So a very brief intro and I might finish before time, with enough time even to check my eBay wants list, rather than doing two nights tomorrow. This week has again been hectic, even though there was no wonderful trip to London by train, which I much enjoy. In fact I only went on the bus twice. But I did lose one day to buster`s birthday, and another to attempting to clear up a whole box of newspapers which I had somehow accumulated on my travels and never got around to looking at.
Hope you all had a good week too.
This week we bring you a fun filled and action packed newsletter, so I will not delay. Lets meet our cast of characters - a picture of a pitcher who died too soon - another picture with a prize you won`t believe - the tale of a massive massif - a Naval hero who is still remembered worldwide, and not just at sea - someone who never thought they would be allowed to do what they did but paved the way for many - a queen at six days old - and a fictional character who hopefully told many girls they were super too.
American Tobacco [tobacco : O/S : USA] “Baseball Series” (1907) Un/150 – A565-034.C : A54-17.1.C : ABC/T.206 : USA/T.206
I know I try to stay on the sunny side of life`s street, but this is a kind of interesting tale albeit a gloomy one. For today, one hundred years ago, in 1923, this man, Bill Donovan, baseball player until 1918, and then manager, was one of the nine people killed when the 20th Century Limited train crashed in Forsyth, New York. He was aged just 49, and he was on the way to Chicago, where the baseball's winter meetings were to take place. But he had done something you never do on public transport, and swapped his seat, with George Weiss, the Yankees manager, and George Weiss survived. Forty-seven people were injured, including the owner of the Phillies, William F. Baker.
Bill Donovan was rated as one of the top baseball pitchers in the 1900s, but was also a handy batter, and also umpired if there was need. He gained his nickname of "Wild Bill" at the start of his career, in 1898, with the Washington Senators, being quick to take offence, and happy to stand his ground. He played for several clubs, but on our card he is shown for the Detroit Tigers, who he joined in 1903. You can see a gallery of his cartophilic appearances at The Trading Card Database/BillDonovan
This set is described in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes as :
BASEBALL SERIES – BURDICK T.206 (A). Sm. 67 x 27. White borders. Unnd. (522). Brand issues, selected subjects for some brands. See ABC/T.206. Ref. USA/T.206.
1. Inscribed “Base Ball Series – 150 Subjects”
A. “Piedmont”
B. “Sovereign”
C. “Sweet Caporal Cigarettes”
Both the original volume and the updated one are almost identical, but the ABC reference only appears in the original version.
John Player [tobacco : UK] “Irish Place Names” first series (August 1927) 13/25 – P644-224.1 : P72-108.1 : P/117 [RB.17/117]
From a dark subject to a dark card, but a beautiful one as well.
Now the reason for it also concerns today in 1923, when William Butler Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. I could not find a card of the great man himself, but the artist of these cards. though not mentioned on them, was his brother, Jack Butler Yeats. And the subject, Dublin, was the place of their birth.
Jack Butler Yeats was born in 1871, and lived until 1957. He was a very celebrated artist indeed, so much so that he actually won an Olympic Medal in Paris in 1924 - for at that time, and right up until 1948, the Olympics were not just for feats of human endurance but those of human imagination, too and his work, "The Liffey Swim" received the silver medal. And that also made him the first Irishman to win an Olympic medal for his own country - for up until that date Ireland had competed under the Great Britain flag.
These appear first in our original reference book to the issues of John Player & Sons, RB.17, published in 1950. They are catalogued as :
IRISH PLACE NAMES. Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Irish Issues.
117. “A Series of 25”. Issued August, 1927. Variety No.5 is found with caption (a) CHAPEL-IZOD (b) CHAPEL-IZOD. SEIPEAL IOSOILDE.
No mention of the variety in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, it simply says :
IRISH PLACE NAMES. Sm. Nd. Irish issues
1. “A Series of 25”.
There was a second series of 25 and it was issued quite some time after, in April 1929. We featured that as a Card of the Day a while ago, oddly on 9 December 2021 - to illustrate the spikily beautiful Holly plant.
The United Tobacco Companies (South) Ltd. - `Springbok` brand [tobacco : O/S : South Africa] “Our Land” / “Ons Land” (1938) 39/100 - U560-830 : U14-50 : RB.21/390.B
This card took the longest time to find and I am not entirely happy with it, but it does the subject justice and that is enough. Why this is here is that today is International Mountain Day, so here we have a mountain, or more than one, and they are indeed International, for the card was not only issued in South Africa, but the back is bi-lingual, being in English and Afrikaans.
These are the Hex River Mountains, and they are seventy-five miles north east of Cape Town - as well as the second highest mountain range in the Western Cape Province (which is what the initials "C.P." stand for on our card too). It was always of great importance to the region, for that valley is the easiest and quickest route to the north, and around it was where settlement began.
This set is described in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
“OUR LAND”. Lg. 83 x 64. Nd. (100). Special album issued “Springbok” brand issue. See RB.21/390.B”
However it does vary quite a bit in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, reading :
“OUR LAND”. Lg. 83 x 64. Nd. (100). Special album issued “Springbok” brand issue. Multi-backed, some subjects only seen in the anonymous printing, see ZC01-500.
A. Album clause without price (52 known)
B. Album clause with “price 3d.” (78 known)
R. & J. Hill [tobacco : UK] “Famous Ships” (1939) 34/50 – H554-735.a : H46-87.a :
Now today, in Butleigh, Somerset, in 1724, was born one Samuel Hood. And it is in his honour that this fine vessel was named.
His father was the local vicar, but Samuel had joined the Royal Navy in 1741, at the age of sixteen, and left, an Admiral, in 1794. He had commanded many of the finest ships of the line, through many of the greatest battles, had been in charge of the Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich, and ended his days as 1st Viscount Hood.
It is frequently told that his choice of career was fated, that it was not mere chance that the future Admiral Thomas Smith had seen his carriage fail, and been rescued by Samuel Hood`s father. Through the night the older man had entertained and inspired the children, and even offered them a hand to come aboard, when the time came for them to set to sea. There was even the great obstacle that one of the Hood children had drowned, in the local river, as a child.
Still Samuel Hood went to sea.
He is remembered by name across the globe. He is Mount Hood in Oregon, Port Hood in Nova Scotia, and Hood`s Canal in Washington. And three ships of the line, including ours, which was so tragically sunk in 1941 by the Bismarck. You can see more cards of her at The Trading Card Database/Hood - but I know of no card of Samuel himself. Do you?
This set, and another version, are described in our original R. & J. Hill reference book, (RB.2, issued 1942), as :
1939. FAMOUS SHIPS. (titled series). Size 2 ½” x 1 ½”. Numbered 1-50. Fronts, lithographed in full colours, white margins and subjects titled. Backs, printed in black, with descriptions and “Issued by R. & J. Hill Ltd., Proprietors of Hy. Archer & Co. . . .” This set was issued after the outbreak of hostilities it is the original printing, and fronts are unvarnished.(See Henry Archer & Co.)
1940. FAMOUS SHIPS. Exactly as above, but with the fronts varnished to give a glossy appearance. Both sets printed by Norbury, Natzio & Co. Ltd., Manchester. Packed with Imperial Cigarettes.
Both versions of our World Tobacco Issues Index list it simply, but succinctly, as : "FAMOUS SHIPS. Sm. 63 x 38. Nd. (50). Front (a) matt (b) varnished"
Topps [trade/commercial : cards : O/S : USA] “Baseball” `Gypsy Queen` brand (April 2015) 142/947
Our second baseball card this week, but this is a much happier subject, though tinged with sadness for all those other possible players who came before. And it is another centenary card, for today in 1923 this man, Lawrence Eugene Doby, was born – and he is so very important in the story of baseball, for he became the first African-American player in the American League, signing to play for the Cleveland Indians.
However he was not the first in baseball. That honour goes to Jackie Robinson, just three months earlier, who signed for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
You can read his story at Wikipedia/LarryDoby - but don`t stop there. Share it. With everyone you know.
According to the Trading Card Database/Doby he appears on just over twelve hundred baseball cards. Our set is one I have not seen before, bit it is truly beautiful, and in the flesh has the appearance of crushed velvet. I also revel in the thought of the Gypsy Queen.
This set was issued in April 2015, and there are almost a thousand possible cards when you start to look into it, parallels with different frames, printing plates, minis in a variety of colours, autographs, and relics. This, to me, is when collecting stops becoming fun, though I was very excited to stumble across a certain blue parallel card in a job lot box I bought for just £2, and which was sold to me along with the original sales box. But if you are interested you will much enjoy a trip to Cardboard Connection/Gypsy2015
F. & J. Smith [tobacco : UK] “Battlefields of Great Britain” – Albion Gold Flake (1913) 29/50 – S548-050.1 : S84-2.A
Here we have Mary, Queen of Scots, and today she became that Queen. She was almost certainly not aware of that fact though, because she was only six days old.
She had been born at Linlithgow Palace, in West Lothian on 8 December 1542, great granddaughter of Henry VIII, and technically entitled, should that time come, to the English throne too. She almost made it there in another way too, for it was to be that she married Henry VIII`s son, Edward VI. However this never happened, for the Catholics rebelled, took her to Stirling Castle and hid her away. This led to all manner of ghastly goings on in which English forces tried to get her back, but they were never successful. And eventually though Edward VI was crowned King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547, he died in 1553.
This card shows Mary ten years or so after that, watching the Battle of Langside, within the boundaries of modern-day Glasgow. Her forces were fighting the regent, which was actually for her own son, James VI for whom she had been forced to abdicate in 1567. She had been locked up in Lochleven castle too, but had escaped in May 1568, just before this battle, the start of the Civil War to restore her to the throne. Ir was never successful, and she was eventually beheaded on the 8th of February 1587, on very trumped up charges indeed.
F & J Smith was an interesting company, and they had a fun way of advertising, which was to issue many of their sets with a designated front, and the same text to the reverse, but with a different brand of tobacco or cigarettes. This set actually has fifteen possible advertisement backs for each of these fronts, and so we have decided to house the main listing elsewhere - this being at :
https://csgb.co.uk/cardoftheday/2024-03-20
That will include a clickable link to all the other backs as soon as we can. But it already has a few!
Topps [trade : gum : O/S : USA] “Supergirl” stickers (1984) 1/44
Today we celebrate the birthday, in 1963, of the actress showing here, Helen Slater. And though she is still associated with this part she has had many other successes, and been in some seventy films.
Supergirl, or Kara Zor-El, was the first cousin of Superman; her father being the older brother of Superman`s father. She took a while to come to the screen, for this was her first appearance, though she first appeared in "Action Comics" issue number 252, way back in May 1959. She is also on the cover, leaping towards the sky -and a text box says "Introducing "The Supergirl from Krypton" - Is she friend or foe"
Her first appearance on a trading card is reputed to have been in 1976, in Venezuela, where a local issue entitled "DC Superheroes" has her on three stickers, one alone, one with Superman and one with Batman. The next outing was in cartoon style, and it was issued with Sunbeam Bread in 1978. But our set is almost certainly her first showing as a human being.
This is an intriguing card because I am not sure whether the sticker is supposed to be the front, or not. There is also no actual card set, all you get are these stickers, though they are thick and have both sides printed, so if you did not remove the actual sticker and leave a gaping hole I suppose you could consider them cards?
Now they did come in waxed packets, just like cards, and each packet contained six cards/stickers but it does not mention any gum on the packet so I am not sure if at this time we can still get away with calling these "trade" - maybe you know if we can and if we cannot I can alter it....
Anyway after this set she returns to animated mode - and stays there, right until 2018, when she has a new human face, Melissa Benoist. And this relates to the television series which ran from 2015 until 2021.
This week's Cards of the Day...
... might have bee a bit confusing, because I gave you a list of possible subjects in the last newsletter, none of which was "wintry weather" which we ended up doing. Never mind, it will all work out somewhere along the way.
Anyway some of us did have wintry weather this week, and even snow. Hope you made the most of it. You are never too old to build a snowman.
Saturday, 2nd December 2023
Now the clue here was almost right at the bottom of the reverse, and it was the word FLAKE, which refers to a single piece of snow - each one a beautiful, and totally unique, work of non-man-made art, which, if you look closely before it melts away, is actually spilt into six segments, all delicate and feathery.
Our original reference booklet to the issues of R. & J. Hill tells us that there are two sets with this name, both titled and both with the same pictures. However our version has a different back which mentions "Gold Flake Cigarettes". All is explained in that book, where they are listed as :
1939. 50. CELEBRITIES OF SPORT (titled series) Size 2 9/16" x 1 1/2". Numbered 1-50. Fronts, printed three colour letterpress , from half-tone blocks; white margins. Backs printed in black only, with descriptions and "Issued by R. & J. Hill Ltd..." at base
50. CELEBRITIES OF SPORT (titled series) Similar to the above in all respects, but inscribed on backs, at base, "Issued with Gold Flake Honeydew Cigarettes" (See Henry Archer & Co.).
Both sets printed by W. Oliver, London
Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes are slightly shorter, but they do say
CELEBRITIES OF SPORT. Sm. 67 x 38. Nd. (50)
A. Back ""Issued by R. & J. Hill Ltd..."
B. Brand issue. Back "Issued with Gold Flake Honeydew Cigarettes"
Now this card is not listed at the Trading Card Database/Stanley Matthews, but there is a very similar picture if not the same one being used by Shermans Pools in their "Searchlight on Famous Players" series. This was issued the same year as our set too !
Sunday, 3rd December 2023
Now the word here was "DRIFT", and that is snow that has fallen in a heap and been moulded by the wind into any shape. In fact the same process happens to sand to make dunes. However the wind does not move the whole pile, only the loose snow at the edges.
In South Africa, a drift means a shallow crossing place along a river, the sort of thing that we call a ford. So though the small boy who got this picture would have been inspired by the thought of crossing a wild river in the company of fearsome cattle, the truth would have been slightly less spectacular.
Our original British Trade Index part I lists all three of these sets, and gives the cards for all as they are unnumbered. However though they are called "Adventure Pictures" there is no set title on the cards, and though they are all of an adventurous nature, the word Adventure almost certainly comes from the title of the magazine in which they were issued. They are listed as :
ADVENTURE PICTURES. Md. 82 x 55 (A). Three series. Unnd.
1. Set 1. White borders, glazed. Back in black. (10)
2. Set 2. White borders, matt. Back in buff (10)
- 1. Agony Point, India Mountain Railway
- 2. Caravan in Khyber Pass
- 3. The Cowboy`s Round-up
- 4. Crossing a South African Drift
- 5.Elephant Tandem, Colombo
- 6. Gold Diggers of Bendigo
- 7. Indian Tiger Hunt
- 8. The Lone Trapper
- 9. North West Mounted Police
- 10. Travel in the Arctic
3. Set 3. Brown borders, glazed. Back in brown (10)
Now this takes up a lot of space so it is unsurprising that our updated British Trade Index lists them as :
ADVENTURE PICTURES. (AD) 1929. 82 x 55 Unnd (30) in three series. See HT-12
1. Set 1. White borders, glazed, black back (10)
2. Set 2. White borders, matt. buff back (10)
3. Set 3. Brown borders, glazed, brown back (10)
Monday, 4th December 2023
The clue word here was on both sides, it was "SQUALL". In the case of our card it refers to a squall at sea, and you can get white squalls, like here, or black ones. Both are wind-driven but the black version is accompanied by a sudden darkness and the white version is all the more scary because it comes without warning. And a squall has sunk many a ship, though oddly white squalls are more common on inland water than on the ocean.
It has the same principle on land, where the snow brings cold and also ice, plus a driving wind, and it happens fast, so that one minute you are driving along a road and the next the snow and the whiteness has enveloped you.
This is a very unusual set, and a most attractive one - and you can see all the other cards courtesy of the Trading Card Database/Nautical. Lots of familiar, and unknown, songs and shanties are depicted, and I am very surprised that I have never come across it before.
Our song, "White Squall", was written in 1847. Now the confusion starts, because the card clearly says George M. Barker but if you look it up this song is credited to George Arthur Barker, born on April 15th, 1812, in London.
He was not only a composer, he also sang, tenor. According to the Petrucci Music Library, he wrote almost twenty other songs, and even arranged the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Not so sure about that myself, but I am happy to be corrected.
He died in Leicestershire on March 2nd 1876.
Our original reference booklet to the issues of R. & J. Hill lists this set as :
1937. 30. NAUTICAL SONGS (titled series) Size 2 17/18 x 1 1/2". Numbered 1-30. Fronts, printed in four colours by litho offset, marginal lines and white margins. Backs, printed in grey-black, and inscribed, "Issued by The Spinet House, R. & J. Hill Ltd and Hy Archer & Co." (See Henry Archer & Co.).
Printer unknown.
This is shortened in the World Tobacco Issues Indexes to simply "NAUTICAL SONGS. Sm, 67 x 38. Nd. (30)"
Tuesday, 5th December 2023
The header for Dominion Tobacco in both our World Tobacco Issues Indexes says "New Zealand Associate of B.A.T. Cards issued period 1925-30". The listing reads : COACHES AND COACHING DAYS. Sm. 67 x 37. Nd. (50). See W/175"
We know that they grew their own tobacco, and that they were registered as a private company on October the 18th, 1927, with their registered office at 170 Featherston Street, Wellington. That premises is now an electrical store, a branch of the huge Noel Leeming chain. Sadly, Dominion were later bought out by Godfrey Phillips. We are not sure what happened to their evocative brand names - "Rugby", "Silver Fern", and "Tasman Toasted Flake", to name but a few.
Now this set is not the only version, nor the one you are most likely to see. That one appears in a previous newsletter as the diary card for Tuesday 30th of May 2023. It was issued by W.D. & H.O. Wills, and our Wills reference book, part four, lists their version as :
175. 50 COACHES AND COACHING DAYS. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Issued in New Zealand, between 1925 - 30. Similar series issued by Dominion Tobacco Co. Ltd., Wellington.
In fact the cards are identical, except for the bottom panel on the reverse, which on our set says "DOMINION TOBACCO CO. LTD. / WELLINGTON", as opposed to "W.D. & H.O. WILLS / BRISTOL & LONDON".
Wednesday, 6th December 2023
So here we have a lovely snowy scene, just the sort of vision I would revel at through my kitchen window. Actually snow lovers ought to look a bit closer at nature sets, for the animals and birds are often displayed in their home ground, and often that involves snow and ice, being rendered most naturalistically.
Our set was issued almost a hundred and forty years ago, but look at the colours, they are still bright. Quite amazing, especially when compared with some of the modern images we produce on our printers and copiers, which soon fade away to almost nothingness.
This little bird, the snow-bird, seems to be regarded by Americans in the same way that we have embraced the robin as a little friend, popping over to say hello to anyone working near its territory. More learned details can be obtained at Audubon.org/Snowbird - and whilst you are there, do you also see a distinct similarity between our bird and his? Was this perhaps the original from which our artwork sprung?
The set was issued by Allen & Ginter, of Richmond, Virginia and was printed by colour lithography. In our World Tobacco Issues Indexes this set, and its nest-mate, appear in the first section of Allen & Ginter issues, the "Coloured Issues", described as "Small size approximately 70 x 3, large 83 x 72 m/m. The large size shows the corresponding small card design with other matter added." And we already used one of the larger cards as our Card of the Day - 6th of June 2022
Our set is described as
BIRDS OF AMERICA. Bkld (50). See also set A36-64
a) Small. Ref. USA/4
b) Large. Ref. USA/37
Now that A36-64 is actually a brand issue. It is listed in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as being one of "The "Special Issues" issued partially in the U.S.A. and elsewhere including some in U.K.. All small size (variable) and unnumbered, unless otherwise stated." They were branded for "Virginia Brights", but though the cards are the same, they are not titled "Birds of America". And I cant find these in our updated World Tobacco Issues index. The birds are exactly the same, and the cards are unnumbered. If anyone knows more about this version, do let us know. Many thanks in advance.
As for the larger cards, Jefferson Burdick gives an imperial measurement of 3 x 3 1/4 inches for them in his Catalogue. You can see one of them, but only the front, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art/N37 Both the sets were issued prior to 1890. Burdick tells us that they were "issued abroad with horizontal backs".but I am not quite sure what this means. And in the 1967 edition of the Burdick Catalogue he values them at 10 cents per card
We also have another related set, listed as A400-615 : USA/A3. This is a printed album of ten pages plus covers, but the word album does not do it justice, for it is in the shape of a gilded cage and the cards are printed on the pages. This measures 225 x 153 m/m. In the 1967 edition, (on page 81, to save you hunting), he values these at $4 each.
Thursday, 7th December 2023
This set is catalogued in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as
THE TERRORS OF AMERICA AND THEIR DOINGS. Bkld. (50).
A. Small. Ref. USA/88
B. Medium. Ref. USA/88.a
C. Large. Ref. USA/136. Front with four border designs.
(a) River scene with trees at right base
(b) Three large pink flowers on two sides
(c) Wallpaper and scroll design on grey background
(d) White, mauve and yellow flowers in base panel
This is almost identical in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index save the medium sized version, which is now split into (a) blue border – and (b) no border
However Jefferson Burdick catalogues it slightly differently, as
88. Terrors of America (50). Small boys.
a) with Dukes Mixture. 1 ¾ x 3 1/8. .50
The top line is the small size, and he values those at ten cents each. The bottom is the medium, which he finds more interesting, enough to value them at fifty cents a card.
Friday, 8th December 2023
This shows a snowy background in a way that Allen & Ginter could never have dreamed possible, not drawn, but an actual photograph. Yet I much prefer the old ways, the skilful delineation, the knowledge that every stroke I am looking at was breathed into its life entirely by the touch of someone`s hand.
The set is split between examples of Disney animation, which form most of them, and photographs, or rather film stills.
The first of these, and it needs noting if you are into cars, is card 44, for that is Herbie, the VW Beetle.
Card 46 is "Blue Heron", not sure where he comes from.
I think our photo on card 48 comes from a 1970 film called "Snow Bear", in which a cub is befriended by an Eskimo child, sent out to learn to hunt. Needless to say I have never seen it; I am too much an empath for any animal movie there ever was, for they always end the same way, and it is not pleasing.
And card 50 is "The Incredible Journey", not seen that either, never will.
This set is described in our British Trade Index part III as :
Wonderful World of Disney. 80 x 35. 24 cards, numbered 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 37, 39, 42, 44, 46, 48 and 50. Disney wallchart supplied for 30p, with spaces for the 24 cards, 26 more printed on chart. Competition form supplied with chart, offer expiring 1st January 1976.
Now the code here is prefixed SUM. That is because in the trade Indexes at that time we listed Typhoo as Sumner`s Typhoo Tea. Sumner comes from the founder of Typhoo, who was called John Sumner, and he was born in February 1856 in Birmingham, to a family who ran a grocery business there.
And this set is too recent to be in our updated Trade Index which ends at 1970.
And so I must close, for another week. But soon it will be Christmas, in just sixteen days. Sorry if that panicked you....
See you next week, and watch out for some Christmas Crackers, popping up soon...