This newsletter is almost completed.
Yet it remains a strange one, speaking both of sadness, and of delight, almost within the same breath. Such, I have learned, is life. Peaks and troughs, laughter and tears, an end and a beginning.
If you tune in to our site every day or so, you will have hopefully already spotted our tribute banner to one of the great names of cartophily, Mr. Martin Murray, who passed away peacefully a few days ago. Many of us knew him personally and were proud to call him friend, some only knew him because they attended his fairs or auctions, and perhaps did not take the time to get to know him better, and a few perhaps only remember of his name on his own annual sales catalogues, of which there were fifty-one, and the reference books that he researched so diligently for us.
I would also like to share these words, from our President, Mr. Davis :
I am sorry to have to advise you of the death of Martin Murray on 4th June. His health did not allow him to attend this year’s convention in Salisbury (he was hospitalised at the time) and although he did actually return home for a while even Martin could not delay the inevitable!
Many of you will remember him as a friend & colleague and his love of all things Cartophilic and if there are any members with personal memories of him that you would like to share with others, please forward them to the Editor for inclusion in the next Card World magazine (deadline 20th June). These memories will (subject to available space) be included with other tributes in the magazine.
David Davis, President CSGB
This week the newsletter will again be serialised, and appear in spare moments, in between the chaos of my life - a chaos, which, I have to add, is all my fault. Though, in my defence, our mind plays tricks on us - when we have a dog for thirteen years, we completely forget what it was like to have a puppy.
So here we go - on a new adventure.
This week, so far, at least, may I present to you the story of : a climbing catastrophe, a wonderful waterfowl, a curious clock, a fine flag, a charming capital, a Finnish flyer, and a corner centenary. Or at least I will have done by Monday!
Societe Generale des Cooperatives de Consommation [trade : ? : O/S - France - Paris] "Les Voyages Interplanetaires" (19??) 12/
So we start our journey with a Centenary card, because today in 1924 On June 8, 1924, a climber called Noel Odell watched two men on the summit ridge of Everest, nearly at the top, and then a cloud descended to cover them from his view.
The two men were George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, but they were never to be seen alive again. Mallory`s body was found, but not until 1999. Irvine`s is still missing, though there is a theory that it was found, just not declared. He also had a camera with him, which, if it was still on the body, could provide the only proof as to whether they died before, or after, they had reached the summit.
Now this card shows Everest, but what I would really like is the group shot from John Player`s "Mount Everest" which was issued in 1924. It is card 1 of 20, and it shows Mallory, Irvine, and Odell plus their fellow climbers. So if anyone has this and would like to scan front and back we would be most grateful.
In our reference book to John Player, (RB.17, published in 1950) this is described as : 132. MOUNT EVEREST. Large cards. Fronts in sepia. Backs in blue, with descriptive text. Home issue, June 1925. It seems to go quite unnoticed though, perhaps because it lacks any mention of "climb" or "exploration" in the title - or was this removed when the climb proved no cause for celebration. Look at the date of issue, too, and wonder just how many people were still hoping some trace would be found.
There are few cards of this expedition. In fact the only one I know of is card 46 of Alexander Boguslavsky`s "Sports Records" second series. These are the original The front just says "Mountain Climbing" but the back says "In the annals of highest mountain climbing the first ascent of Mount Everest (26,780 feet) was made without oxygen, by Major Morshead, Messrs. Mallory and Somervill, and Major Norton"
Anglo Confectionery Ltd [trade : confectionery : UK - Halifax] "Walt Disney Characters" (1970) 41/78 - ANG-420 : ANF-18
Today is National Donald Duck Day. As to why, well he made his screen debut on this day in 1934, in a film called "The Wise Little Hen", dancing the hornpipe. However the day was not an official day until fifty years later, in 1984, when the Mayor of Los Angeles made it so.
This year Donald, or to give his full name, Donald Fauntleroy Duck, will be ninety, and he still looks sprightly in his sailor suit and jaunty naval hat. That`s the thing with cartoons.
Now "The Wise Little Hen" is that old old story, otherwise known as "The LIttle Red Hen". This seems to have a lot of people claiming to be its author, it is said to have been first collected by a Mary Mapes Dodge for St. Nicholas Magazine in 1874, but collecting just means bringing together not writing. On another site I have found that reportedly Ms. Dodge`s mother used to tell it to her, and she remembered it from somewhere, also proof of earlier origins
Briefly, a hen and her chicks suddenly run out of food, so they decide to plant some corn seeds. This takes no account of the time that corn takes to sprout let alone set ears, by the way, but anyway she nips along to Peter Pig and asks if he will help. He does not want to so says he is unwell. She then goes and asks Donald Duck, who also claims to be unwell. So the hen plants the corn on her ownsome and it grows. She goes and asks the duo to help with the harvest, which is hardly wise of her, but again they were too ill to help. So she harvested it herself, then asked them to come and eat it, to which they agreed, quickly, only to find that she had laced theirs with castor oil to pay them back.
Clarence "Ducky" Nash provided the voices for both Peter Pig and Donald Duck in this series, plus, later, Donald`s nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, and his girlfriend Daisy Duck. but today he is mainly remembered for Donald Duck.. He was born in December 1904, in Watonga, Oklahoma, where they named a street in his honour, and he died in February 1985, at the age of eighty - but not before naming and training his successor, Tony Anselmo, who took over in 1985.
There is not a great write up about these cards, they appear first in our original British Trade Index part III, as :
WALT DISNEY CHARACTERS (A) 76 x 56. Nd. (78)
And in our updated volume as
WALT DISNEY CHARACTERS (A) 1970. 76 x 56. Nd. (78)
However I may be able to track down their new issues report by Saturday. Watch this space !
John Player & Sons [tobacco : UK – Nottingham] “Clocks - Old & New” (August 1928) 1/20 - P644-166 : P72-79 : P/51 [RB.17/51]
This is a rather strange tale, but today in Japan is Clock Day. This celebrates the fact that Emperor Tenii set up a water clock in Shiga Perefecture, which used the passage of water along a series of small containers to tell the time.
First of all this did not happen today, but on the 25th of April, 671 A.D. - however, according to the solar calendar April the 25th is June 10th, so, in 1920, June 10th became Clock Day. And twenty years later, when a shrine was built on that spot, it started to hold an annual Clock Day Festival, which is still held to this day on June 10th.
Second of all, though Emperor Tenji set up the clock, and became known as the father of clocks in Japan, he definitely did not invent them. The proof of this is on our card, which shows a water clock from Egypt, a single basin which allows the passing of time to be recorded by moving rods into holes. This was made during the reign of King Amenhotep III - from 1450 to 1380 B.C. And on card number two of the series there is another, more updated version from Egypt, dating from 300 B.C., by which time they had realised that they needed to adjust the length of the hour day by day to suit the changing duration of daylight.
It is odd, therefore that Emperor Tenjii is the father of clocks - and even more so when I reveal that he created the first first family register in Japan, and their first legal system.
This set is described in our original reference book to John Player (RB.17, issued in 1950), as :
51. 20 CLOCKS – OLD & NEW. Large cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issue, August 1928.
And summarised in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes to :
CLOCKS – OLD & NEW. Lg. Nd. (20)
Pritchard & Burton [tobacco : UK] “Flags and Flags with Soldiers” (1902) Un/15 - P891-300.1.A : P87-4.1.A
A quick change and we have the flag of Denmark. It was going to be E.T. but I could only track down the Canadian version which we have already had. My cards are in urgent need of better boxes. And a better system of identification.
Why we have this flag, the Dannebrog, is that on this day, 11 June 1748, it changed its design. Not the white cross on the red background, but the shape, which went from having a leftwards facing triangle cut out of the right hand side, to being square.
The colour and design parts date back to 1625, which makes this the oldest, continuously used, national flag in the world. The basic design is called the Nordic Cross, and that just means that the cross section is not in the exact centre of the design, the vertical line being longer at one side of the central post than on the other. However, it is earlier than that, for in the early 13th century, the Danish king was on a crusade, and suddenly found his forces in battle. This was on June 15th, 1219. In the heat of the battle, a red banner with a white cross fluttered down from nowhere. And the Danes were somehow victorious, so they kept the flag, hoping it brought them luck forever.
As to this actual flag, it is proving hard to find. The figures are off the Danish coat of arms though. Anyone know it?
This is a variant of the set which was our Card of the Day for the 6th of February 2024. If you compare the two (by clicking the link in bold) you will immediately see what is meant in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes by the record of this "A" version and the word "draped" :
FLAGS AND FLAGS WITH SOLDIERS (A). Sm. 67-69 x 37-39. Unnd. See H.41
A. Flagstaff draped at top with bow, cord, etc.
(a) First printing. (30). Small captions, 1 m/m high
(b) Second printing. (15). Larger captions, about 1 ½ m/m high.
2. Flagstaff without bow, cord, etc. (15). Flags only.
I am not entirely sure whether this card is the first or second printing. Hopefully I will be able to add it later on.
By the way that link in bold also contains a biography of the firm.
W.D. & H.O. Wills “Round Europe” (June 1937) 15/48 - W675-217 : W62-176 : W/316
The next few cards share a Scandinavian theme - quite accidentally.
Today we celebrate this place, Helsinki, which was founded on this date in 1550 by King Gustav I, of Sweden, under whose control it began life.
It had many changes after that - including moving along the Vantaa River towards the sea to make it better for trading, suffering the plague in the early eighteenth century, and burning almost entirely to the ground three years after. In 1808 it was even taken over by Russia, who invaded the entire area and kept it, throughout the First World War. It was not until 1917 that Finland regained its independence.
This card strangely refers to Helsingfors on the front, but actually when Helsinki was founded in 1550 it was called Helsinge Fors, and, though now joined together, the Finnish name for this place remains Helsingfors. And on the back of the card it does say "Helsingfors (more correctly, Helsinki)"
This is a set I have not encountered much before, perhaps because it is quite difficult to get anything off them when they are scanned. I will have another go though.
It is catalogued in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes as :
ROUND EUROPE. Md. 66 x 52. Black and white. Nd. (48)
I was quite surprised to see it in the original one of these volumes, because it has the air of a 1950s set. But because it was there, I went back to the five original Wills reference books and found it in part IV. The description there is slightly longer, namely :
316. 48. ROUND EUROPE. Medium cards, size 66 x 52 m/m. Fronts printed by letterpress in black and white, varnished. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issue with “Embassy” Cigarettes, 1937.
Now earlier that year, in March 1937, another set had also been issued with "Embassy" Cigarettes, and that was "British Sporting Personalities", a set of 48 cards. I cannot find any others later though, so would be interested to hear whether the experiment was unsuccessful, and why. This set was featured in the newsletter for the 8th of July 2023 on Thiursday the 13th, so you will need to scroll down. It appears I was only slightly more successful at grasping that image as well !
Zigarettenfabrik Greiling A.G. [tobacco : O/S – Germany – Dresden] “Greiling Sports Series" – Leichtathletik (1928) 3/20 - G800-770.B.10 - G74-43.A
This card celebrates Paavo Johannes Nurmi, born today in 1897, and shows him at what he did best, running. His main skill was adaptability, for he could run at any distance from the sprint to cross country - and he was known as The Flying Finn, setting twenty-two world records and amassing nine gold medals, plus three silvers. All in just under fifteen years.
His childhood was short, and he had to leave school and go to work before he was a teenager. But he was inspired by the stories he read of sportspeople, and combined his work with athletic feats, adding in short fast runs, and strengthening exercises. He was also helped by military service, where his sporting prowess was soon noticed. That led to his first Olympic Games in 1920, which, coincidentally, were in Scandinavia, in Antwerp, where he won two golds and a silver.
At the next Olympics, 1924, in Paris, he won five gold medals - but maintained all his life that it could have been six, if the officials had not thought it would be too strenuous for him to enter another race.
The 1928 Olympics, in Amsterdam, were a turning point, for several reasons he was not at his best and only won one gold. However this led him to explore running for long distances rather than shorter speeds. He was training hard and running well, and then a savage blow, just before the 1932 Olympics, in Los Angeles, California, when Sweden said they considered him a professional runner, not an amateur, and was therefore ineligible to take part. They would not budge, despite much proof, and so he was forced to retire. However he was allowed to coach, and many of Finland`s top runners of the 1950s and 60s were at least partially produced by him. In 1952 he was also asked to light the Olympic flame; he was torn between refusal and acceptance, but, as that year the event was coming to Helsinki, in the end he did.
He died in 1973 in Helsinki
This card was issued in Germany by Greiling. It was issued in 1926, too early for it to show the 1928 Olympics, therefore this picture must either come from the 1924 ones or from an event which was not an Olympic one.
This set took quite a while to track down in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes. The problem was that our title “Leichtathletik” was used by several of the sets, and the cards only carried the sub-series titles not the main series ones. However when I looked at the handbook, and the back references under X24/43, both pictures, it turned out that this back was back 16 and that narrowed it down to just one main series, that being :
SPORTS SERIES III (A). Coloured. Nd. in sub series, each probably 1/20.
A. Large, 108 x 60, with coupon. When cut, size about 85 x 60. Back 11 in red. Backs 12-16 in black.
B. Small. 60 x 40. Back 18 and 19 in black. Horizontal format.
This is slightly tidied up in our updated version and the pictures accompany the entry. The text for our set there is
SPORTS SERIES COLOURED (A). Nd. in sub series, 1/20 unless otherwise stated.
A. Sm. 60 x 40. Backs 17-20 in black.
B. Lg. 108 x 60, with coupon. When cut, size about 85 x 60. Back 11 in red or black. Backs 12-16 in black.
Our section is described as :
10. “Leichtathletik” (a) Sm. Without series no. (?28) “1 Serie” to “19 Serie”. Also seen “Serie 2” (47/69)
Upper Deck [trade/commercial : cards : O/S - USA - California] "World Cup 1994 Preview" (1993) 161/247
And so we close. with a Centenary Card. Not the card, nor any of the players, but the manoeuvre, the corner kick, which was legalised today in 1924.
In fact the corner kick is a rather intriguing shot, it was first allowed in 1872, and you could touch the ball more than once, plus if you scored a goal in the process, that goal would stand and be allowed. In 1875 this was banned. However a few years later the rules were amended to only allow one kick not a series of them, and they stated that the original corner kicker could not touch the ball again until it had been played by another player.
Now in 1924 that changed, because new laws were written allowing a goal to be scored from a corner, and nobody noticed that in the re-writing this rule was left out. And in November of that year multiple strikes by the same man were used by Everton to score a goal. Therefore in the same month it was amended, back to one kick alone.
This remains exactly the same in the modern rulebook, but in 1997 one amendment was made, to state that if an own goal was scored from a corner kick, it would not stand, and would not be allowed.
This card is bi-lingual and the languages are English and Spanish. It is part of a section called "Rookies Guide to Soccer" explaining the rules of the game, these being cards 116 to 130 inclusive. The World Cup was held the following year, in June and July 1994. so this set was also intended for people who perhaps had never seen this sort of football before - even more important when you find out that the event for that year was to be held in America.
Upper Deck`s first set was of Major League Baseball, for which they received their license in December 1988. The set was issued the following year - just two months later. Between 1989 and 2004 they held the unique record of being voted "Set of the Year" in every year, and their cards were of superb quality. They did sports and non-sports, and they also invented the costume card, where a tiny scrap of match worn (or film/tv worn) clothing is inserted into the card.
This week's Cards of the Day...
... remembered The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, eighty years ago. This was a massive undertaking, an attack by land, sea, and air, and by different countries of the allied forces, all at the same time - for on that one, single day, five separate landings took place on different beaches of Normandy.
Saturday, 1st June 2024
The clue here was mainly the colour of the borders, described as gold - for one of the beaches used for the D-Day Landings was called Gold Beach. It was actually the central beach, with two other sites on each side. This landing was mostly British troops, and specifically the Army, though the Navy were given the tasks of transporting the craft, patrolling the waters, looking out for mines, and using their naval guns in the event they ran into opposition, as well as to hopefully safeguard the forces from enemy fire when they reached the beach. It was not a perfect site, there were cliffs at one end, so the action was rather funnelled into the centre.
The landings started early, just before half past seven in the morning. The idea was to take the beach, repel any opposition, and move swiftly towards the town of Arromanches, which was where they would meet up with the Americans, who were tasked with taking Omaha Beach. Then the two forces would head towards the Canadian meeting place, just off Juno Beach, where they had landed.
This set is described in our original British Trade Index Part II as :
SPORTS FAVOURITES. Sm. 63-66 x 38-40. Footballers, Boxers, Golfers, Speedway Riders, etc
White borders, back in (a) black (b) blue. Following are lowest and highest numbers known in each group of subjects.
1-247 (Footballers), 250-297 (Boxers), 300-301 (Billiards), 306-317 (Athletes), 323-330 (Golfers), 350-356 (Boxers), 360-397 (Footballers), 400-445 (Speedway Riders), 455-460 (Footballers), 58 (479) to 64 (485) (Speedway Riders).
Several numbers with two different portraits of same player.Yellow borders, back in blue, inscribed "Golden Series" (? 20)
The heading tells us that the cards were issued 1948-50, and this is the only set listed.
By our updated British Trade Index, though, more sets have appeared and the dates of issue now start at 1946, and end at 1955. The listing of this set in there is :
SPORTS FAVOURITES. 63-66 x 38-40. Commercial issue, in booklets.
White borders. Nd. (534 highest seen). Backs in (a) black (b) blue. Issued in batches, covering different sports, see details at HD-48.
1950. Yellow borders, blue back,, inscribed "Golden Series". Nd. (64). All footballers.
1953. Oldham Athletic. Unnd. (12). Issued to celebrate Oldham winning promotion in 1953. See HD-58.
Sunday, 2nd June 2024
The clue here was what the flags were flying - "Beach Vessel". In fact in simple terms to "beach" a vessel, is to bring it ashore. However it can also mean to sail it into shallow water, either accidentally or on purpose. There are several reasons for doing this, on purpose, and the most usual is to prevent a burning or otherwise dangerous ship reaching the harbour. In some cases it is also done to a boat by smugglers, so that smaller boats may come along on the side which is not so visible to the mainland and remove the cargo without anyone finding out. This is similar to what happened at D-Day, for the idea was to sail the landing craft on to the beach and offload the men on the other side, away from the enemy forces. This was not entirely successful. It is estimated that about seven hundred British men were injured on Gold Beach, or in the sea, as they waded in, and about three hundred and fifty were killed. However no actual details of casualties nor of deaths was ever taken, and some bodies simply washed out to sea.
The first appearance of this set, or rather these sets, is in our original Tobacco War Index, RB.18, published in 1951. They are in Section II, "Flowers and Signals Series by A.T.C. - Burdick Nos. T.408 and T.411".
The first set listed is :
42. International Code Signals - "A". Burdick T.411. Series of 25, issued by A.T.C., backs headed "International Code Signals" :-
A. Old Gold back
B. Green back
Then there is a listing of the cards in the set, comprising letters of the alphabet and the signs for Answ., Code Signal, In Distress, Latitude, No, What Ship is That? and Yes.
Our set follows, described as :
43. International Code Signals - "B". Burdick T.411. Series of 25, issued by A.T.C., no series title :-
A. Old Gold back
B. Green net design back
These are all signs for words and sentences, so I will scan it and add it in by Saturday.
In Jefferson Burdick`s American Card Catalogue, this set is listed as
T.411 - International Code Signals (50) ovpt on T.400, TW.42, 43 ... .15
TW is our Tobacco War booklet, above. However, the T.400 reference here is really interesting, because that links to A.T.C.`s set of "Actresses and Girls", suggesting that our card appears in that series, but without the flags, which were overprinted (or "ovpt" in the listing) on top. This fact does not seem to be fully explained anywhere else. So if you have our card in that series without the flag, please do tell us.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index our set is listed as :
INTERNATIONAL CODE SIGNALS (A) Inset on Beauties (50) Ref USA/T.411.
1. with series title, known as "A". See RB.18/42 (25)
2. without series title, known as "B" See RB.18/43 (25)
The updated World Tobacco Issues Index is the same text, but a new code
Monday, 3rd June 2024
Now the clue here could well have been "Battlefields", but not of Great Britain. Instead it was the oak tree, because an eightieth anniversary is an Oak Anniversary, and this year is the eightieth anniversary of D-Day. Why it seems to be an oak is because an oak tree is a symbol for longevity, endurance, and strength, and also because by that time its roots are firmly fixed in the soil. The odd thing is that it is almost impossible to trace when the anniversary began, and when it was called oak. To be honest, if we are thinking in terms of wedding anniversaries, it would have to be quite recent, because few couples were together for eighty years until the last couple of centuries, their life spans were not that long. Even if they got together as teenagers, like Shakespeare`s Romeo and Juliet , they would be lucky to be married for twenty years - the average life expectancy then being just thirty years of age. Even in the 1800s this had only risen by ten years. And by 1900 it was only fifty.
The main listing for this set can be found at https://csgb.co.uk/cardoftheday/2024-03-20 - and this has the links for the other brands that we have featured so far.
The Battle of Mortimer`s Cross is a bit of an enigma, battle-wise. It was one of the most important events of the Wars of the Roses and yet there are discrepancies in vital information; the date was recorded as the second, the third, or the fourth of February by different sources, and even the location of the battle is not known exactly. Our card gives the second.
What we do know is that it was fought along the River Lugg, in Herefordshire, near to the Welsh border.
Fighting for the House of Lancaster were Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke (he is shown on this card). He was also Henry VIII`s Uncle. Alongside him was his father Owen.
On the other side, fighting for the House of York, was Edward IV and his army, and the oak shown on this card was his rallying point.
The Lancastrians started the battle first, and hoped to rout the Yorkists quickly, in a two pronged attack, but this did not work, possibly because the Lancastrian armies were not so adept at warfare.
There was also another, way more intriguing event, though, and that was a parhelion, a natural phenomena associated with very cold weather, which makes it look as if three suns are in the sky. And as the sun rose that morning this had taken place. The Yorkist soldiers, on seeing it, panicked, but they were told that it was a sign of victory, that the Holy Trinity was on their side, and that it assured them of a decisive victory. And so they did.
We do not know what the other side thought, or if they were even in the right place to see it. But Owen Tudor paid for this with his life, for, as it says on our card, he was "taken and beheaded".
Tuesday, 4th June 2024
I originally said I did not know much about this issuer, except that I had seen three sets, A Tour Around the World, Exotic Birds, and our set.
I have since been contacted by Mr. Georges, who tells me that the company was founded on December the 31st 1929. If you look on the card it says "Confiserie De Bie - L'abeille Trefin Ltd" - and two words in that text are very important, "Bie" and "L`Abeille", both of which mean honey bee, firstly in Dutch and then in French. The bee is the company mascot, chosen to demonstrate their determination to get the job done, and also their fondness of sweet things - as well as the fact that many of their products contained honey, a natural, not an artificial, sweetener. Something they were conscious of, even then.
The album for our set is a paperback and it has a large blue capital letter "V" with a gold wreath surrounding it. It is entirely devoted to the D-Day Landings, but seems quite scarce over here, or maybe it rests in military collections rather than card ones. The cards themselves are full colour and large format and four fit on a page, with a small block of text below them in two languages, which I now know are French and Dutch..
Wednesday, 5th June 2024
Here we have a famous image of D-Day, taken from inside a landing craft. How far away they seem from the shore, and how far the men would have to wade, all the time under enemy fire.
It appears that this photo was taken by the great Robert Capa, but I am having trouble proving it.
This is not the only D-Day card in the set, for immediately after it, as card 42, is "A Word from Ike" - "Ike" being the President, Eisenhower. Curiously, the action on that card is before that on ours, for it shows the airborne troops loading for the invasion of Normandy, and even says that he was visiting the men to wish them luck on the evening before, just before they boarded their planes.
The issuers of this set, Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corporation, do not appear on the card, save as the tiny initials "P.C.G.C" at the bottom. They were founded in 1947, to make candy, gum, and other confectionery by Edward P. Fenimore, who was actually Vice President of the Bowman Gum Co. Their first product was pink bubblegum, called "Swell" - and it sold for a penny a piece. By the way, this product is advertised on the back of the American packets for this set.
Though we know the set as "War Bulletin", the packets, and the sales box from which they were selected, as it sat on the shop counter, tell a different tale, for they say "World War II". In fact on the side of the packet it says "Collectors Series! The story of America`s Fight for Freedom in World War II" - or at least the English version does. How we know that it is the English version is that whilst the American packets sold for five cents a packet, ours sold for 2d. a packet. I do not yet know how many cards were in each packet but at this time they were still sold with bubble gum so these remain true trade cards rather than commercial.
Thursday, 6th June 2024
This may be the President of the United States of America, but behind him probably unknown to many collectors, even military ones, is a representation of D-Day. For it was he who decided to send his troops into battle on the Normandy beaches, and he only did that on the evening before the landings. He weighed it carefully, whether the risks of waiting outweighed the risks of going ahead, and in the end he decided they did.
So I did use the Bowmans version of this set before - you can see it as the entry for Sunday the 2nd of July in our newsletter of the 30th of June 2023, The front is very similar to ours with the emblem and the banner, but the back is very plain indeed. However, the Bowman version actually came first, in 1952. Their set has thirty six cards but only thirty three Presidents, because that was all there were up until 1952. Now thirty three is a good number but it does not fill a standard sheet for printing, and so they added three extra cards of historical events.
Bowman, of Philadelphia, was a bubble gum manufacturer, and had been since the late 1920s. But in 1956 the company was bought by Topps, of New York City, and they ceased all mention of the Bowman name. That is until 1989, when they suddenly brought it back. But what seems to have happened is that in with the buyout was the artwork of these U.S, Presidents cards, and it was decided to re-issue them as Topps cards, with different backs so there could be no confusion.
Friday, 7th June 2024
This is a very similar image to the one which appears on that Philadelphia card that followed our card from earlier this week, as it shows Eisenhower speaking to the airborne forces before they leave. However this card was not issued until 1992.
Now British collectors may be surprised to read that this set was issued for the fiftieth anniversary of World War II, because fifty years before 1992 is 1942. The solution is that America did not join in with World War II officially until after Pearl Harbour in December 1941. That would make 1942 the first year of their war.
These cards were issued in packs of ten cards, and a sales box contained thirty six packets. They are not so easy to scan though, because they have a very high gloss finish, so apologies for slight blurring.
Now this company was founded in 1980, by a man who was a really big baseball collector, and they soon had a great reputation for making high quality cards. They also have two real claims to fame - firstly they actually invented the three by three plastic sheet format, that those of us who have not adopted slabbing use to keep our gum cards in. And secondly, in 1999, they made the first ever card of Tom Brady.
They also diversified into making "bobblehead" figures, though the principle was invented by the Chinese about two thousand years earlier. I am not sure if they had the rights though, because they are made by Funko - unless Pacific only had the rights to the baseball ones and those rather unkind TV spin-off ones that I see so many of were exempt from this.
Such a promising start, but they lost their NFL license in 2003 and by the end of the following year all they had in their stable was hockey, just in time for the strike action. The owner decided to retire, and he sold stock and goodwill to Playoff Corp in 2004. And Playoff is now allied to Donruss.
You can see a checklist of all the cards at The Trading Card Database/PacificWW2 - from which you can see the set is split into groups, starting with aircraft, and moving into people from cards 17 to 54 - there is also a second card of President Eisenhower as card 26. The rest of the set shows the major events, but, at the end, cards 95 to 110 should be noted, for they are small reproductions of original wartime posters.
So thanks for popping in, again, and I will continue overnight, or in the morning, once light - with the card codes....
And then to this week`s newsletter!