Not yet a New Year, but so very close.
I hope you have your diaries already, though I confess I am a mid year enthusiast, simply because things are going to hopefully be less chaotic and you can sit under a summer sun and write the first entry whilst you are being gently warmed, and blissfully sitting alone in peace and calmness. Well the idea is always an appealing one anyway, even if it seldom happens that way.
I always go for a diary with a spiral binding so that it lays flat on the inside of my desk and then I have so many other things in there that there is never the space to lay it. But the spiral does give scope for me to stick post it notes in and clippings of future events at the local gallery, and lists of auction dates from my favourites, and pictures that I have moved from diary to diary over so many years I ought not to admit I still hold them so dear, but it`s my diary and I like to find them nestling there when the day has not turned out so well.
Anyway this week will be the final flourish for our 1923 centenary events (and, very excitingly, we managed to find one for both the days). But it also features the very first of our 1924 ones. I hope that you enjoy these time capsules, for I do. Sometimes I am very surprised that these events were so far from, or so near to, our present day. And it is true, the more things seem to change, the more they really do remain the same.
May your New Year be filled with fantastic finds, and hopefully even the one that completes that part set you had given up on.
And we look forward to meeting you all in Salisbury at our Annual Convention, which will be held on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st of April. It already has a dedicated page, at Convention 2024, on which we are celebrating Salisbury Cathedral on cards. And if you have any others, do please scan them and send them along....or even just tell us of their set and card number and we will go hunting.
But I digress - and you are getting impatient, tapping of your fingers, wondering when I am ever going to and start the last newsletter of 2023....
So here it is!
John Player [tobacco : UK] “Celebrated Bridges” (November 1903) Un/50 – P644-054 : P72-22 : P/43 [RB.17/43] : H.346
Today we feature one of our last Centenaries which sees us in Paris, but as a Capital under water. This was not caused by anything other than heavy rain, and today the waters submerged the quays and docks, which further increased the panic, as food was getting short. Many measures were being tried to hold back the waters, which were too strong for sandbags, and also broke through barriers of cement. The electricity supply was also affected, and frequent power cuts took place. The railway was out of action. Many people had fled away, leaving their homes and possessions. And deep into the countryside the Loire was also swollen, racing along, sparing nothing in its path.
This was not the first flood in Paris, that took place in the year 358. And there were regular occurrences, including the massive 1010 floods, and the one of 1296 which swept away every bridge in the city and the houses that were on them. And in 1909/10 rain and snow fell for three months, making the river rise to almost nine metres deep; Paris was flooded for two months, long enough to build elaborate wooden structures so that the people could still move about above the waters, but thousands of buildings were damaged. However no lives were lost.
The last flood of Paris took place in 2022 , but more will certainly come. Our planet is determined to pay us back for our abuses of the past.
This set is listed in our original reference book to the issues of John Player (RB.17, published in 1950) as :
43. CELEBRATED BRIDGES. Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in brown, inscribed “These Interesting Pictures of Celebrated Bridges are issued solely by John Player & Sons, Branch…” Home issue, November 1903. Unnumbered series of 50.
Then there is a list in alphabetical order, starting with Berlin Bridge and ending with Warzburg Bridge, Bavaria.
However after that list it closes by adding “Basically similar series issued by Edwards, Ringer & Bigg, and Faulkner, with numerous variations in captions, etc.
There was no reference book for Edwards, Ringer & Bigg, but we know their set was issued in 1924. A quick look at the Faulkner reference book reveals that the printers were Mardon, Son & Hall, and that their version was issued in 1925. However both these printings have added descriptive backs about the scenes on the fronts of the cards.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Indexes the John Player version is described as “CELEBRATED BRIDGES. Sm. Unnd. (50). See RB.17/43 and H.346”
However in the updated version only the handbook code is quoted.
W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK] “Famous Film Stars” (1934) 31/100 – W675-421.A : W62-281.A : W/203
Our second Centenary card of this week, and our final one of this year, and it records a premiere, "Kid Boots" starring Eddie Cantor.
This card tells us that Eddie Cantor “sold newspapers in New York, then, having won first prize in a music-hall contest, turned to vaudeville.” It also tells us that he was “Born in New York” and that he has “black hair and dark brown eyes”.
He was not born Eddie Cantor, of course, but Isidore Itzkowitz - on January 31st, 1892. Though it is said that he took his stage surname from an error in official paperwork that made the family name into Kantorowitz.
This card belies what a powerhouse he was, for in his life he did so many things, not just comedy performance, but serious acting, dancing, singing. He was also a musician, and a writer, of music, and lyrics, and screenplays, and also books. He even wrote the theme for the Warner Brothers "Merrie Melodies" cartoons. And as a performer, he appeared on stage, screen, radio, and television.
He was married just once, and had five daughters. His wife died in 1962 and he outlived her by just two years.
Now this "Kid Boots" that we celebrate today was a stage musical, and the great Florenz Ziegfeld produced it. It opened today, in 1923, and in its two locations ran for nearly five hundred performances. It was a simple story, set in Palm Beach, where Eddie Cantor was a caddy at a golf club, who had a little sideline as a golfing tutor, and another as a supplier of bootleg liquor. He did these things quite openly, because everyone else at the golf club was just as crooked, and nobody wanted to rat on the others.
Then, in 1926, it was turned into a motion picture, silent, but again starring Eddie Cantor, and teaming him up with the very vivacious Clara Bow.
This set is first recorded in part IV of the original series of Wills
reference books (RB.16, published in 1950) as :
203. 100. Famous Film Stars (Unicoloured). Fronts printed by letterpress, unicoloured in red-brown. Backs in brown, with descriptive text, inscribed at base “W.D. & H.O. Wills`s World Renowned Cigarettes.” Issued in Australia, 1934. –
A, Small cards, size 67 x 37 m/m
B. Medium cards, size 67 x 53 m/m. Two grades of board (a) white (b) cream.
It is a bit hard to locate in the original World Tobacco Issues Index, but it is in section 3C of the Wills listings, under “Australian Issues” 1933-34. Now this is a very short section indeed, only containing the sets with the backs inscribed “W.D. & H.O. Wills`s World Renowned Cigarettes” – and in fact there is but our set and one other, the “Footballers 1933”.
Our set is described as :
FAMOUS FILM STARS. Reddish Brown. Nd. (100). See W/203
A. Small
B. Medium, 66 x 52. White or cream board.
In our updated World Tobacco Issues Index it is further along in the coding, for more modern sets have been issued in this country by Wills, and they take precedence over the overseas issues. This set therefore appears under section 4D. However no more sets have been added, it remains of two sets only.
Sadly we do not know the original month of issue for this set – it was issued through British American Tobacco, and it does not appear in their records. However we do know that those records are only of the sets which originated in London, so it is possible that this, and perhaps the football set, were printed in Australia. Tellingly, that football set is also missing from the British American Tobacco records. And this simple fact could also account for the different wording on the reverse of these two sets.
John Sinclair Ltd. [tobacco : UK] “Film Stars” (1937) 35/54 – S474-760.2 : S70-17.2
Staying with the Hollywood theme, today, in 1891, Charles Ambrose Bickford was born.
Now the text on this card says that Charles Bickford is shown in “Thunder Below”, (which was released in 1932), and that he had "appeared in a burlesque for a wager. So began sixteen years on the stage which he was induced to leave when offered a part in “Dynamite”, his first talkie". And yes that is Tallulah Bankhead with him. At this time both were contracted to the Paramount Studio, though she was a relative newcomer there, only being signed up in 1931.
Now the appearance in the burlesque took place in 1911, and the following year he joined a touring theatre company, which attracted many youngsters that would later see their name in lights above the silver screen. He could have done this earlier too, for he was offered several film roles, but he kept refusing. One of these was in the 1926 film of "Beau Geste", which was eventually played by Ronald Colman.
However in 1929 he did make the leap, for "Dynamite", and this led him to being cast as the sailor lover of Greta Garbo in Anna Christie. He had actually been a stoker and fireman in the United States Navy when his friend had laid the bet that he could not do burlesque. However he was always a tough guy, both on screen and in real life, and was not slow at taking offence, something which almost certainly hampered his career.
He also had a very strange incident in 1935, when he was attacked by a lion on the set of "East of Java". His neck was permanently and badly scarred and though it was said that was the end of his matinee idol days, I get the feeling he was always more of a man`s man, a fighting action hero, for which, surely, scarring would have added, not detracted to his appeal.
His best time was really the 1940s and 1950s, and he was also nominated for three Academy Awards, all Best Supporting Actor. Unfortunately, he lost out every time - including to Father Christmas in 1947 (Edmund Gwenn in "Miracle on 34th Street"). The other two were in 1943, to Charles Coburn (in "The More the Merrier") and in 1948, to Walter Huston (in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre").
This set is fairly easy to pick up but be careful because there are three versions. This is very ably described in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes as :
FILM STARS. Sm. Black and white photos.
1. Backs “A Series of 54 Real Photos”. Nd. 1-54.
2. Backs “A Series of Real Photos”. Nd. 1-54.
3. Backs “A Series of Real Photos”. Nd. 55-108. (54)
We also know that the first series was issued a few years earlier, in 1934.
Carreras “Turf” Slides [tobacco : UK] “Film Stars” (1947) 27/50 – C151-670 : C18-101
And now we have a film star who became the President of America. However, first he became the Governor of California, and that happened today in 1967. In fact he is the only person ever to hold both offices - and maybe he always will be.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in Illinois on February the 6th, 1911. His college was on a scholarship, and he did very well there, though he did much enjoy his brushes with the acting clubs there. He did consider going into acting too, but in the 1930s, when he graduated, he found it hard to get a role either on the stage or behind it.
What he was offered was a trial, on the radio, in Iowa, commentating on sports. His father had played baseball and so he fudged it a bit and hoped it was in the blood. He also commentated on American Football and on boxing. Actually he did very well, and the audience liked him, because he was not too proud to admit when he made a mistake.
Then in 1937 he got the starring role in a movie, "Love is on the Air". Here he was a radio announcer, so it is to be presumed that there was a connection. Anyway he left the real radio job and moved to Hollywood, making almost twenty films by the end of the decade. When America went to war he stayed connected with film and produced training films for the Army and the Army Air Force, though towards the end of the war he was in the U.S. Air Force as well.
After that he made many films, and also moved on to television. However in 1964 he stood up and made a speech supporting Barry Goldwater, the Republican candidate for President. Mr. Goldwater lost, but once more Ronald Reagan had gained the support of the nation, and in 1966, when he decided to stand for the office of the Governor of California, he won. He was elected, on this day, in 1967.
And in 1981 he became the fortieth President of the United States of America.
Now I may have had this set before but if so it will be replaced. It is the last of the Carreras cards to appear in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, under section 3B. “HOME ISSUES. Printed on inner slides of “Turf Cigarettes” – one on 10s, two on 20s packings. Front in blue. When cut off, cards are “Turf” brand issues. Listed in order of issue.”
And first up is our set : "FILM STARS. Nd. (50). Issued 1947."
By the way the final set was “Famous British Fliers”, in blue and black and that was issued in 1956.
Oddly in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index the sets are in alphabetical order not in date order. However the description of our set remains the same.
Gallaher Ltd [tobacco : UK] “Champions” 2nd Series (1935) 42/48 – G075-560.2 : G12-77.2
Now we celebrate Sir Donald Bradman who recorded the first of his 29 Test hundreds on this day. He was just twenty years old and he followed up a first innings of 79 to score 112.
This was the third Test, Australia versus England, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. And eventually he would go on to hold twenty-nine Test Centuries.
We sometimes call these Test matches "The Ashes", and they have been played since 1882, when Australia won, at the Oval in Kennington, London. However the name comes from a mildly scathing article in a contemporary edition of "The Sporting Life", which declared that English cricket had died and its body was to be cremated, after which the ashes would be sent to Australia. This idea stuck, and the next time the tournament was played, the English captain said that he was going out there to get those ashes. And in fact, very amusingly, a tiny urn was presented to him, inside which were actual ashes, said to be one of the little sticks that suspend themselves horizontally between the uprights of the wickets, but had been removed and ceremonially set on fire.
Today this little urn is in the collection of the Middlesex County Cricket Museum, at Lords, and it never leaves. Instead a crystal urn is presented to the winners, who, right now, are Australia.
Now this is quite a sought after set, though it is but artists representations of the Champions.
Our original Gallaher reference book (RB.4, published in 1944), tells us that the two versions of the first series were both issued in 1934, and that the cards with the captions were the second printing. At the same time they also enlarged many of the pictures on the fronts, and the size of the lettering on the back, as well as altering some of the descriptions.
Our set is described as :
1935. 48. CHAMPIONS (titled series inscribed “2nd Series of 48”). Size 2 ½” x 1 ½”. Numbered 1-48. Fronts, printed in full colour by offset litho, black marginal lines and white margins, subjects titled. Backs, printed in vermilion, with descriptions and “Park Drive Cigarettes, Gallaher Ltd., Virginia House, London & Belfast.”
All three series of “Champions” printed by E. S. & A. Robinson Ltd., Bristol.”
Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes reduce this somewhat but still describe them as :
CHAMPIONS. Sm. Nd.
1. “A Series of 48”. Front (a) with (b) without caption
2. “2nd Series of 48”. Front with caption
W.A. & A.C. Churchman [tobacco : UK] “Howlers” large size (October 1936) 15/16 – C504-520 : C82-54.B : C/75 [RB.10/75]
I did not realise there would be so many biographies this week. Wow!
Anyway I must keep going, for Isaac Newton was born today in 1643 at Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire, in England. Except that he was not, because in the year of his birth we were still using the other, Julian Calendar, and this meant he was actually born on Christmas Day.
He was born to a family in mourning, for his father, also called Isaac Newton, had recently died. In fact this was such sorrow to his mother that he was born quite prematurely, and was not expected to live, being exceptionally small and wizened. But he did.
When he was just three years old he found himself left with his grandmother, by his mother, who had married again. Perhaps this is why he famously never liked his stepfather, and also grew to dislike his mother, and his three half siblings.
Isaac proved himself an excellent scholar, and was renowned at his school in Grantham for his work in Latin, Greek, and mathematics. His mother came back into his life at this point, once again widowed, and wanted him back. He did leave school, but soon returned, and he was supported in this by his uncle, and his headmaster, who also started to put things in motion for the talented Newton boy to go to the University of Cambridge.
And in 1661 he was accepted there, taking his seat in Trinity College, though he had to work to pay his way until he got another scholarship in 1664. It was here that he started to really gather in the knowledge in mathematics, physics, and astronomy which would see him formulating the theory of gravity that is depicted here. And all because of a humble apple.
We have already featured the standard sized series of this set so here is the large one. And, curiously, this larger version was issued nine months before the smaller one.
Both sets come from drawings by Rene Bull, who was also responsible for the Churchman sets of “Eastern Proverbs”.
The duo are described in our original reference book to the issues of W.A. & A.C. Churchman (RB.10, published in 1948) 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.
75. Oct.1936. 16. HOWLERS. Similar format to (74) but size 3 5/18” x 2 9/20” or 80 x 62 m/m.
However in our original World Tobacco Issues Index both are together in the one section and the description shrunk to :
HOWLERS. Nd.
A. Small (40)
B. Large (16)
Then, in our updated version, it is further reduced, to a one line entry, with the sizes abbreviated to “Sm.” and “Lg.”
Parkhurst [trade : O/S : Canada] “Cars” (1959) 61/64
now we close with our first Centenary card of 2024, for today in 1924 saw the first Chrysler, the B-70, attracting much attention at the New York Motor Show., The back tells us that the wheels were made out of wood, and that it had hydraulic brakes on each wheel. Also it says the cost, for a Sedan, was $1,825
Now there really was a Mr, Chrysler, his forenames were Walter Percy, and he was born in Kansas in April 1875. However he did not found the Chrysler Corporation until 1925, when this car was simply the model at the motor show that had attracted so much praise but had not yet gone into any form of mass production. All he knew was that it was going to be a quality vehicle, rather than one that was just churned out to put as many of them on the road as he could.
By the way, the "70" in its name was not just a code, it was the top speed that ought to be attained under optimum driving conditions.
Also this card only quotes the cost of the Sedan, but there were other versions - nine in all, starting with the coupe, at just under twelve hundred dollars, and going all the way up to the town car at three thousand seven hundred dollars.
Compare this to the cost of a Model T Ford, which, in 1924, was just two hundred and ninety dollars.
Now do note that the text immediately below the English title on the reverse of this card starts with a rather glaring error, leaving the “r” out of Chrysler - though, oddly, it is correct in the French version below. The fact that this back is bi-lingual, in French and English, is what led to me towards Canada.
I then discovered that the full name was Parkhurst Products, and they were based in Toronto. They started issuing trading cards in 1951, specialising in ice hockey, though do look out for their much sought after wrestling set.
Now unfortunately though they were in business for over a decade they had a problem, for they did not have the rights to all the hockey teams - for most of the years they were issuing, their sets could only feature the Montreal Canadians and the Toronto Maple Leafs, though some years they managed to get a bit more of the action by adding cards of the Detroit Red Wings. In the early 1950s these were the top teams, but in later years other teams came along and there was no representation, and that made their cards less interesting for the collector. Eventually they were bought out by Topps, though today the name is back on packets, being used by Upper Deck - and for ice hockey cards.
Now this set is a bit of a scarcity, though I did have a bit more luck when I discovered some on eBay being listed as "Old Time Cars". This also gave a date of 1959. That let me add the number that made up a set, sixty-four cards, though I have yet to find a checklist.
I do know that they are neither in date nor alphabetical order, as card 1 is the 1905 Rambler by Thomas B. Jeffrey & Co. and card 64 the 1908 Tourist by Auto Vehicle Co. of Los Angeles.
Oh, and now I do have a checklist, of a sort, courtesy of PSACards.com
This week's Cards of the Day...
Saturday, 23rd December 2023
So this was a bit of a teaser, but it relates to the first ever goal scored in a World Cup, and the first to be put in the goal under snowy conditions, which is even odder as the match was in July - July 13th 1930. However it was being played in Montevideo, in Uruguay. The scorer was Lucien Laurent, of France, who had been born in December 1907. He had also been on the squad for the French football team who competed at the Olympic Games in 1928, but he did not get a chance to play.
It seems that his first team was Cercle Athletique de Paris, who he joined in 1921, but they were a good team, very professional without being actually so. They were also quite an old team, being founded in 1896.
He left them in 1930 and joined the team on this card, Sochaux, which is now known as FC Sochaux-Montbeliard, Montbeliard being the region of France where it is sited And at that time it was actually the works football team for the car manufacturer Peugeot - where he also worked
Now this is quite an unusual card, and probably not the back you expected to see, because this in a different language to the usual cards you come across, but also it is in a completely different format, you can see that at the Football Cartophilic Exchange /EVF76. Also on that page you can see the album, which is the same basic design but translated to Yugoslavian.
If you look at the usual album you will find out something else, and that is that Yugoslavia is not a country which appears on the inner back page where all the variant versions are listed, these being Italy, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, nor on the back cover where Denmark is added as well.
Sunday, 24th December 2023
This card brings us to a sport that was a way of life to these people, ice fishing. They would cut a hole in the ice and sit there hoping to entice their dinner before they were frozen and their clothes wet through from being so close to the ice, and if they did not manage to catch anything they would go hungry.
Ice fishing today is big business, and none of the above is relevant. These days someone cuts a hole, usually by mechanical means, and then they drag what is often a small house over it with a snowmobile. These houses are heated, and watertight, and they have proper places to sit and fish, plus, often, toilets, ovens, beds, and access to the internet so that if the fishers get bored they can play computer games or watch television. Some of them even have a system where the fishing equipment is automated to ring an alarm if a fish throws itself on the hook.
Such a simple little card, or so it appears in our original British Trade Index part III. In actual fact the majority of the Hitchman`s sets are listed in part II, nine of them, but this one is not there, and that is because it was listed later.
Part III catalogues it as just "People & Places. 68 x 37. Nd. (25). See Db.348". Now a Db reference sends you to the rear of the book and it invariably means it was issued by another company as well.
That turns out to be Clover Dairies, but at the moment I am not sure of the date that version was issued, as it varies from 1970-1972. They started in Grimsby in the early 1920s, and had several branches in the north down as far as Lincolnshire, plus ones in Gloucestershire, Kent, and Wandsworth in London. They were bought out by Northern Dairies in the late 1970s.
Then I opened the modern version of the British Trade Index - and the fun began. That catalogued it in much the same way, but the handbook code at the end was HX.26. And that revealed that this set was very widely issued indeed - starting in 1964 and finishing with Clover and Hitchman`s Dairies. That means that during the week I will return to the earlier index and find more info on the others, which are :
- Askey`s (biscuits, 1971)
- Badshah Tea Co. (tea, 1970)
- Barratt & Co. (sweets, 1965)
- Browne Bros(tea, 1965)
- Clover Dairies Ltd. (milk, 1972)
- Gowers & Burgons (tea, 1970)
- Hitchman`s Dairies (milk, 1971)
- F. Lambert & Sons (tea, 1964)
- Ringtons Ltd. (tea, 1964)
- Wilcocks & Wilcocks Ltd. (tea, 1966)
That gives us lots of scope for future cards, all of which will be linked in.
Monday, 25th December 2023
Who says baseball is no fun?
How could I resist this today, for it is a sport, converted to winter, and not just that, but to Christmas. Yet underneath it all is the same card that appears as number 25 of Topps "Baseball 2023".
What you may not know is that in fact there are two versions of our card - the easiest one to acquire just adds white snowy dots, and on it he retains his black baseball cap. However on our, rarer, card, he gains a Santa Claus hat and a candy cane.
You can see the two together, plus all the other variant cards which were issued for this series - and some other players have more than one as well - at BeckettCards/THB23-vars.
And a checklist of the entire Holiday version base cards can be seen at Beckett Cards/THB23
Tuesday, 26th December 2023
So here we have the sport of shovel racing, which I would imagine often ends in a lot of pain and chafing. However the back of the card intrigued me, for it states that it is deemed too risky for the Winter X Games though it was once a part of them.
After looking it up I found that it all started as a bit of fun in a place called Angel Fire in New Mexico, and indeed it was featured in the 1997 Winter X Games, but most places say it was removed due to it not being athletic enough not through anything dangerous.
However it kept on growing in favour back home in New Mexico.
Then in 2005 it was suddenly decided that it would not take place because of the fear of the organisers being involved in costly legal action if anything went wrong. This seems to have been caused by certain riders turning up with the equivalent of "souped up, hot-rod, shovels", that could reach 70 mph.
The event was not held for five years, but then it restarted, under new rules that banned all kinds of modifications. I would love to know how you modified a shovel, you could hardly fit an engine to the stick, could you?
Anyway I am sure I will have fun finding out ....
And if you want to look at the other "athletic endeavours, you can see the rest of the set at the Trading Card Database/ToppsAE.
Now this is a set of just ten cards, but it has a curious connection to Panini, who issued a set called "Artistic Endeavors" in 2022 as part of their "Court KIngs" set of basketball cards. These were brightly coloured and often contained relics, pieces of officially game-worn kit.
Wednesday, 27th December 2023
So this was a bit of a trick card, being not the John Player set issued in this country, but the Wills version issued overseas.
The differences are that the issuer`s name changes, but stays in the same position - and that the John Player version has the title and number on the front of the card. And you can see the John Player version of this card for yourself online, courtesy of the George Arents Collection at the New York Public Library
The odd thing is that the Player was issued almost a decade before, in 1904.
In our original Wills reference book part III our version is listed as :
54. 50. BRITISH EMPIRE SERIES. Fronts lithographed in colour ; backs in brown with descriptive text. Australian issues, about 1913.
A. With "Capstan" advertisement on backs.
B. With "Havelock" advertisement on backs.
C. With "Vice Regal" advertisement on backs.
D. No brand advertised (anonymous issue)Similar series issued by Player - none of the varieties known in the Player issue have so far been recorded in the above issues, Plain backed cards are known, but it is not clear whether these are printer`s material or part of a regular issue.
Now according to the records of the British American Tobacco these sets were issued in a rather odd way, for in April 1912 the set appeared in packets of "Capstan" and "Havelock" - but then in May 1912 it lists that this set was issued in packets of "Capstan" and "Vice Regal". It could be that the "Capstan" set was reprinted, but there are no variations reported so either they ran out of stock or they just decided keep it going a bit longer and changing nothing. Or this second date could be a mistake in the records, a simple double entry, when someone looked quickly and only saw the "Havelock" recorded with the first date rather than taking their time and reading the whole line. Sadly we will almost certainly never find out now.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, quite a while after these original Wills books were published, the set is recorded as :
BRITISH EMPIRE SERIES. Sm. Nd. (50). See W/54.
A. "Capstan" back.
B. "Havelock" back. Brand issue.
C. "Vice Regal" back.
I am not sure why only the "Havelock" is listed here as a brand issue, for surely all three are? And as for D, the anonymous issue, well that is missing from this listing - you will have to search for that at the back of the book, coded as ZA3-4 - "BRITISH EMPIRE SERIES. Sm. Nd. (50). See W/54.D"
This text is repeated in our updated volume, including the original Wills code; and the anonymous is still at the back, as ZA03-200.
Thursday, 28th December 2023
Whilst tobogganning is not an unusual sport, this is certainly an unusual costume! I do have a little feeling that things are about to take a turn for the worse though...
Now Soapine was just one of the brands used by the Kendall Manufacturing Co of Providence, Rhode Island, which was founded in 1827. And they also made laundry equipment for home and commercial use.
One of their most famous advertising pictures shows a whale being washed to white. And they proudly proclaimed Soapine "The Dirt Killer", promising that it "Will not injure hands or fabric" - that it "Makes hard water soft" - and that it was of use to "Miners, metal workers, machine shops and factories. It is better than soap!"
This statement sent me hunting, for if it was better than soap it could not be soap. I found the answer, kind of, at Laurel Cottage Genealogy - and this is a great site, which also gives details of the lithographer, and shows another variant of this card with a red overprint. And there are lots of links there to follow.
Friday, 29th December 2023
This is a Toboggan Cycle Race, and the description tells us that it is “a novel form of sport enjoyed by some of the more adventurous spirits at Murren, one of the newer Swiss winter resorts.” It goes on to say that “… the feet of the rider serve as brakes, and aid in steering.”
We have discovered that the first hotel was built in 1857 but it was not very accessible from far away, indeed the only way in was by foot or by mule. Then in 1891 a mountain railway was built. It is recorded that the first British tourists arrived in 1911. However it took until 1924, a decade after this card first popped up in the packet, for the first ski club to be set up.
Murren has another claim to fame, because its revolving restaurant featured in a James Bond film.
And today it is completely car free. So maybe this mode of transport is ripe for re-discovery?
This set first appears in our original Lambert and Butler reference book RB.9, published in 1948, where it is described as :
98. 25. WINTER SPORTS. Fronts printed by letterpress, 4-colour half-tone process. Backs in green, with descriptions. 1914
In our World Tobacco Issues Indexes it is simply described as “WINTER SPORTS. Sm. Nd. (25)
And so I must say good night. But I will be back again next year. Don`t all panic though, because this time next week it will be next year - and we will be setting out on another wild ride.
Don`t forget if there are any notable dates coming up in your collecting theme that we will happily feature them, and use one of your cards if you like.
By the way. Someone has suggested something I never thought of, and I think it could be interesting. This was to keep using different sets for the cards of the day, writing up their descriptions, and indexing them. Then, in the diary dates section of the newsletter, we could use relevant or unusual cards from series that we have used before, and link back to its main entry, which would be its Card of the Day appearance.
What do you think?
And whilst you are pondering, may I wish a Happy New Year to you all.....