Ooh. Friday! Must be time for a catch up then.... So this week has again been hectic, and I have selected of the cards very wisely, because I knew full well I may run out of time, for I had a few adventures to go on, and it is motor racing again.
The card index is now back to January 2022. About six months remain until every card of the day is waiting to be looked at with just a single click. And then I shall start on the newsletters!
At the moment I am stymied. The next card to do is 27 January 2022 and I hit a double with Wills Famous Inventions - Home issue (November 1915). The two subjects are Blackpool and hopefully trams, or the automatic "player" piano. Blackpool seems the most likely to find a second card of.
The only new or substitution card this week was :
-
The Conquest of Space (1957) - 1 March 2023 - https://csgb.co.uk/cardoftheday/2023-03-01
And so to this week, for which we have an interesting selection of events, which may be surmised as
fake gnashers, rashers?, an evergreen star, a winner, a spinner, and more than a spot of intrigue....
Ready to investigate? Well then lets go.....
#FalseTeethDay
Sunicrust [trade : bread : O/S : Australia] “Weg`s Footy Funnies” 15/40 – SU2-12
Wow, there are loads of Sunicrust issues in our Australian and New Zealand Reference Book. And this set has several printings, so you may get to see it again soon.
The description in that reference book is :
Wegs Footy Funnies. (A) (40) Four backs, subjects known in each indicated by letters in parentheses in listing.
A. Two single joined cards, 101 x 79. Unnd. Back headed “Free Footballs or Basketballs”, offer closing June 30th 1972
B. Back in grey-black, with series title and text. 79 x 50. Nd.
C. Plain back. 79 x 50. Unnd. See Anonymous Set ZJ9-30.
D. Back in grey-black, headed “Free Footballs or Basketballs”, offer closing June 30th 1972. 79 x 50. Unnd.
The list will get scanned in some time!
This does not explain the word "Weg", so I will. Ian Green was born in Victoria, Australia, in August 1923 – and he would become a leading illustrator and cartoonist, with a newspaper cartoon "Weg`s Day" running for almost forty years. He also held the honour of drawing pretty much all the Australian Football League posters from the mid 1950s until his death in December 2008.
Remember I said "Ian"? Well he hated that and so he changed it, legally, to William Ellis Green.
#NationalPackYourLunchDay
Barratt & Co. [trade : confectionery : UK] “The Secret Service” (1970) 33/50 – BAR-670 : BAR-128
So here we have a card that will have many of you jumping up and down with glee, for this is one of those fantastic animated television series that was created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.
The plot of this one is not quite as futuristic as the others, it briefly follows a vicar, and his long suffering gardener. There is an in-joke regarding a Bishop, which seems normal - until you learn the secret, that being B.I.S.H.O.P. is not a man, but a network of secret agents, fighting crime and terrorism - and it stands for "British Intelligence Service HQ."
Then there is a really cool plot device, because they have a machine which can shrink people, hence our picture of a [shrunken] man with what to a normal person would be a standard sized sandwich.
Lastly, the vicar is called Stanley Unwin, and that is another in joke, because he was voiced by the South African actor of the same name.
Sadly only thirteen episodes were ever made. But we do have this set as permanent reminder of it.
The set is described in our British Trade Index Part II as :
The Secret Service. 65 x 55. Nd. (50)
The only difference to this in our updated volume is that the date is inserted between the title and the measurements.
#JessieMatthews
Godfrey Phillips [tobacco : UK] “Beauties of To-day” sixth series 13/36 – P521-412.6 : P50-93.6
Happy Birthday to Jessie Margaret Matthews, born today in 1907. She rose to such stardom, yet she was born above a butcher`s shop in Soho, the seventh of sixteen children, five of whom would not survive to reach maturity. Or is it that pur early struggles and deprivations serve to make us all the more determined to rise up to the heights?
Her escape was dancing lessons, in a room above a public house. She loved it, and it showed. She could not wait to get on the stage. She was twelve when she did, at the Metropolitan Music Hall in Edgware Road.
In the early 1920s she set her sights on movies. Her debut came in 1923. She then returned to the theatre, to the West End no less. She was in the chorus, but fate reached down and grasped her hand when she was chosen to go to New York, and again when she was given the role of understudy to Gertrude Lawrence, and again when Ms. Lawrence fell ill. Thrust into the spotlight, Jessie Matthews became a star.
She was married three times. Her first time was at the age of eighteen, to an actor one year older, They had met at the theatre. They split up not too long after and were divorced in 1930. She consoled herself with several beaus, chiefly one of her co-stars Sonnie Hale. His wife was not happy, and letters from the burgeoning relationship were read out in court during her divorce. In 1931, divorce, and rather scandalous newspaper reports aside, the two were wed. She was pregnant but the child was premature and did not survive. Many, probably rightly, blamed stress. They adopted a daughter, but divorced in 1944, and the next year she was again getting married. This time was to a young Army officer. She was again pregnant, but this time the child was lost before they could be born. They stayed together, but divorced in 1956, though, through all kinds of misunderstandings, they were technically still married until 1980.
She died in 1981.
I may not have time to describe this set tonight, but according to the World Tobacco Issues Index there are a lot of cards with this title, four series of small sized cards variously in colour and black and white, two series of large black and white cards, and seven series of extra large black and white cards.
For now I will confine myself to our set, which are described in the original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
BEAUTIES OF TO-DAY. Extra-Lg. Black and white photos
6. “Sixth Series”. Nd. (36)
In the updated version of the World Tobacco Issues Index there has been a slight change for “B&W” appears after the listing. This is because all the other sets have been altered to say they are brown.
#Barbara Feldon
Topps /T.C.G. [trade : gum : O/S : USA] “Get Smart Quiz” (1966) 23/66
Our featured star is another birthday girl, she was born today in 1933. She was born Barbara Anne Hall, in Pittsburgh, and she will always be known as Agent 99, her role in the frenetic nineteen-sixties and seventies series "Get Smart" which tapped into the current craze for spying, secret agents, and conspiracy theories, but gave it a whole new experience.
However she perhaps ought to also be known for winning the top prize on the American game show "The $64,000 Question" in 1957. Her specialist subject was William Shakespeare
After this she made a number of appearances on tv shows, though she had previously been in the industry, as a model. "Get Smart" was her big break - but not without difficulty. For one thing she was taller than her leading man, Don Adams. This seems inconsequential, but it was not so at the time. However the writers thought that it might actually make the show all the funnier.
After the show ended, she was involved with the 1989, 1995, and 2006 reboots. However she did not appear in the 2008 big screen feature film. Her part was played by Anne Hathaway.
The pictures on these cards show stills from the television series. They were issued in pairs, perforated in between, so if you look at our card you can see them on one edge. The reverse also has a secre because you had to rub it with a coin to reveal the answer to the question it posed.
Does anyone want to have a stab at answering this one? Or do they have a card which has been answered?
#HarvardCollege
American Tobacco Co. `Murad`brand [tobacco : O/S : USA] “College Series” Cabinet size 8/25 – A565-875 : A54-143 : USA/T.6
As to why we have this card, well today in 1639 "Harvard" College was so named.
It was called after John Harvard, a Puritan New England clergyman, who had only been in America for two years when he died, of tuberculosis.
However in that time he had been much impressed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in whch he found himself, especially in respect of their desire to found a seat of learning, a great educational establishment which would be high above all to come.
So as he lay dying he asked that the school should get half of all the moneys he had. That was $780, or almost £129,000.
He also left them his library, which remains there to this day.
These are larger than the standard issues, and were premiums, available in exchange for coupons.
They have a section all their own under American Tobacco Group Issues in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes, as “Premium Non-Insert Cards”. It is section 7 in the original volume and section 9 in the updated one.
Our set is listed in that original volume as :
COLLEGE SERIES. Size 203 x 127. Nd. (25). Inscribed “Murad Picture Dept”. Back with card number in (a) serif (b) sans serif type. Ref. USA/T.6
In the updated version of that book the description is slightly different, namely :
COLLEGE SERIES. Size 203 x 127. Nd. (25). Inscribed “Murad Picture Dept”. Back with card number in (a) serif (b) sans serif type, with differences of detail. Ref. USA/T.6
You can read about those details at PreWarCards/College
#SaveASpiderDay
Brooke Bond Oxo Ltd [trade : tea : UK] “Incredible Creatures” – P.O. Box 85 (1985) 30/40 – BRM-50.A.a.B
So you may be wondering how you save a spider and why?
Well it really means that if you see a spider bustling about on its day to day chores and wonders, that you let it gently pass. Or if you find one in deep water that you allow it to climb aboard your finger, or a leaf, and blow upon it until it is dried and restored.
As to what spiders do in exchange, well they Spiders eat insects that may bring us harm - like flies, and moths, and earwigs. Though this sounds cruel to those insects, who surely have an equal right to life.
This set is described in our British Trade Index Part II as :
Incredible Creatures. Nd. (40) Issued 1985.
A. Back in brown. Last line of address at base (a) Walton on Thames, Surrey…” (b) Sheen Lane, London.” Also available in joined pairs.
B. Back in green, address at base “Dublin, 18”
Now this is corrected in our British Trade Index Part IV, because it had been discovered that :
There are two editions of the `Walton on Thames`issue, with last line of text
A. “P.O.Box 86, Walton on Thames, Surrey, KT11 1AB”
B. “Walton on Thames Surrey KT12 1AB”
#GeorgeBrent
International Tobacco Co.`Summit` brand [tobacco : UK] “Screen Lovers” 10/48 – I635-850 : I/18-11
Today was born George Brendan Nolan.
And here he is, as Hollywood star George Brent, the favourite leading man of Bette Davis. In fact it is said that he asked to marry her, but she turned him down.
In between are many mysteries. We know he was born in County Galway, Ireland in 1904 and that when he was eleven years old he went with his younger sister, to New York. Some say that their mother was already there, having left her husband behind. Others say the two children went alone because their parents were dead.
When he was seventeen he turns up back in Ireland. This was in 1921, the height of the fighting in the Irish War of Independence. It is hard to find out how involved he was but we know he was something in the Irish Republican Army, and that he was in the company of Michael Collins, to whom he had more than a passing resemblance.
The Black and Tans knew all of that too, despite his cover story, that he was an actor, at the Abbey Theatre - which would not too much later stage three rather controversial (to the British) works by Sean O`Casey, "The Shadow of a Gunman" in 1923, "Juno and the Paycock" in 1924, and "The Plough and The Stars" in 1926.
Whatever he did, he left Ireland in haste, with a reward chasing him, offered by the British forces.
He next appears in Canada, in 1921, as a theatrical actor, including a stint on Broadway. Whether this was just playing along with the cover story we will never know. However he was good, and popular with the ladies in the audience and it was inevitable that he would turn to motion pictures. His first film was "Under Suspicion" (1930) a convoluted tale about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a case of mistaken identity. However he found himself in demand on and off screen, with four marriages, including to leading stars Ann Sheridan, Ruth Chatterton and Constance Worth, and several romances, none of which unfortunately, were very successful.
During the Second World War he applied to be a pilot but was rejected due to his age. Instead they allowed him to become a flight instructor on the Civilian Pilot Training Program.
After the war he decided to marry again and this was one of his longest relationships, lasting from 1947 until 1974. It also brought him fatherhood, of two children.
In the 1950s he moved into television, mostly odd episodes of long running hits, but eventually he decided to do something more interesting, and he retired setting up a farm which was fairly successful in breeding race horses.
He also married again, outside the industry, but sadly died just six months later, aged 75.
We seem to believe that this company was founded “about 1919”, though it did not issue cards until 1930, these being a set of twenty-eight dominoes with red borders and rounded corners (which are branded for “Summit” as well) and a set of proper cards called “International Code of Signals”
Now you may be already noticing a similarity to Gallaher cards here, and that would be because in 1934 the home business of the International Tobacco Company was sold to them.
After that, Gallaher used their name for export issues, and slightly changed it to “International Tobacco (Overseas) Ltd.”
Two sets of cards were issued during that stage of their life, “Film Favourites” and “Gentlemen! The King”, which is one of those mixture series where there are large and small cards in the same set. The purpose, of course, was to make for a more interesting looking album. Today, luckily, issuers have realised that it is easier on modern modes of storage if they make all the cards the same size but only show half, or a quarter, of the image on some of them which are then butted together in the album to make a larger picture.
Our set is very intriguing though, because it was never issued.
It was planned to be, in 1939/40, but the Second World War stopped it. Perhaps this was due to restrictions on paper, staff shortages, or a bombing raid? I will try to find out.
Now the cards carry no mention of being reprints, so this leads me to suspect that they were all printed, but just held back. Perhaps they languished in an office somewhere, and were then discovered and disposed of as a bulk lot to a collector or dealer? Does anyone know?
They appear in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes as :
3. MISCELLANEOUS. Series prepared for issue about 1939-40, not issued.
SCREEN LOVERS. Sm. 63 x 37. Nd. (48) “Summit” brand issue.
This week's Cards of the Day...
...with much assistance from Mr. John Levitt, we have been marking the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. And discovering some really unusual cards.
In fact, there is so much scope to this subject that we could have made it last a fortnight.
Now I realise that there is some controversy over the original Society and that some of the people involved had links to slavery, but the current R.N.L.I. are working hard to eliminate Modern Slavery and human trafficking, something which still causes many of their launchings, especially in the English Channel. And many, many, lives are still sadly being lost through this.
So our first card was this one :
Saturday, 2nd March 2024
The clue here was the player`s surname, Douglas. For it is in Douglas, on the Isle of Man, that the R.N.L.I. were founded, and that they continue to maintain their head office - at Douglas Lifeboat House, on the South Quay. It was also one of the first thirty-one areas of the British Isles to actually be chosen to have a lifeboat, and one arrived there in 1802.
That first lifeboat station had a bit of a chequered career and closed in the early 1850s, however it did reopen about twenty years after, in 1868. However in 1874 a second station was built nearby, and this superseded the first base, which was closed forever in 1895.
Douglas was also the home of the founder of the R.N.L.I., Sir William Hillary. He was a retired solicitor, who had the idea of what he called "A National Institution for the Preservation of Lives and Property from Shipwreck" in 1823, and went as far as publishing a little booklet about how it would work, which he sent to anyone he thought would listen. This included the British Navy and Parliament, who were totally uninterested. It was only when other people came on board, including a few Members of Parliament, and a public meeting was staged, that the idea gained ground. Shortly after that the King (George IV) agreed to be the patron, and the current Prime Minister, Robert Banks Jenkinson (whose only cartophilic connection appears to be card 14 of Carreras "British Prime Ministers") agreed to be President.
And in 1854 the society changed its name to The Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
However what I have just found out is that Sir William Hilliary himself actually helped to save over three hundred people from drowning, because he was one of the Douglas lifeboat crew.
He also came up with the idea of giving medals to crews who had performed rescues at sea, and we also know that Grace Darling was the first female recipient of this medal. Hers was actually sold, at Sotheby’s in November 1999, for £38,000 - and again in 2018 - but I cannot track down where it is now. However I did find that her father`s medal is owned by the R.N.L.I.
This is a complex set, there are different backs, and some of the cards were issued in two sizes - small (or miniature), measuring 45 x 35 m/m and large (measuring 83 x 58-60 m/m.
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index lists this group together as :
FOOTBALLERS (A). Min. Skipped numbers in most printings. P50-45
1. Back 1 - "Oval" design.
A. Back in brown (112)
B. Back in black (400)
2. Back 2 - "Double-lined Oblong", address (?517)
3. Back 3 - "Single-lined Oblong", address "Photo" (?1109)
4. Back 4 - "Single-lined Oblong", address "Pinnace" Photos.
A. Front with name at top, team at base (?2463)
B. Front with name at base. Partly with gummed label on back with name of team. Selected numbers, mostly over 1000
C. Team at top, name at base. Nos. 1416-1533 seen (117)FOOTBALLERS (A). Lg. Selected numbers only issued. P50-46
1. Back style 1, in black
2. Back with "Double-lined Oblong", address "Photo" or "Pinnace" Photos
3. Back with "Single-lined Oblong"
It is a bit differently described in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, as :
FOOTBALLERS (A). Min. Skipped numbers in most printings. No.2462 highest known. The series was issued over a number of years, and many variations and team changes occur, although each player retained one number regardless of printing.
A. Miniature size.
1. Back 1 - "Oval" design.
A. Back in brown (112) B. Back in black (400)
2. Back 2 - "Double-lined Oblong", address. Skipped nos to 517 (389)
3. Back 3 - "Single-lined Oblong", address "Photo". Skipped nos to 1109 (905)
4. Back 4 - "Single-lined Oblong", address "Pinnace" Photos. (?2462). Normally cards have player`s name at base and team at top, but most numbers 1416/1533 are the reverse. Many numbers have players name only at base, and can be found with team name on gummed slip pasted to back. Skipped Nos. to 2462 (2349)B. Large size. All believed to be skipped numbers.
1. Back 1 - "Oval" design, in black (?514)
2. Back with "Double-lined Oblong", address "Photo" (?852)
3. Back with "Double-lined Oblong", address "Pinnace" Photos. (?2461). Some with player`s name only at base, or player`s name and team reversed.
Sunday, 3rd March 2024
The clue here was Bamburgh, the location of the castle, and also of the R.N.L.I.`s Grace Darling Museum.
Grace Horsley Darling was born in Bamburgh on the 24th of November 1815. Her father was a lighthouse keeper at the Longstone Lighthouse, sited on the Farne Islands just off the coast of Northumberland). In 1838, aged just twenty-two, she became famous for rowing out with her father and managing to rescue nine survivors from the wreck of the Forfarshire in 1838.
Sadly in October 1842, she died, of tuberculosis, aged just twenty-six and she was buried in the local Church of St Aidan.
There is another fact about Bamburgh, and that is that in the 1750s it was decided to make the ruin of its abandoned castle into a landmark for sailors to spot at sea. In addition, it was also to be used to safely store flotsam and jetsam that arrived on the beaches after a wreck, until it could be properly returned or disposed of, rather than allowing the general public to remove it.
Six years later it is recorded that in Bamburgh funds were made available for a complement of two men to be permanently on watch to row out during storms and assist in the rescue of any vessel that was in distress or wrecked, bringing survivors to the castle and allowing them to stay, with support of food, clothing, etc, for the period of one week.
This was the first ever lifeboat service. And in 1789 a proper lifeboat was commissioned from the patentee. But more about that, and him, later..
Now this particular set does not appear in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, for it was issued after that was published.
And it has but a scant description in our updated version, of :
CASTLES OF BRITAIN. Sm. Nd. (25)
However the header does tell us that all the sets were printed for issue in Mauritius, which is why many of the sets have the text and titling in French.
Monday, 4th March 2024
This was not too much of a teaser, for it showed a lifeboat in action, fighting its way through inclement weather and choppy seas. It is a most atmospheric card.
And it was chosen so that the day of the two hundredth anniversary we did celebrate with a card of a lifeboat.
But it was not identified as so on the front of the card, unlike all the others we have found, and so it got the nod.
We do not know whose brush, or pen drew this really atmospheric work, it is not recorded anywhere. Maybe you know, and if so do tell us, please.
This set was one of a small group of seven series issued between 1922 and 1927.
It is catalogued in both our original World Tobacco Issues Indexes as :
SHIPS OF THE WORLD. Sm. 66 x 35. Nd. (50)
Tuesday, 5th March 2024
This was the card that we were going to have yesterday, until I saw it gave the game away in the top left-hand corner.
The text on the reverse tells us that “In 1785 a patent for a Life-boat was granted, and Greathead launched his first Lifeboat in 1790.” It also tells us that “The Royal National Lifeboat Institution started its great service in 1824”.
This set, like several other Sarony issues, was issued in a medium version and a small one. The pair appear in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
SHIPS OF ALL AGES. Nd. (50)
A. Small, 63 x 37
B. Medium, 76 x 52.
It is much the same in our updated version, except it is further reduced to a two line inscription, the title as line one and the two sizes as line two, shown as simply “Sm.” and “Md.”
Wednesday, 6th March 2024
This is an earlier card, and it looks older too, but the reason it did not come along yesterday is that this card starts with a later date, telling us “The first English lifeboat was built in 1789 by George Greathead” – whereas yesterday’s card started with the patent thereof in 1785.
The text also tells us that “… there are two main types, the self-righting, and the non self-righting. Both types are fitted with 10 to 16 oars, and with sails.”
Now this is picture is obviously of an actual lifeboat, and perhaps of two of its gallant crew, yet there is sadly no mention of location. Perhaps there was on the placard by the front wheel, but it is quite unreadable. Maybe someone has seen the picture before though, on a postcard, or in a book?
Of course the lifeboat shown here did not go to sea with those wheels, they are simply the cart which manoeuvres the boat on land.
This set appears first in our original Wills reference booklets, as :
326. 50. SHIPS AND SHIPPING. Size 66 x 37 m/m. Fronts : Glossy photoprints in black and white. Backs in black, with descriptive text. Export issues, 1928 :-
A. New Zealand issue. Wills` name at base of backs.
B. General Overseas issue. Anonymous backs.
In our reference booklet, to British American Tobacco, though it appears only in the front index, we learn that the second, Anonymous, “General Overseas issue” was sent to Malta.
Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes both catalogue it as
SHIPS AND SHIPPING. Sm. Black and white photos. Nd. (50). See W/326.A
Thursday, 7th March 2024
I had never seen this set before, and it is a real beauty. It also contains a bit of a puzzle, because if you look at the woven badge the initials on there are R.N.L.B.I. and I have not come across that elsewhere whilst researching of the story of the R.N.L.I.
The text here tells us that this is a Coxswain`s badge, but nothing about the first lifeboats, hence it is placed in third; it starts instead with the fact that “This Institution was founded in 1824, when it was known as the National Lifeboat Institution, the title of Royal being added in 1898.”
Now this set was issued in the final years before Hignett was merged in with Ogdens Ltd.
Our World Tobacco Issues Indexes both catalogue it as :
SHIPS FLAGS & CAP BADGES. Sm. Nd. See RB.21/217-178.C.
1. “A Series of 25”
2. “2nd Series of 25”
That RB.21 reference is intriguing though, because it leads to the British American Tobacco reference book, so it means the set was also issued overseas. And the text in there reads :
217-178. SHIPS FLAGS & CAP BADGES. The series was issued as follows :-
A. Player Overseas Issue. Series of 50.
B. Anonymous Issue, with letterpress on back (1) “A Series of 25,” (2) “2nd Series of 25”.
C. Hignett Home Issue (1) “A Series of 25,” (2) “2nd Series of 25”.
The front index adds that the John Player version was issued in 1930 in New Zealand, whilst the anonymous one was issued through B.A.T. in the same year, but that whilst the first series went to Malaya and the Channel Islands, the second was not, that was only sent to the Channel Islands.
However, the crucial name here is John Player, who have one of the original reference books devoted to their cards. And in there we find a proper description of what is our set, just with a different issuer`s details, which is :
178. SHIPS FLAGS & CAP BADGES. Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text; two grades of board : a) white, b) cream. Overseas issue, about 1930. Similar series issued by Hignett.
Friday, 8th March 2024
There is a huge selection of Lever Bros cards listed in the updated version of our British Trade Index, but these include cards from several brands including "Lux", "Monkey Brand", "Plantol", “Sunlight” and "Vim". However I have found our card amongst them, catalogued as part of a group of sixteen ADVERTISEMENT CARDS (A). Inscribed "Lifebuoy Soap. The entry reads :
10. 151 x 111 (H). Man in orange, right base, finds lifebuoy in sea with pack of `Lifebuoy Soap.`
Other allied items :
Now there are two interesting, and very relevant items which I have added here to work on later.
R.N.L.I. Issues :
Now these cards were actually issued by the R.N.L.I. themselves for promotion and maybe for fundraising :
-
“Lifeboats” – RQG-1 – this is a black and white set of sixteen medium cards, from photos by Poppyland Photographs, issued in 1979.
-
“Lifeboats” – not listed in our Trade Indexes - but this is a colour set of six large cards, issued in 2002
Ogden "The Story of the Lifeboat" :
This second addition is even more fascinating, because it is a set that we may never have seen of it were not for the fact that it was reproduced.
Now originally it was thought to have been planned to be issued in the 1950s but Mr. John Levitt thinks it was earlier, in the 1940s.
There are a few people included with whom we can date the set. One is Patrick Sliney of Ballycotton, who was awarded the RNLI Gold Medal for Gallantry for a rescue of eight men from the Daunt Rock, in February 1936.
Another is Edward Drake Parker, and he could be the key, because he, with his two sons, took their lifeboats across to Dunkirk in May 1940 as one of the small boats which aided so spectacularly in the rescue of the allied troops. Now he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for this, but I have not been able to track down when.
Also, I have already spotted an error on the front title of card 49, which gives `Borham Wood` not `Borehamwood`as the location of the R.N.L.I. depot, and that makes me think this would not have passed back in the day.
The cards are listed as being “produced by a major printing company” and I am now informed by Mr. John Levitt that this was the Victoria Gallery.
It turns out that there are actually two versions; on one, the first to be issued in 1989, the top border of the front of the card, and the bottom of the reverse, both have Ogden`s name on it, as the originals would have had. On the other, issued in 2001, the top border says "THE STORY OF THE LIFEBOAT" whilst the base of the reverse has a picture panel at the base; there is no mention of Ogdens on this version.
These do not appear in our original World Tobacco Issues Index. However they are in the updated edition under O100-620 with a text that reads
THE STORY OF THE LIFEBOAT. Sm. (50). Reprints only studied.
They are also in the updated Ogden reference book RB.115 on page 327 under item 720 in Part 3 - Miscellaneous items. That refers to the set as an unissued series, but acknowledges that it was from those cards that a reprinted set was produced.
I have now seen a set of the cards, but not yet been on a position to take a scan. The set starts with a portrait of Lt. Col. Sir William Hillary BT. and when I have time I was going to add a list here - however Mr. John Levitt has found the set at the trading card database/Lifeboats. Now these are the cards that do say Ogdens on them and they are listed here as having been issued by Imperial Tobacco, not the Victoria Gallery. But if you enlarge a back it does state "Authorised Reproduction by Victoria Gallery 1989 Imperial Tobacco Ltd."
Right that`s it. Any omissions will appear over the weekend. Hope you enjoyed it, learned something, had a chuckle, and will go and do some of your own research.
If you do any of these things, do tell your friends to come along and read it too. And we look forward to seeing you all next week!