Ooh, another Saturday, and this week I had more or less finished - with the card codes and write ups being in place by 4 p.m. on the Saturday. Not sure how that all happened, but jolly glad it did. The only things left to investigate in any large way is the link between Ely Brewery and A. & B .C. Gum, so watch the banners on the front page for news of that.
This week brings us to the half way stage of the year. It has flown past, and I am sure you will agree. Anyway I must not take up time with waffle if the intention is to finish on time - for once - so let me just say that this week`s box of delights include .... a young king, an old county, a feline fancy, a sweet star, time on our hands, a far out festival and the middlest day of them all.
Lets start with
Ely Brewery Co. Ltd [trade ; beer : UK - Wales - Cardiff] "Royal Portraits" (1953) 17/24 - ELY-030 : HX-10 : ELY-1 : D.366
Here we have Prince Charles, aged seven, whose birthday is today - and most people regard this as his "Rookie" card, though I am certain someone will be able to prove that wrong because there must be a card of him either wrapped in a christening shawl or standing by his mother with a younger sibling in the same shawl. After all he was born, in Buckingham Palace, in November 1948, whilst his grandfather, George VI, was King.
Or maybe there is a card of this, but issued later than this, which was to celebrate the Coronation of his mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, in 1953.
Now you may be wondering how he was born in November and yet has a birthday today? Well this all dates back to King George II, whose birthday was similarly a winter one, and, as he did not fancy standing about reviewing troops in the snow and rain and cold when he could do it in the summer sunshine, he just gave himself another, more pleasing birthday, as Kings can.
On the same day as this we have another event, Trooping the Colour. It appears that another King Charles, the Second, started this, and it was not a showcase, it was a way for his fighting forces to recognise the flags of their battalions, by parading them up and down before them.
This is one of a set of twenty four medium sized cards, and if you look closely in the right hand corner of the reverse there is a little line that says "Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd." - a name which postcards and ephemera collectors will also know.
On the front is another name, Marcus Adams, and he was the photographer. His name was Marcus Algernon Adams and he was born in 1875. He was a photographer of much note, and by Royal command, in fact he took the first photographs of the Duchess of York (later the Queen Mother) and her daughter Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) - so this portrait of Prince Charles is continuing the same story. He died in 1959.
Now there is a bit of a problem with these cards and that is the back, they are awfully light with thin script text, and when it is darkened it gets all blurry. However if anyone has the card and a better scanner we would welcome a better example. And I may have another go if I get time.
As far as the issuer, Ely Brewery Co., well they are very elusive and I imagine have long gone, though they may have been gathered up by a larger chain. Mind you, now I am looking at the British Trade Index part II, (RB.27, issued in 1969), it tells me that the brewery was in Cardiff, so my thought that it was in Ely was way off. I will have a better hunt now. This also makes the card of Charles, Prince of Wales, all the more special though !
Armed with that information I have discovered that there is a very attractive page of info about the company at Brewery History/Ely - with pictures, labels, and bills. However it tells the sad tale of its closure in 1982, by which time it was indeed part of a larger group, Whitbread. Whilst labology/Ely shows even more labels, gives a full account of its trading and names, and closes with the fact that "brewing finally ceased in 1978".
To the cards, once more, the set is catalogued in that British Trade Index part II as :
ROYAL PORTRAITS. Md. 70 x 48. Black. Nd. (24). See D.366 ... ELY-1
It is almost identical in the updated volume, but now reads
Issued 1953
ROYAL PORTRAITS. 70 x 48. Black. Nd. (24). See HX-10 ... ELY-030
Now D.366 - and HX-10 - is an amazing discovery, because any mention of the "D" codes lead us to duplicated cards, or ones issued by more than one maker. Or at least that is why I like to think the "D" stands for. I have no idea what the HX-stands for, but figure it must be "H" for "handbook" and "X" for "extra info". Whatever.
These entries reveals a whole new facet of this set, listing it as :
D.366. ROYAL PORTRAITS (A). Black halftones, varnished, size 70 x 48 m/m.
The Ely Brewery - Set ELY-1. No caption, numbered on back.
Anonymous, Plain Back - Set ZJ9-13. Caption and number on front. A & B.C. issue.
The two series are numbered differently and are similar in format. 14 pictures appear in both, Anonymous Nos 1, 2, 4, 5, 14/21, 23 and 24 being the equivalents of Ely Nos 22, 24,15, 21, 17, 16, 7, 8, 12, 13, 19. 4, 11, and 10 respectively.
So I will try to find out who these are and add it in later. Or so I said, until Mr. Pryce stopped me in my tracks after three and said they are all listed, and shown, on the Trading Card Database/Ely Royal. So off you go.
Now when you look at ZJ9-13, not only do you find that they used our card of Prince Charles as the illustration, there is another write up, that saying "Set ZJ9-13. ROYAL PORTRAITS (A). Md. 70 x 48, varnished, see No.8 at Fig ZJ9-C. Nd. (24). See D.366. Issued by A. & B.C. Gum with Picture Bubble Gum.". This second version also appears in our later British Trade Index, with another surprise - as "ROYAL PORTRAITS (A). 1. 1953. 70 x 48, varnished, Caption under portrait, numbered base left, "Set of 24" base right. See A. & B.C. AAB-645 and HX-10. 2. 65-7 x 54. Black glossy photos. Unnd. (3 known). See Schoolgirls` Own. SCH-420." The three are H.R.H. Prince Henry, H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, H.R.H. Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles.
Scottish Co-Operative Wholesale Society Ltd / S.C.W.S. [tobacco : UK - Scotland - Glasgow] "Famous Pictures" (1924) 3/25 - S256-300 : S44-4
Off now to Sunny Sussex, just in time for its County Day. Sadly we no longer have a Branch there, but we used to, several of them. and a Cameric one, too, which you can read about on the Branch home page.
And if anyone can add any of their memories to this page please do.
As to why we celebrate Sussex on this day well it is also the Saints Day of Richard of Chichester, and also Bishop of Chichester from 1245 until his death in 1253. He was born nowhere near Sussex, but in Droitwich, Worcestershire, some time before the start of the twelfth century. Confusingly his actual feast day is on April the third, but as this is often either during Lent or Easter it has changed to the sixteenth of June which is more likely to be out of those dates. Unless you live in Canada, where his day is strictly held on April the third.
Our painting, "Sheep-Washing in Sussex", by James Aumonier, was first exhibited in 1889, and it is now hanging in the Tate Gallery with thanks to the Chantrey Bequest. It is regarded as his best painting of all.
He was born in April 1832, and he was the son of a French jeweller who was working in Camberwell. He learned to print, on cloth, at evening classes, and painted in his spare time, mostly in secluded London parks and gardens, though occasionally he ventured as far afield as Epping Forest. In later life he travelled more, and painted in Venice. However, his favourite subjects were countryside scenes, like ours, but often with a cottage more prominent. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1871, and became an Associate of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-colours five years later - this brought him the right to use R.I. as a suffix, as shown here. He was also one of the first to join the Institute of Oil Painters.
He died in London in October 1911, leaving a wife, two sons and two daughters.
Now this set is a different set to the ones which are subtitled for "Glasgow Galleries" and for "London Galleries" and it is also larger. In addition it was also issued first, in 1924, whereas the other two came along in 1927. There was also just this one single version - the others being available with or without adhesive.
The text for our set in the original World Tobacco Issues Index is :
FAMOUS PICTURES. Lg. 80 x 62. Front "S.C.W.S. Ltd. Cigarettes" Nd. (25) ... S44-4
The same is repeated exactly in the updated version, but it has a new card code.
A spot of humour now, marking "Take Your Cat To Work Day". This gives a whole new slant to either "A night on the tiles", or "A cat on a hot tin roof". However I think that the idea is that your cat sits peacefully on your lap dreaming and allowing your workmates to stroke them, not that you get the poor thing to help with the actual work. In any event, cats don`t do such a thing as work, do they?
The title of this set, Animaux Humoristiques, is French for "Humorous Animals" - and the card is one of those lovely little ones which are actually more paper than card. This is again a joint production rather than just one issuer. It also has the large B at the bottom border which I think denotes that it is later than the others that are without.
The cards seem to be the same in both versions, and they are :
- a goat with a dog on a barrel
- a monkey riding a kangaroo
- a rat pulling a frog in a cart
- a fox being chased by a bulldog
- a stork and a monkey
- a lady dog giving medicine to a male dog with toothache
- a goose a gosling and a female cat with a broom
- daddy bear spanking baby bear over his knee
- a bear combing a lion`s mane
- two drunken pigs
- a frog reading the paper to another frog
- two hares boxing whilst a third hare referees
F. & J. Smith [tobacco : UK - Scotland - Glasgow] "Cinema Stars" - `Pinewood` brand (1920) S548-710 : S84-21.F : H.615
Adding a spot of glamour to the week, we have [Sarah] Blanche Sweet - for yes, that was her real name.
The IMDB says that she was born into a family of show people, but this is not entirely correct, for though her mother was a dancer, her father was a wine merchant. Not long after her birth, her mother died and she was sent to her grandmother, after whom she was named, the Blanche part. It sounds as if her namesake was a bit of a stage [grand] mother, perhaps frustrated that her own child had given up the stage and its glory for wedded life, so she decided to put her new charge on the stage, as soon as possible. It is recorded that this was at the age of just eighteen months, but she was successful, and popular, and also good enough to join the touring company of a play when she was just four.
In 1909 Blanche Sweet got a part in a film, the star was Lionel Barrymore, one of the famous Barrymore dynasty, which included Maurice, Ethel and John, and would eventually include E.T.`s little friend Drew. The film was directed by D.W. Griffith and he offered her a job at his studios, Biograph. She accepted, despite the fact that she would have to change her screen name to Daphne Wayne. That was the rather curious way that D.W. Griffith controlled his stars, knowing that if they attempted to leave they would not be able to use the name with which they were famous, but would have to start again from scratch. And there was also the threat that he could replace them with another actress or actor and still use the name. You will find her face and Daphne Wayne`s name on the picture postcards that Biograph circulated, and also on Drapkin`s "Cinematograph Actors" (1913).
In 1915 she left Biograph and moved to Famous Players-Lasky, a rival studio, who had offered her more money. She somehow managed to keep hold of Daphne Wayne, and the first few films of her there still use it. Then she became Blanche Sweet.
In her early films she was known for her gentleness and wholesomeness, even going as far as to refuse a role which would show her bare legged - this being a prehistoric epic called "Man`s Genesis". The part went to Mae Marsh. However as she got into her twenties, and love came along, she erred a bit, and was involved in a thrilling affair with her director, Marshall Neilan, despite him being already married to the actress Gertrude Bambrick, and having a son, Marshall Neilan Junior. This was heavily covered in the more lurid newspapers, and led to his divorce in 1921. After that was finalized he did marry Miss Sweet, but it was a wild marriage, and ended in divorce just eight years later - with her blaming his frequent affairs with friends and with actresses he was directing.
He would later direct her again in two films, and reportedly the spark was still very much there.
It was the arrival of sound that ended her career, for some reason - and strangely, as she would go on to appear on the radio and also on Broadway. She made just three talkies before she retired in 1930. She remarried in 1935, a theatrical actor called Raymond Hackett, and they were together until his death in 1958. She died in September 1986. She never had any children.
This description will eventually be relocated, when I use this set as a Card of the Day, because doing so will make it easier for me, and readers, who will be spared the effort of hunting down the newsletter when all they want are the basic facts of the main group.
Not that they are many, for in the absence of a reference book devoted to the issues of F. & J. Smith, which was planned but not produced, all we have are the listings from our World Tobacco Issues Indexes. The original volume catalogues the set in Smith section 2, "Issues 1922-26. All backs with I.T.C. Clause", as :
CINEMA STARS. Sm. Nd. (25). 8 backs ... S84-21
A. Compeer Cigarettes
B. Glasgow Mixture - Mild, Medium and Full
C. "Kashan" Cigarettes
D. "Luxury" Mixture
E. "Orchestra" Cigarettes - Mild and Medium
F. "Pinewood" Cigarettes
G. Studio Cigarettes
H. Sun Cured Mixture.
I do not know why some of the brands are encapsulated in quotation marks whilst others are not. Maybe you do, and can enlighten us all? If so, many thanks.
In our updated version, the text is slightly different, namely :
CINEMA STARS. Sm. Nd. (25). Multi-backed. 8 backs. See H.645 ... S548-710
A. Compeer Cigarettes
B. Glasgow Mixture - Mild, Medium and Full
C. "Kashan" Cigarettes
D. "Luxury" Mixture
E. "Orchestra" Cigarettes - Mild, Medium, and Full
F. "Pinewood" Cigarettes
G. Studio Cigarettes
H. Sun Cured Mixture.
To deal with the most obvious first, the text for E, "Orchestra" Cigarettes, is correct in the original version, and not the update, if you check the cards they only say "Mild and Medium" - not full.
The handbook code also brings us to a new discovery, because though in the original London Cigarette Card Company handbook it states that all the cards have been seen with all the backs, in our updated handbook it turns out that this is incorrect and there are gaps. It also corrects the typo that I mentioned in the paragraph immediately above this one. The entry in full reads :
H.615. "CINEMA STARS" - Smith (titled series). Front in colour, portrait in oval. Issued by F. & J. Smith. Numbered series of 25, with the following backs. The numbers in parentheses have NOT been studied, and may not exist.
1. A. Compeer Cigarettes (3-7, 17, 20 and 21)
B. Glasgow Mixture - Mild, Medium and Full (all known)
C. "Kashan" Cigarettes (2, 9, 12-14, 18 and 22-25)
D. "Luxury" Mixture (10, 12, 13, 19, and 22-25)
E. "Orchestra" Cigarettes - Mild & Medium (all known)
F. "Pinewood" Cigarettes (all known)
G. Studio Cigarettes (all known)
H. Sun Cured Mixture. (3, 5-7, 11, 15, 17 and 20)
The `Pinewood` used here is nothing to do with the famous Pinewood Studios, though some of our younger readers might have made that link in their heads. This is because the Studios were only opened in 1936 - and then closed for the duration of the Second World War so that they could be used for the War Effort. You might think that this was to make use of the different sections into which the Studios were segmented, or to utilise the many and varied creative skills of the backstage staff, but no, the premises were simply cleared out and used for storage. Though recent documents suggest that this may have been a cover, for the fact that Lloyds of London relocated themselves there, just before the outbreak of that war.
J. S. Fry & Sons Ltd [trade : confectionery : UK] "Tricks & Puzzles" - black back (1924) 40/50 - FRY-400.2 : FRY-26
To celebrate National Watch Day here is a lovely specimen, complete with an Albert chain and fob. The purpose of the chain was to fasten the watch inside your pocket, if you look the chain ends in a T bar, and that holds it firm at the far end. Now it is not that easy to see but it looks like this is a full hunter watch with a complete lid - as opposed to a half hunter which has a small round window of glass in it so that the time can be seen without having to open the case. There are also double hunters, which have two lids, one at back and front, rather than a solid back that has to be pried open with a blade.
The day actually started in 2017, and by celebrated watch maker Nordstrom. If you have not heard of them, they have a long story - and it all starts in 1887 when the Swedish John W. Nordstrom got on a ship in Sweden and sailed to America, despite the fact that he had just five American dollars and could only speak Swedish. He took work anywhere he could, even in mines, and slowly travelled to California. In 1897 he went to Alaska, searching gold in the recent strikes, and he must have hit, for he is next heard of in Seattle with almost fifteen thousand dollars - and soon after that had a partner and a shoe store. Slowly they added items to their range, including watches, retailing the finest of brands.
Whatever watch you wear matters not, so long as it suits you, and especially if it tells not just a time but a story, of a past owner, perhaps even an ancestor, or of a great celebration which was marked by you buying it. I don`t own a watch, and have never worn one, mainly because I am not so good at telling the time - the ones with the hands confuse me and the ones with the digits dance about so they are unreadable. I use the ships bells app which gives me the hour and half hour in bells and can work around that. But I only found that in the last ten years or so, quite by accident.
This is a reissue of an earlier set by the same maker, issued in 1918, but ours has a black back not a blue one. This might lead you to believe it was the first set to be issued after the war, and it may well have been, for speed, for the artwork was already there. However as there are no month dates quoted anywhere we can but guess. Two other sets were issued in the same year as ours, these being "Ancient Sundials" and "Empire Industries". First set, maybe, but not the first card issued in those post-war days, for we know of an advert card for Vinello that was issued in 1922.
Our set is listed in our original British Trade Index part I, (RB.25, issued in 1962), under section 2 of the Fry issues, that covering "Issues 1924-33", hence post-World War One, as :
TRICKS AND PUZZLES. Sm. 65 x 35. Back in black. Nd. (50), As FRY-16 ... FRY-26
However in our updated version the two appear together, as :
TRICKS & PUZZLES.
1. 1918. 65 x 36. Blue back. Nd. (50). 2. 1924. 65 x 35. Black back. Nd. (50) ... FRY-400
Not sure why I had this if I wanted to finish early, but never mind.
Here we have Jefferson Airplane, and they were the headline act at the first ever Isle of Wight Festival, the recent incarnation of which starts today and runs through to the 23rd.
However in 1968, it was called The Great South Coast Bank Holiday Pop Festivity, and it started on the 31st of August at 6 p.m., ending at 10 a.m. the next morning. It was held at Ford Farm, on a field newly harvested of barley, and using two trailers for a stage. There were no toilets, nor running water.
Other artists who came along to the Isle of Wight, to name but a few, were Tyrannosaurus Rex, Fairport Convention, The Move, The Pretty Things, and Arthur Brown.
They were watched by a crowd, estimated to be ten thousand strong, who had paid twenty-five shillings a head, or thirty shillings to include the ferry from the mainland, and that was the ferry both ways!
Jefferson Airplane encompassed many styles, rock, and psychedelia, with a touch of folkiness, due to the fact that their originator, Marty Balin, had been in a folk music quatrtet. The band was formed in 1965 and pretty much created what became known as "The San Francisco Sound", after their birthplaces. Before their trip to the Isle of Wight they had headlined festivals at Monterey, and at Woodstock. Jefferson Airplane was just a name, nobody was even called Jefferson, the band was Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Spencer Dryden, and a lady, Grace Slick, who did the vocals and keyboards.
Their bright and friendly start soon petered out and once Marty Balin left in the early 1970s they split up, forming two groups, one of which went on to become Jefferson Starship, and to see the return of Marty Balin all over again.
So here we are, the longest day, and night falls faster from now on, heading inexorably towards the time when it gets dark just after 3 p.m. Some years this happens on the 20th of June, and on some the 21st, at least in the Northern Hemisphere - in Australia and the Southern parts their longest day is on the 21st or 22nd of December.
These stones, at Stonehenge, near Sallisbury in Wiltshire, just a stone`s throw, dare I say, from where we held our last Annual Convention, are very important at this time of year. For despite its great age, Stonehenge was built so that the sun, magically, illuminates it at this time. The sun will rise in the North East behind what is known as the Heel Stone, and the rays will hit the central circle right in the middle of the structure. And it will do so on the Shortest Day too, except that the sun will set to the South West.
If you want to watch the sunrise and sunset it will be live streamed by English Heritage. You Tube has too many other distractions for me, but I may tune in after I have looked at those...
You can read the story of Erdal and Kwak from when we featured one of their football cards as a Card of The Day - this being on the June 3rd 2023.
This week's Cards of the Day...
were for a “Theme of the Week” which we have never had before - and this is because on the 11th of June (which is tomorrow) is the inaugural "International Day of Play", designated by the United Nations.
In their words, it will serve as "an annual reminder of the urgency to ensure and promote play across all ages". They give several reasons for this, mainly that play makes the children happy, and it connects them with other children in their local area. However they also give worrying statistics, that children in some countries are too busy working, or earning the family money, to play, and that fewer children ever are playing in the street, something many of us took for granted in the days before the rapid growth and speed of vehicular traffic - and when they do, they are either often told to go away, or they cannot because that area has been signposted, no children, no ball games.
So our clue cards this week were :
Saturday, 8th June 2024
The clue here was on the top line, "PLAY" the Game. It also shows one of the most popular games that teams of children play, football. Also, the idea of the cards was that they were collected, as a plaything, and, when you had amassed a certain number, in this case twelve, you would send them in with a poem, rhyme, or essay, and you could win football or cricket supplies.
If you hadn`t noticed, this card is titled "Tottenham Hotspurs". We are not sure if Mr. Baines was referring to the team, or the players, in the plural - but there is no record I can find of the team being called this.
They began in 1882 as Hotspur Football Club, adding the Tottenham prefix two years later, because that was where they played. Then, in 1885, the team decided to move up, shedding their amateur status and becoming a professional team. And they first won the F.A. Cup in 1901, amazingly, because they were in the Southern League, not the Football League.
They were only elected to the Football League, to the Second Division, in 1908.
Now I am not going to attempt to write the story of Mr. Baines and his cards, just to send you to a couple of websites. The first is courtesy of When Saturday Comes / John Baines (which tells of his life) and the second is LDC Auctions / Baines (which shows a wonderful selection of the actual cards, and clicking on them makes them bigger).
Sunday, 9th June 2024
The clue here really gave us the children part, but it also has the sledge and skis as playthings, and it gives us a country name, "Suede", which is Sweden..
Now Sweden comes out top in the ranks of places that do play well. They spend a lot of time outdoors as families, and play just happens, without a lot of the rules that restrict other nations - and often their parks and green spaces are complete with play areas. Another reason they score so highly, though, may surprise many of us, because Swedish children are brought up to be allowed to take risks, to climb trees, swing by rope over rivers, and to get dirty in the process - without, in many cases, there being a supervisor to guard them and prevent them damaging themselves before they ever get a chance to. Being alone, and finding out their strengths and testing their weaknesses, allows them not only freedom and independence, but makes them stronger and less likely to fail when tested by life later on.
Monsieur Meurisse actually started the first chocolate factory in Belgium in 1845. This was sited in Antwerp. If you look on the card it tells you that date, as well as another, Anvers 1894. This was the Exposition Internationale d`Anvers, am international exhibition of products, at which Meurisse took many prizes, including Hors Concours, which means Best in Show (or it does for dogs and horses - there is probably another term for it). Today the firm remains in family hands, proudly organic, and they are a B Corp.
Now I have this down as an advertising card but it is one of a series, because it has a series number and a card number at the bottom border. So if any readers know how many are in the set, or what it is actually called, or the date, do please let us know.
Monday, 10th June 2024
Now the clue here could well have been another child, but it was actually the globe on which this young boy stands. It also gives another meaning of play, to play an instrument, in this case the bagpipes.
This item actually falls into two collections, for though it was issued with the chocolates, and is therefore Cartophilic, it is also considered to be a scrap, and in fact if look online you will find many of these cards with the sprues still intact (those being the little bars which held them to the frame on which they were produced and from which they were cut out. So if you are a collector of these, do make a note to have a look in the category for "scraps and scrapbooking" as well.
Chocolat Payraud was founded in 1834 in Lyon, France. It later had premises in Geneva and a shop in Paris, and would even spread into a property in Algeria. Their trade mark seems to have been registered in 1892, at which time they had the Lyon and Geneva addresses but not the others.
Their first great exhibition was in St. Louis, in 1904, for which they sailed products and machinery across the Atlantic - and won a gold medal.
Many people consider their cards among the most beautiful of all, for they are often die cut, and, like our card here, embossed. There is something else special about the firm though, for they were diligent advertisers, not only of their product but of the cards which were enclosed - the most famous and most used one stating that “Each tablet bearing the Payraud name contains a superb chromo-lithograph published especially for the house and renewed every week.” - from which we can imagine just how many cards must have been produced, on a weekly basis.
Tuesday, 11th June 2024
The main reason for this card is that the cotton reel is being pressed into service as a rattle, and a rattle is the earliest known child`s plaything of all, its purpose being to amuse with sound. The oldest rattle in existence was been found in Turkey - and it is 4,200 years old.
The card was issued by George A. Clark, and the A stands for Aitken. His father, John Clark, was a thread retailer, and maker, already, in Paisley, Scotland, as had been his family before him, and he also supplied looms and related equipment. This thread had once been silk, but that came from France, and during the Napoleonic Wars it was almost impossible to acquire. The Clarks at that time had a plan, for they had a fairly large stock of silk thread, and equipment, and what they did was to find a way of splitting the silk thread into smaller strands and combining it with the easier to acquire cotton thread. It must have been a very hard job to do this, but it had two benefits, apart from being able to stay in business. The first of these was that it saved some of the usual costs of all silk thread - but the second was that it had the soft feel and core strength of silk along with the matte finish of cotton which stops it showing up on certain fabrics. It was at this point that the Clark trademark of "O.N.T." began - and it simply means "Our New Thread"
In 1790 the first "sewing machine" had been invented, it was hand cranked and definitely designed for heavy duty, industrial work of leather and canvas, not for home sewing of clothes. Or at least one was patented, because there is no record that any were produced at the time. This was almost forty years after a patent for a needle to fit into a machine and allow it to reproduce hand sewing - without any mention of the machine it was going to fit. The first working sewing machine was made in France in 1830, seven years after John Clark`s son, our George A. Clark, was born in August 1823.
Little is known of his early life but in 1840 when he was seventeen he was sent right across the Atlantic in order to work for Kerr & Co.in Ontario, Canada. They would be bought out by J & P Coats almost fifty years later. He then returned home to Paisley, so this could have been an apprenticeship? Or is there a clue in the fact that in 1851 he went into business with his brother in law, a Mr. Robert Kerr, making thread.
The partnership did well, with international trading too, and so in 1864 they decided to acquire premises in Newark, New Jersey. Some of this decision was to reduce the general costs of shipping, but there were also changes in the tax laws which having a foreign premises would avoid.
The company was a great success, so much so that in 1866 they incorporated George Clark`s family firm, and became Clark & Co. However George Clark died less than ten years later, in 1873.
Now the important thing about this card is that it has the name of George A. Clark but below the circular logo is his name and the words "Sole Agent". That must mean that it dates from a time when he was selling the family product, but had not yet amalgamated his company with theirs, so some time between 1851 and 1866.
Unless anyone knows different?
Wednesday, 12th June 2024
I am not entirely sure that sitting a child on the back of a dog counts as a game, though the dog seems to be smiling broadly - however this set, though untitled, is recorded as "Chinese Children`s Games", and so it fits really well into this week`s theme.
The British Cigarette Co. Ltd.were also known as simply B.C.C. - or, on their two earliest issues, dating from 1902 to 1905, as The B.C. Co.They also issued cards anonymously. Ostensibly they were a Chinese associate of the British American Tobacco Co., but the other version of this set is linked with W.D. and H.O. Wills, a similar set having been issued with their "Ruby Queen" cigarettes, some time between 1905 and 1915. And, oddly, our company also issued selected cards from Wills` "Time and Money in Different Countries".
Our set is described in the original World Tobacco Index under "The Pearl-Bordered Back Issues", referring to the circles that form part of the frame-lines on the reverse of the cards. They were issued between 1908 and 1930, and either come in a small, or standard, size of 62-63 x 35-39 m/m, or a large size of 76-80 x 66-67 m/m. The sets can be found with backs in either blue, red, yellow, and green, and there are two other, large sized sets, measuring 80 x 67 m/m, which are also known as "Chinese Children`s Games". One of these has a red back, advertising "London Straight Cut", and twenty cards complete the set - whilst the other is in blue with a similar back design to our set, but though we presume it was also of twenty cards, they have not all been seen yet.
Returning to the main body of the original World Tobacco Index, our set is listed as :
CHINESE CHILDREN`S GAMES. (A). Sm. Nd. ... B130.24
1. Pictures 59 x 32 m/m. (30). See W/364
2. Pictures 52 x 30 m/m. (50). See RB.21/525-1
It is the same text in the updated version, but a different card code.
Now the mention of RB.21 leads us to our British American Tobacco Co. booklet, issued in 1952, the last volume in that series before the hard-backed World Tobacco Issues Index. The entry for this set is under Chinese Grouping "A" and reads :
525-1 CHINESE SET 3 - Children`s Games. Small cards, size 62 x 32 m/m. Front per Fig. 525-1, in colour, white border. Numbered series of 50. B.C.C. issue, pearl-bordered design back per Fig.200-17.F in red. Fronts either white semi glossy, or cream matt.
Thursday, 13th June 2024
This set is known by various titles, mainly just translating to "The Doll", though in Italian it is "La Bambola Educata" which means `The doll`s education`, and on our card, in German "Puppenstube", which means `The Dollshouse`.
The cards are also titled, to the front, in the different languages, and measure 109 x 72 m/m. They are quite a sought after set, appealing to many doll and children collectors, not just to cartophilists.
Dolls sometimes appear as incidental items on cigarette cards, and are fun to look out for. They are a lot easier to find on early trade cards of children, or advert cards. However they are quite hard to find as full sets. Victoria Gallery issued two sets in 1996, one is called "Antique Dolls" - which are shown against room scene backgrounds - whilst the other is called "Dolls" and shows the doll alone in a coloured section on a white background. These are sets of seven cards.
Alternatively, if we take a leaf out of our set, and include dolls houses, we can feature Morris`s "Queen`s Dolls House" a set of twenty-five, issued in 1936.
Friday, 14th June 2024
Now someone sent me this because when we featured British American Tobacco`s "Beauties - Fruit Girls" (1903) I closed the listing by saying :
The heading in the World Tobacco Issues Indexes does tell us a bit more about the set, and actually it applies to all of the British American Tobacco "Section 1.A - Net Design Back in Green" cards. It says "Cards [were] issued in all overseas areas, between 1902 - 05. All small size, 67 x 38 m/m and unnumbered. Ref. USA/T.440 to USA/T.443."
Most of the cards in this section were beauties, their heads alone, cut off at the neck, and peeking rather eerily from the middle of something incongruous and exceedingly strange - like our bunch of bananas - though some, like the "Marine and Universe Girls", "Star Girls", and "Smoke Girls" are truly beautiful. The bulk of the other cards in the section are of "Chinese Girls", which are technically still beauties. That means the odd ones out are "Buildings" (a set also issued by Imperial Tobacco Co. of Canada, and Murai) - and "Chinese Trades - Set 1" (also issued by Murai). There was a "Set II" for this, but not issued by B.A.T, only by W.D. & H.O. Wills, through their "Autocar" brand (the only set that brand ever issued), and, once more by Murai, making theirs into a pair, eighty cards in total.
So here we have the "Autocar" brand, and that "Chinese Trades - Set II".
This set first appears in our original Wills reference book, part V, as :
369. CHINESE TRADES II (adopted title). Unnumbered. Fronts lithographed in colour, pink border. Backs in olive, with illustration of closed "Autocar" packet, overprinted with Chinese characters. "Autocar" issue, between 1900-05. A series of 40.
19 subjects seen illustrated in Fig.108
this space will fit that in once I have scanned it - and found out if it will fit inside the green front line, in which case the space will also disappear. The listing continues with :
B.A.T. issued a number of series in a similar format to the above, but different subjects. "Chinese Trades I" is recorded in booklet No,18 ("Tobacco War") under Item 108, and several others ("Chinese Trades III" onwards) will appear in the B.A.T. booklet
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index, issued a few years later, lists these under section 4 - "Export Issues Quoting Certain Brands. Cards without I.T.C. Clause, issued through B.A.T.". The text for our set is :
4.A. "AUTOCAR CIGARETTES". Issued in China, about 1900-05
CHINESE TRADES (A). Sm. 66 x 38. Unnd. (40) See W/369 and X21/499-II.A. ... W62-291
The X-reference is to the handbook for the original World Tobacco issues Index, and that text covers all versions of the Chinese Trades sets known to that date. It reads :
X21/499 CHINESE TRADES. The complete recordings of sets I and II (previously RB18/108 and W/369) are given below :-
I. Set I. Size 67 x 38 m/m. Series of 40, illustrated at Fig,X21/499-I
A. B.A.T., with green net design back
B. Murai, back with illustration of peacockII, Set II. Size 66 x 38 m/m. Series of 40, illustrated at Fig.X21/499-II.
A. Wills "Autocar". Back with illustration of "Autocar" packet
B. Murai. Back with illustration of "Paecock" packet
By the time of our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, issued in the year 2000, whilst it still lists these under "Export Issues Quoting Certain Brands. Cards without I.T.C. Clause, issued through B.A.T.", the section has been renumbered to 5, due to the arrival of the later cigar issues. The text for our set is :
5.A. "AUTOCAR CIGARETTES". Issued in China, about 1900-05.
CHINESE TRADES II (A). Sm. 66 x 38. Unnd. (40) With or without "Made in China" rubber stamped on back. See W/369. ... W675-427
Now I am not sure whether the "rubber stamped on back" in this listing is the same as the "overprinted with Chinese characters" in the original listing - so if there is anyone out there who does know, please tell us.
and so we must close, for another week.