offered to repair or recast it, and this was accepted. They melted down the old bell and used it to make the new, adding other materials for strength. Whilst this second bell did not break, the sound was deemed inferior, so a third bell was cast.
You can read the whole saga at Wikipedia/Liberty Bell - because I am seriously falling asleep. ..
However I am pretty impressed with getting this far after such difficulty.
.
This week's Cards of the Day...
have been chatting about Nottinghamshire County Day, which takes place on the 25th of August every year - because that marks the date, in 1642, that King Charles I raised his Royal Standard at Nottingham Castle, and started the English Civil War.
We have gone for cards that celebrate a more gentle look at the county, of course. Though we also want to pay a little tribute to our local branch, which is Nottingham and East Midlands.
Saturday, 19th August 2023
For our first card of the week, we chose J. Iremonger of Notts Forest. Not only is this one of the local football teams, but it also has a link with one of the heroes of the area, Robin Hood, who roamed Nottingham Forest, or more correctly, Sherwood Forest, along with his fellow rebels.
However our man, whose "J" stood for James, was not just a footballer, he was a cricketer too, good enough to be voted cricketer of the year in 1903. He played for Nottinghamshire, though he had been born in East Yorkshire, in March 1876. He also coached the Nottinghamshire team from 1921 to 1938. In fact his football career only started playing in 1896, and saw him play for England too. His brother, Albert was also a footballer, a goalkeeper for Notts County, and also played cricket for Nottinghamshire. And he had another brother, Harry, who was also on the Notts Forest squad.
The photographer who took this picture was James Russell & Sons, and they were not just in Crystal Palace, as shown here, they had other addresses in London, plus premises in Windsor, and Southsea. The Windsor connection is especially telling because he was a Royal photographer, not just of our Royal family, but of overseas ones, when they were visiting from abroad. They were in business from 1883 until 1908, and for the last nine years had premises in Baker Street.
We have been told that "Cinderellas" were first sold in 1888, the same year as "Wild Woodbines". They were a penny for a packet of five cigarettes, and their brand advertising featured a pretty young girl trying to dry a plate and peel potatoes by a rather smoky fire, presumably modelled on Cinderella. I am most taken with her red woollen stockings, by the way. Another advert of the time shows her barefooted, in less well kept clothing, feeding the birds.
The set first appears in our Wills Reference Book part II, as W/22. There is quite a lengthy description too, of :
22. 66 FOOTBALL SERIES
Fronts printed in black, with white border. Series title inset at top with number, player`s name inset at base with photographer`s credit below. Backs in bronze blue : two different advertisements :-"Wills`s Cinderella" Cigarettes (Nos. ending in 1. 4 and 7 from 1-50 and Nos. 51, 53, 57, 60 and 63)
"Wills`s Wild Woodbine" Cigarettes (All other numbers) [see Card of the Day for 21 October 2021]
There are at least three different kinds of card :
(a) Pure white (coated) both sides
(b) Pure white on fronts, cream buff backs
(c) Pure white on fronts, dull grey backs.There also appears to be a series printed on a card which has a pronounced dirty pink tint. The back colouring varies considerably from bronze blue to a chalky blue shade. Fronts vary in shade from grey-black to black.
Two varieties of card No.18 - "W.J. Foulkes" - exist: (a) head and shoulders portrait (b) three-quarter portrait. Probably two distinct printings could be made up of each which would include one of the above cards. Cards are known with the subject title in (a) small and (b) larger lettering. Although this set is similar to Clarke`s "Footballers" it is not identical. In all cases the club or team is quoted on the Wills but omitted on Clarke`s cards, and there are other minor differences. Issue date : 1902. Printed by E. S. & A. Robinson, Ltd.
So this sets up a few questions for you to answer.
Firstly, the curious nature of the advertisement numbering, as to especially the final run. This rather suggests that it was planned to be a set of fifty cards, or perhaps fifty two - in which case the uniformity of the numbering would have been preserved - but for some reason they added these extra sixteen and let the advertisements fall where-ever.
Finally, whilst we have a year date of 1902, there is no month of issue, unless any Wills specialists know of it?
Now when it comes to the World Tobacco Issues Indexes, as you might imagine, most of the above is missing. All the original volume says for the set is :
"FOOTBALL SERIES. Sm. Black and White. Nd. (66) Vari-backed, two advertisements. See W/22" -
and this is further curtailed in the updated volume, by exchanging "Black and White for "B&W".
However the later version does give us another lead to follow, because instead of W/22 as the spur off we have H.81. Unfortunately, that confuses things still more, because if you remember the quote from above, which stated that "Although this set is similar to Clarke`s "Footballers" it is not identical. In all cases the club or team is quoted on the Wills but omitted on Clarke`s cards, and there are other minor differences.". But now H.81 says :
H.81 FOOTBALL SERIES (titled series). Fronts in black and white. Numbered series of 66.
Pre 1919 Clarke
Wills.
This suggests that the sets must be more than similar, or why link them together? And even more strangely, both were issued in the same year, 1902. Now my trusty 1950 London Cigarette Card Catalogue adds that the retail price of the Clarke`s version was 10/- to 25/- a card, or £75 a set, with the Wills one coming in a lot cheaper, just 2/6 to 7/6 a card, or £25 a set. This could simply reflect that Wills was based in England, so the distribution area was pretty widespread, as opposed to Clarke, who was based across the water in Dublin.
But if we have a Clarke`s researcher somewhere, maybe you can tell us of your thoughts ?
Sunday, 20th August 2023
This second clue was Nottingham`s most famous cigarette manufacturer, one John Player. However he was not born there - he just came up from Saffron Walden. Nor was a tobacco maker when he came - in actual fact his first shop sold agricultural needs, including manure. The shop did reasonably, but, like all shops, if you do not expand you are gone, so he decided to run a little side line selling tobacco to the gardeners and farmers. At this time the tobacco seems to have been bought in, and not even blended by him. However it seemed to be popular, because in the late 1870s he decided to make his own. This supports the theory above, because he could not ensure the quality and flavour stayed constant unless he did. And also, as a businessman, he knew that if he avoided paying anyone else to get involved or to supply the goods, he would make more profit.
He bought his first factory premises in 1877 and started to manufacture both tobacco and cigarettes. And by 1885 he had been forced to relocate to a bigger factory to keep up with demand.
So this card is first recorded in our original John Player reference book, RB.17, published in 1950. It seems rather curious to me that John Player, one of the largest and best known card-issuing companies, should have had to wait right until RB.17 to become immortalised, but i am sure there was a reason, which one day I will stumble over and all will become clear.
That book records this card as part of the Advertisement Card section, not as a single card. The full description is :
3. ADVERTISEMENT CARDS - 1893-4 Issue (adopted title). Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in black. Unnumbered series. 7 subjects seen illustrated in Fig.3 :-
Brief summary as follows :-
I. Head and Shoulder Portraits (all known with both A and B backs, see below)
1. Beauty, facing front
2.Beauty, profile to right
3. "Old Salt." Small clay pipe. No hands visible
4. "Old Salt". Long clay pipe held to mouth in right hand.
II. Posters and Facsimiles of Packings.
5. Girl in brown, three-quarter length. Seen with Back A
6. "Player`s Navy Cut Cigarette Tobacco" tin. Special back advertisement
7. Player`s "Golden Dreams" Cigarette 10`s Packet. Special back advertisementDetails of Backs A and B are as follows :-
Back A : "PLAYER`S Navy Cut Cigarettes - Selling by the Million to the Million - Sold everywhere in packets of 12, and Decorative Tins of 24, 50 and 100. John Player & Sons, Nottingham."
Back B : "Copy of Unsolicited Testimonial : 46 Foxberry Road, S.E. ... May 4th 1893 ... I enclose a photo in which I thought you may be interested - it represents my consumption of your `Navy Cut` for twelve months, viz., Good Friday 1892 to Good Friday, 1893. Every one of the boxes have been emptied and the contents consumed by myself. Is this a record? ... E. S. HOUGH. (The photo alluded to above cannot be reproduced in this space; it however represented 128 empty 2 oz. tins, an average of 5 ozs. Player`s Navy Cut per week). John Player & Sons, Nottingham."
These cards are similar in appearance and format to the early 1893-4 Wills issues (see Fig.28 of Booklet No.14) and, as indicated in the letter-press of back B, were probably a Home issue, 1893-4.
As you can see if you compare our scan of the reverse to the description quoted in our reference books, certain words are missing. Not sure why. However there is a much more burning question and that is why they did not show that photo ? Surely if you go to the trouble of reprinting the letter, and twice mentioning the fact that there was a photo, why not make the front of the card show it ? They just cite the fact that it "cannot be reproduced in this space", which points to size constraints, but there must have been someone, especially at their printers, who could have reduced it to a size that would fit a card. Or did they use it somewhere else, that I have yet to find?
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index has a smaller description, which is :
ADVERTISEMENT CARDS (A). Sm. Unnd. (7). See RB.17/3 and H.338.
1. Head and shoulder portraits (4)
A. Back headed "Copy of unsolicited Testimonial"
B. Back headed "Players Navy Cut Cigarettes"
2. Posters and facsimiles of packings (3)
And the unusual thing here, do note, is that the advert back designs on the head and shoulder portraits have suddenly changed their order. No idea why. .
Now in the updated version, suddenly, there is a bit of a surprise, for the top line states "Sm. Unnd. (8)". This eighth card is added to the packaging tally, not the portraits. And it is revealed in the updated handbook to be a box of Player`s Gold Leaf Navy Cut, with the same back as our featured card.
Though, rather confusingly, the write up says "No`s 1-4 found with two different backs (a) Player`s Navy Cut Cigarettes ..." (b) "Copy of Unsolicited Testimonial..."" - which was a return to the order in which they originally started.
Monday, 21st August 2023
Our third clue showed famous Nottinghamshire player Harold Larwood. He was born on November 14, 1904, at Nuncargate. This is now part of Kirkby in Ashfield, but at one time was a small village, in a rather damp area of the county, and almost certainly containing some kind of religious building. We know that because of the name, which is supposed to derive from "Nun`s Marsh".
This set was totally unknown to me when I was sent this scan, but it has a fascinating, and, yet fully untold, tale. Lets start it with our original Wills reference book part four, or RB.16, published in 1950, where it is described as :
177. CRICKET SEASON , 1928-29. Unnumbered. Fronts : Photo-prints in black and white. Backs in black, inscribed "This real photograph is one of a series of English & Australian cricketers. W. D. & H. O. Wills." The series was obviously issued in Australia in the autumn of 1928 to herald the arrival of the M.C.C. touring side captained by Mr. A. F. P. Chapman. All 17 members of this side appear in the series, and a total of 27 prominent Australian players is known : it appears probable that the series comprises 44 subjects :-
and then they are listed. Bit rushed for time right now, but if I get time this week I will scan that, though it does not help that the list is over two pages, and it will need some tinkering to put them in the right order.. so it would probably be quicker to just type it!
Anyway in the next Wills reference book, that being part 5, RB.19, issued in 1951, there is a bit more, because it tells us that :
...four additional subjects have been seen". These are all Australians, namely :
45. E. L. A`Beckett, Vic.
46. T. J. E. Andrews, N.S.W.
47. R. H. Bettington, N.S.W.
48. J. D. Scott, S. Aust".
Now what this does not seem to mention is that I have looked at quite a few cards now, and the position of the back cartouche wanders about wildly from side to side. Maybe it is was just taken as a given that to get a set with lovely centered backs would be a lifetime`s job and then some.
So then to our original World Tobacco Issues Index, where this set was very elusive, but after a hunt, I eventually found them, in Wills Section 3C, where the header is "Issues 1922-29. Backs inscribed "W. D. & H. O. Wills`s World Renowned Cigarettes", unless stated." The description is simply : "CRICKET SEASON, 1928-29. Sm. Black and white photos. Unnd. (48). Inscribed "W. D. & H. O. Wills". See W/177" - and this text is exactly the same in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, though the card code has altered, but they are now in section 4C - because section 3 now covers the post 1960s Wills` issues which were included with brands like Castella, Embassy, etc.
Tuesday, 22nd August 2023
This card shows a facet of Nottingham that you probably did not know of, and that is that it was once a pottery town. Nottingham`s speciality was salt-glazed stoneware and it was produced for about a hundred years, between 1680 and 1790. Salt-glazing was a hazardous job, which involved the simple action of throwing salt on to the pots when they reached their highest temperature; however at the moment the salt struck the pot it would release sodium, and that would dissolve the outer surface of the clay, which would then harden and become the glaze.
The potteries were in the north east section of the city, and the most famous ones both belonged to the same family, called Morley, who also had premises in Derbyshire, which is where the stoneware pottery industry relocated in the early 1800s. James Morley had been a brickmaker before he was a potter. It is not known how he learned to make pots, but he was the first ever to do so in Nottingham. What we do know of stoneware is that it originated in Germany, and was introduced to London in the mid 17th century. One theory has that Mr. Morley was involved with building those London kilns, but there is no actual proof of this.
And in fact, rather neatly, this card mentions the Morleys.
Now there is another cartophilic connection - which you may not know about - relating to this card. And that was that it appears on one of our Convention Commemorative Cards - for 2019
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index lists this set as :
OLD POTTERY AND PORCELAIN. Sm. Nd. Special albums issued.
1. Titled "Old English Pottery & Porcelain". Nd. 1/50
2. Titled "Old Pottery & Porcelain"
(1) "Second Series". Nd. 51/100. Back (a) "Chairman" (b) "Recorder" Cigarettes
(2) "Third Series". Nd. 101/150. Back (a) "Chairman" (b) "Recorder" Cigarettes
(3) "Fourth Series". Nd. 151/200
(4) "Fifth Series". Nd. 201/250.
The updated volume says much the same about our set, only adding "(50)" after each of the lines to show the number in each segment.
Now this seems as good a time as any to mention that Lea also issued cards from the first set above as postcards. They are definitely cartophilic though, because they say "Chairman Cigarette Series" on them - and amongst the retailer names on them are tobacconists. A list of those retailers appear in the handbooks at H.257 and Ha.257. But that will have to wait for another day!
Wednesday, 23rd August 2023
Now this set comprises six series which show the United Kingdom, though they are titled series one to five. The reason for this is that series one was issued twice, once with a back which says "Spinet House", and once with it reading "Issued with Sunripe & Spinet Oval Cigarettes".
There are also other sets, starting in 1940, which was intended to be a group covering the British Empire, but was only Canada, and India. More countries would certainly have followed, but whilst the India set was being packaged, the premises were hit by a bomb and destroyed. A few cards had already been sent out, but the rest were lost.
Our original reference book to the issues of R. & J. Hill, RB.2, published in 1942, lists our part of the set as :
1938. 48. VIEWS OF INTEREST (titled series). "Second series of 48 hand coloured Real Photographs." Size 3 1/14" x 2 1/2". Numbered 49-96. Fronts, sepia toned photographs. Glossy finished and hand-coloured, with titles and white margins. Backs, printed in black only, with descriptions and inscribed, "Issued with Sunripe & Spinet Oval Cigarettes. R. & J. Hill, Ltd., Shoreditch, London, E.1 ..." Produced by the Rotary Photographic Co.
And in case you were wondering, yes this was the same Rotary that issued all those picture postcards.
Our World Tobacco Issues Index adds a bit more information, especially to the series header. It gives the size - "Lg. 76 x 63" as well as telling us "Special album issued". However it does not explain if one album took the whole set of 240 cards, or if each forty-eight cards fitted into a separate one. Maybe ne of our readers can answer that?
Thursday, 24th August 2023
Now this is a slightly different version of Nottingham Castle, much easier to see than the R. & J. Hill card we showed yesterday - but the burning question is were the trees not yet grown so tall when the artwork was done for this card, or were they removed from the image? Any Nottingham researchers wishing to comment, please do.
Our original Lambert & Butler reference book, RB.9, issued in 1948, describes this set as :
75. 50. MOTOR INDEX MARKS. Fronts printed by letterpress, 4-colour half-tone process. Backs in dark green, with descriptions. December 1926.
The original World Tobacco Issues Index is shorter, at just "Sm. Nd. (50)" - and this remains the same in the more recent update, except for the code, of course.
Friday, 25th August 2023
So here we close our trip to Nottingham with Robin Hood, but not the Errol Flynn version. rather the small screen version that ran from 1955 - 1960 and starred Richard Marius Joseph Greene.
He had started in the theatre aged just fifteen playing Julius Caesar. he then moved to Hollywood where he became very popular. I am not sure why he decided to return to England and play Robin Hood - the mments ost quoted is that he needed the work, but I am not sure that is true. Another reason is stated to be that he was bored with the parts he was being offered. Robin Hood was immensely successful, possibly because it was easy for the young viewers to play act, so much so that many books and other memorabilia were produced, even clothing to make your enactments more lifelike and thrilling. It seems like he had a cut of the profuts too, and if so that was very foresighted of him, for few stars of the time realised how much money these extra products could bring in.
This set appears in our British Trade Index part II (RB.27, published in 1969) but the description is merely "ROBIN HOOD. Sm. Nd. (30) Album issued". While that is repeated in our more modern, updated version of that work, it also adds the date, and the size (of 65 x 35 m/m) after the title, and removes the abbreviation "Sm."
However once I have a bit of spare time I will see if I can track this down in the New Issues department...