Newsletter - 2023-09-02

Saturday, 26th August 2023

This card showed Glenn Hoddle, who was born in September. More about him in the newsletter, as well as a bit more about the story of the "Football Poster" card. 

By the way, to save you hunting for hours like I have been, you will find that the number of the card is inside the football, near the top. 

Now curiously it seems that September (and October and November) has the highest number of footballer birthdays than the rest of the year, and also they are more likely to be top ones. I am not sure why this is but I wonder if whether this makes them just that bit older when they are of the age to join a football team. If you think about it football starts up again after the summer break in August, so if a player had been born in September of a previous year they would be almost a year older than a player who had been born in the July of that same previous year. A bit like racehorses, whose birthdays are all counted as being on January 1st, whether it was actually on December 31st or January 2nd. 

Unless anyone can suggest another reason why September is just a good month for footballing skills? 

Now this item is not really a card at all, just paper, and it was printed as one sheet and then folded into four to fit the packets. So now we can reveal why there are those curious grey lines on this card - which are creases. 

Also the set is not actually called "Footballers - Posters", it is just that there is no mention of any title on the front or back, and it had to be called something. If we are being technical then we could argue that this item is way too small to be classed as a poster, and "folders" or "fold-outs" would have been much more accurate. 

Now this item only appears in our British Trade Index part three, or RB.31, published in 1986. And it is described there as : 

"Footballers - Posters. (A) 178 x 126, on paper. Nd. (18). Inscribed "1980 Topps Chewing Gum Inc." Plain back. 

Sunday, 27th August 2023

This second clue was rather curious but the Mid-Autumn, Moon, or Moon-cake Festival is celebrated in China and across Asia. This year it will be at the end of the month, on September 29th. The date varies, because the moon must be at its fullest on that night.

Now in early China, as in most civilizations, the sun and the moon were regarded as gods. They believed the moon to be a lady, a goddess, called Chang`e - and their current space programme is called after her. 

So here we have a very swift record of the moon landing, which would have enthralled most children of the time. Now what our younger viewers may not realise is that not all of these images were in the papers, and those that were would have been printed in black and white. This set, therefore, was possibly the first colour pictures of the event that most adults saw, and second hand, through the courtesy, or maybe just eagerness to share, of their children. 

Now there is quite a lengthy description of this set in our original British Trade Index part three (RB.31, published in 1986). That reads : 

Man On The Moon. 89 x 63. Unnd, (74). 
Two sections, issued 1969. 
1. First section. Scene on back with picture of two astronauts. 1-19 - and then there is a list of titles
2. Second section. Sectional picture on back with picture of spaceship. 20-74 - with another list

Now this seems a curious way of describing the numbering - or at least it does to me. Surely it would have been better to end the first part with "nineteen cards" and the second with however many that is. My brain does not have the ability to do that sort of thing but it can say help, please!  

In our updated British Trade Index this set is also there, because it was issued before the cut off date of that volume, which is 1970. However it is a very small description, and it reads : "MAN ON THE MOON. 1969. 89 x 63. Unnd (74). Two sections. See HA-27." 

There is an omission here though, because this set was not just issued by A. & B.C. Gum in the United Kingdom - there was also an American version by by Topps, and a Canadian version by by O-Pee-Chee (which is our Card of the Day for July 12th 2024).  Those bold links take you to the illustrated checklists of each one of those versions, courtesy of the Trading Card Database - but nowhere do they link the sets together. 

All these sets were issued in the same year too.

By the way you can see a full checklist of the A & B.C. Gum version at Trading Card Database/A & B.C. Gum-MOM 

Monday, 28th August 2023

Our third clue showed apples, because September is apple season, and the best month to pick them in their prime.

I am currently working through a bag of bramleys, many thanks to one of our neighbours, for the last two nights I have had home made apple crumble in the microwave, and tomorrow I may just try it for breakfast. There are plenty of recipes online, so have a look. The ones which include oats seem to taste the best. If I can do it, so can you. The one thing I will say is not to add too much liquid - and for vegan readers you can use water instead of milk - because as the apples pulp down they produce liquid as well. In fact an apple is almost 90% water. 

And by the way this wrapping in newspaper system is still regarded as the best way to store apples over winter

So here we have the back that you probably did not expect, for this is the much scarcer Channel Islands issue. 

Once more, in our original Wills reference booklets, all the versions are together under W/226. And the text reads : 

226. GARDEN HINTS. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Issued 1938. 
A. Home issue. Album clause "at one penny each" and I.T.C. Clause. 
B. Irish issue. Album clause without price, and I.T.C. Clause
C. Channel Islands issue. No album or I.T.C. Clause. 

Now in the World Tobacco Issues Index, they are parted, with A and B above still clinging desperately together under W62-142, but C having been ripped asunder and also shoved right back to section 5D, code W62-495. It is even worse in the updated version, where they are even further back, in section 6D.

However for all this we do have a little nugget of extra information, in that the header tells us that those sets were "Issued chiefly in in Malta and Channel Islands". And the listing does give you a little note to "See W/226.C", in order that you can reunite it with the rest of its tribe, but I am unsure if you ever found them if you did not have the original Wills books. Though perhaps that is why they were later reprinted in the single volume. 

Tuesday, 29th August 2023

So here we have the aster. or, as this set is in French L`Aster. And as to why, well this is the birth flower for the month of September, but there is a twist, because the aster is part of a huge family called Asteracae, and when I say huge, I mean it, for even in its reduced modern form there are almost two hundred species. 

This set was issued in Mauritius, hence the French language text. And it is not the only garden related set they did, for they also issued a set of "Cacti", in the same year too.

The title is a curious one, for it directly translates as Flowers of Cultivation. I am not sure if this means specially bred, like what gardeners refer to as a cultivar, which is a gardening term for a variety which does not appear naturally in the wild, but was produced by a breeder who selected plants for their brighter, or lighter colour, or other suddenly appearing factors that they much liked. 

Now this set, like all those issued with the Domino Filters, arrived on the scene just a bit too late to be included in our original World Tobacco Issues Index. They do appear in the modern version though, under British American Tobacco section 2 - Issues quoting brand names - and sub section J - which is headed as "Domino Filter" French language brand issues, without name of firm ["firm" being British American Tobacco], in Mauritius. 1960-65". And the description of our set is  : "FLEURS DE CULTURE. Sm. Nd. (25)"

And now, in a surprising twist, I have a bit of a discovery for you, and that is that this set was not unique to B.A.T. Domino Filters - though there is not a word of this connection in the World Tobacco Issues Index. This discovery arose when I was looking at other cards of asters in order to link to them and spotted this very card, but issued by Wilcocks and Wilcocks. Now today I had a bit more time so I had a look in the British Trade Index to see if any other issuers also did this set - and they did. The list appears in our British Trade Index part 2 under D-294 and in our updated British Trade Handbook as HX-46. Both lists are the same though, so no new issuers were reported in between the two volumes. To save you looking, the full list is : 

Tobacco : titled "Fleurs de Cultur"

• "Domino Filters" (B.A.T) - 1961

Trade : all titled "Garden Flowers"

• Badshah Tea Co., London - 1963

• Browne Bros Ltd, Southend on Sea (tea) - 1965

• H.E. Empson & Son Ltd., Birmingham (tea) - 1964 or 1966

• Golden Grain Tea - issued in 1964, 1965, or 1971 - I cannot trace anything about Golden Grain tea, and no address or company appears on their cards. 

• Wilcocks and Wilcocks, 37 Commercial Road, Exeter (tea) - issued in 1964 - whose cards advertise "`Wilco`, `Garden & Estate` and `Housewife`s Choice` teas. 

The confusion over the double dates will almost certainly be sorted out when I hunt through the New Issues columns. 

Wednesday, 30th August 2023

And a mighty fine bird this is too. Of course the reason for him being here is that in the Chinese horoscope September`s animal is the rooster. Now to me a rooster sounds like a name for a lady, who roosts in her nest and sits on her eggs to hatch them; however for some reason the name rooster always refers to the gentlemen of the species, who does neither. 

This card is now a hundred and thirty two years old, and it is in remarkable condition.

There is something else remarkable about it too, because this is not just any old "Dark Brahma Cockerel", he has a name, Sultan, and he won many prizes for his owner, The Right Hon. Lady Gwydyr. And that led to his being featured as a prize specimen of the breed in the 1890 edition of the Cassell`s Poultry Book, from which the illustration here has been extracted.

Now if you look at that you can see that when the card was produced the background was removed by blurring, and that only two of his flock were left to remain. The question is why.... Any ideas? 

Now in our World Tobacco Issues Index this set is listed as : 

PRIZE & GAME CHICKENS. Sm. A.T.C. back. Bkld. (50) Ref USA/20. 

The same text appears in the updated version. The reference to the A.T.C. back is because Allen and Ginter was a, or maybe the, founder member of the American Tobacco Company in 1890, and after that date all their cards carried the A.T.C. initials. 

Thursday, 31st August 2023

Now this card may say wheat, but all cereals are being harvested this time of the year. Even the moon is called the harvest moon, and it gained that name very simply, because it provided natural light so that the corn gatherers could work later into the evening and make sure all the crop was in. In the British Isles it comes up on Thursday, September 28 and falls below the horizon on Friday the 29th. Curiously it also rises at more or less the same time every night. 

Many tales of folklore surround the harvest, because it was such an important time in the farmers year, and all kinds of superstitions would have naturally sprung up to give a little extra help to the harvest, to make it good this year, and the next as well.

Ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians all believed that the harvest was a feminine thing, and it was ruled over by goddesses; in fact it is from the Roman goddess Ceres that we get the name of Cereal. One tradition in many civilisations was to make the last of the corn into a representation of the goddess so that she would bless them. This figure was sometimes kept until it could be buried in the field when the next year`s seeds were planted, or at other times it was burned as a sacrifice in the middle of the empty field when all the corn was safely collected and put away . 

Anyway I am delighted to be able to fill another connection gap, because we had the second series of this set a while ago, on the 12th of March 2023, though it is in the newsletter, not as a card of the day, so you will have to scroll down to find it.

Now I started hunting for the description of this set in the World Tobacco Issues Index, but found it cross referenced to RB.21, which is the British American Tobacco Booklet. So we will start with that, because it was issued first, in 1952 - the World Tobacco Issues Index being from 1956.  Now in RB.21 all the Westminster issues are housed in section XIII, which covers special groups and other multi-area series - including playing cards, dominoes, Chinese chess and Spanish gaming cards.

The Westminsters are in group 5, entitled "Westminster Colonial Photographic Series" and headed "This group consists of the nine series of photographic cards issued by Westminster. All are small cards, size 66 x 35 m/m, with fronts glossy photoprints in black and white. Backs are in black with descriptive text."

Our set comes first, listed as : 

291. AUSTRALIA. First series of 36. Inscribed "Issued by the Successors in the United Kingdom to the Westminster Tobacco Co., Ltd., London." A second series was prepared but not issued; plain back proofs of these are in circulation. 

Now on to the World Tobacco Issues Index, where Westminster is split into several groups, and these cards are in Group 4, "United Kingdom Issues - Inscribed "Issued by the Successors in the United Kingdom to the Westminster Tobacco Co., Ltd., London." All black and white photos, small size, 66 x 35 m/m. For Anonymous Issue, see set ZJ5-1. Issued 1925-32.   Of course the Anonymous issue is the second series of our set, because the back which would have had the text and the name never got added to the fronts.  The description of the first set only here is : "AUSTRALIA. Nd. "First Series of 36" See RB/21/291. 

Friday, 1st September 2023

Well if you read the above you will know why this set is here, for it is one of the many sets that have been issued in this month to come. And if you wonder on the rest just go to the first in our new series of Card Calendar blogs, which covers September

This set is listed in our British Trade Index as :

 ASIAN WILD LIFE. Sm. Nd. (50)
A. Back in blue. London Address. B.10
B. Back in magenta. Nairobi & Salisbury address SR.4

This does not mention the date. That comes in the updated version, where the text is "ASIAN WILD LIFE. 1962. Nd. (50). Also issued in Rhodesia (magenta back)". 

Neither of these mention the fact that there was an album, which cost sixpence, and a wallchart. Now I have been told that the wallcharts were only for schools, but seem to remember that you did get an option of asking for a wallchart on at least some of the order forms - unless that was a later development? 

Nor that this set was never reprinted with a black back in the 1970s.

And most of all they omit the fact that the illustrations and descriptions were by Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe O.B.E., R.A., born in 1901, and dying in 1979. And he was also involved with several of the early Brooke Bond sets including Bird Portraits, Wild Flowers, and African Birds.