Started earlier this week, then hit delays, and the sort of heat which is not good for man nor beast, though in my case nipper is both the man and the beast. If a dog can boil in twenty minutes you can imagine how little time it takes for a puppy, but we made it, somehow.
Tonight we have lots of new cards for you, broadening your horizons. I am not an expert on these, so any additional info will be willingly accepted. We have managed to weave our web well though, and include a centenary collar, a beautiful bridge, a cross-country call, a flying foe (or friend?), a taken territory, somewhat of a segue, and a centenary competition.
Lets start with ...
Anonymous [tobacco : O/S - Canada] "Fowls, Pigeons & Dogs" (19) 49/50 - ZA04-350 : ZA4-5 : RB.21/333 : USA/C54
Now this is a curious tale, a Centenary Card, and a Centenary Collar, for apparently on this day in 1924 it was reported that in Paris studded leather dog collars had become the latest thing in women`s fashion.
I did some digging. And came up with an odd, 1924 clipping, off Pinterest, of two well dressed ladies, rather oddly wearing bulldog collars - and other clothes, I must add, not just the collars. These ladies turned out to be the Dolly Sisters, Jenny and Rosie, a pair of performers who made quite a name for themselves, and could be said to be the "influencers" of that time, but, sadly for them, and perhaps for us, Instagram was not yet invented.
They were actually Janka and Rózsika Deutsch, and they had been born in Hungary on October 24, 1892. Their father emigrated to America in 1904 with the third child, a son, called Istvan, who was six years old. Seven months after that the twin daughters and their mother also arrived in America. The two girls were sent to dance school, and began dancing for money in pubs and clubs when they were twelve, though some sources say this happened earlier, by some way. However they could not have gone on the proper stage, because the performing age was strictly regulated, though they did, slightly later, manage to join the Orpheum and then the Keith Circuits, which were touring companies, for the age ban did not extend beyond the city limits.
Their moment of discovery came in In 1911, when Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. signed them up for his stage extravaganzas, the Ziegfeld Follies. They were an instant hit, and much enjoyed the many elaborate costumes which they were asked to model. They did, however, grow tired of the twin routines, and in 1913 there was a temporary break up, on a very friendly basis. There are two theories of why this happened, the first says that Rosie wanted to go on stage as a separate performer - the second concerns a man, Harry Fox, a dancer, whom Jenny had married a few months earlier, and with whom she would briefly tour. The duo also went into motion pictures, separately, but then in 1916 both sisters were back together and back in the Ziegfeld Follies perhaps tempted by the pay, of $2,000 a week.
In 1918 they made a film together too, "The Million Dollar Dollies", often said to be a biography, and they did play themselves, but it was pretty much just another excuse to look pretty and wear amazing garments. There is a plot, woven in, about a maharaja and his bride, who he inexplicably hates, but that turns out to have been because of a curse put on him.
Then they moved to France and bought a chateau. Much is made of the fact that both had romantic involvements with many high-flying men of the time, including royalty, and, it is said, with Harry Gordon Selfridge, both of them at the same time. Both of the Dolly sisters were still married to their first husbands; Jenny to Harry Fox and Rosie to musical theatre songwriter Jean Schwartz, though, in another curious link both sisters gained their divorces in 1921.
In 1927, Rosie married again, becoming Mrs. Mortimer Davis, Jr. and the daughter in law of the President of the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada Ltd. He was most displeased with this, except for when they divorced in 1931. She then married an Irving Netcher, in 1932, and stayed with him until his death in 1953.
Jenny never really settled, though in the late 1920s she somehow adopted a pair of orphans with the intention of making them into the New Dolly Sisters. She was still on and off with Mr. Selfridge, whom, in 1933, had begged her to marry him for money, even if not for love, and mentioned a sum of ten million dollars as a starting bid. Shortly after this, she was involved in a serious car crash, in France, with one of her boyfriends, a pilot. She suffered huge internal injuries and also almost destroyed her face. To pay the expenses of this, she sold the jewellery that she had lovingly collected through another of her passions, gambling on racehorses. When that proved nowhere near enough, it was Mr. Selfridge who came to the rescue, and paid for everything thereafter, though I have found no trace that she ever repaid him after, in any way.
Some time in the late 1930s she left Europe and went to live with Rosie and her husband in Chicago; there she met a lawyer and the two were married in 1935. They separated shortly after, and she moved to Hollywood with the two girls. However things went wrong and in June 1941 she committed suicide. And it looks like her ex, the lawyer, adopted the two girls, which was jolly nice of him if he did.
In 1945 a biographical film was released, with June Haver as Rosie and Betty Grable as Jenny. We do not know what Dolly thought of it but she was still alive, she only died in February 1970.
So here we have a bulldog in a collar. It is nothing like the bulldog that appears on the Ogden set of this name though, the dog is smaller and shorter, and he is shown as a complete picture with a drinking bowl before it. The reverse text is also entirely different.
If you look at the wording along the side of the reverse it is immediately apparent that this is not an English set. It is actually first listed in our original British American Tobacco Book (RB.21, issued in 1952.), as :
333. FOWLS, PIGEONS & DOGS. Burdick C.54. Small cards, size 63 x 36 m/m. Front in colour, glazed. Back per Fig.333 in black, with album clause (price 25c.) Numbered series of 50. Anonymous issue, with letterpress on back
The index, at the front, also tells us that those cents were Canadian.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index this set is at the back of the book under anonymous issues, Canadian, The catalogue entry reads :
FOWLS, PIGEONS & DOGS. Sm. Nd. (50). See RB.21/333. Ref. USA/C54 ... ZA4-5
The only thing that changes in our updated version of this book is the code, all the other text remains the same.
Liebig [trade : meat extract : O/S - Europe - France] "Ponts Remarquables" / "Famous Bridges" (1899) Un/6 - F.0601 : S.600
Here we have Tower Bridge, which had officially been opened on 30 June 1894, (just five years before this card was printed), by the Prince and Princess of Wales. They would become King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1901.
That makes this not a Centenary Card, but a 130th Birthday Card. In that time it has been the site of some incredible stunts, even seeing a bus jump over the partially opened span, which, by the way, is opened by hydraulics. It is certainly a beautiful bridge rather than a utilitarian one, perhaps why the building of it took eight years, almost four hundred and fifty men, and eleven thousand tons of steel.
This set is also most attractive, and atmospheric. It was issued in Belgium. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, mostly as our title, but as "Hervorragende Brückenbauten" in Germany, "Ponti Rinomati" in Italian, and "Beroemde Bruggen" in the Netherlands. The Spanish version seems to be the rarest, and as yet I have no idea of what the title is.
The other cards contained in it are : East River (New York), Firth of Forth (Scotland), Mungsten (Germany), Mylau (Germany), and Saragosse (Spain). Now East River Bridge is what we now call the Brooklyn Bridge, and it was opened on May 24, 1883, becoming the first fixed crossing of that mighty swell - and the longest suspension bridge anywhere in the world.
Now another Liebig set by this title was issued in 1962, this is F.1780 or S.1783 - and Tower Bridge is again featured - the whole set being : 1. Tower, 2. Merizzano, 3. Lagoon, 4. Forth, 5 Garabit, 6. Brooklyn. Some of these are strange choices, but also they are more modern, not even dreamed of, or possible, at the time of our set. "Merizzano" is part of the first major motorway to be built in Italy, in 1960, the A1, or the Autostrada del Sole. "Lagoon" turns out to be The Ponte della Libertà (or Liberty Bridge) a road bridge which connects the historical centre of Venice to the mainland part of the same city, that was only built in 1932. whilst "Garabit" is a railway bridge, in France, built by Gustave Eiffel, in 1882-1884.
Suchard [trade : chocolate : O/S - Switzerland] "Progress in Signalling" (1911) Un/12 - Suc.284
After failing to get a card of a blueberry, even as part of a muffin, I discovered that today, in 1881, the World's first international telephone call took place, Canada to Calais. This turned out to be both right and wrong, depending on your point of view, for though the Canada was Canada, St. Stephen in New Brunswick, to be exact, the Calais was not in France, but in Maine, part of the United States of America.
The first long distance telephone call suffers from much the same sort of delusion. This was engineered by Alexander Graham Bell, on August the 10th, 1877, between Brantford and Paris. Brantford was in Ontario, Canada, but Paris turns out to also be in Ontario, a distance of just eight miles. I must smile here because when I first typed this I noticed I had written "a distance of just eight mules".
In the same year, the first telephone was installed in the White House, by the current President, Rutherford B. Hayes.
Strangely the first telephone was "invented" by Robert Hooke, in 1667. This was only capable of transmitting sounds not words, and it did it across an extended wire which conducted mechanical vibrations. Why we have said "invented" is because a similar system using hollowed out gourds, connected by a string made of animal hide had been used in Peru in the 7th Century.
The first "Speaking Telegraph", which was the germ of the modern telephone, was not invented until 1844, by an Italian called Innocenzo Vincenzo Bartolomeo Luigi Carlo Manzetti. And it was electrified ten years later by another Italian, Antonio Meucci, who lived in New York.
However Alexander Graham Bell is still quoted as the inventor of the telephone. And the reason for this? Well almost certainly because when he took out a patent on his system, "The Scientific American" magazine published an article on it - and, obviously without checking, they published that he had invented it too. Such is the power of the press....
I know very little about Suchard but very quick research seems to suggest that their first cards were issued in the 1880s. Ten years later they introduced the idea of having a standard series containing twelve cards, prior to that it had been four, six, or singles. That first set of twelve was their nineteenth issue, and it showed "Gnomes".
And if anyone would like to send us a bit more info, please do !
Barratt [[trade : confectionery : UK - London] "UFO" (1971) 45/70 - BAR-780 : BAR-132 : HX-179
Hold on to your hats, folks, and look up into those skies, for today is World UFO Day. And that gives me a chance to complete a Cartophilic circle with this card, though it turns out that the circle is a rather odd shape, more closely resembling a square.
Firstly let us chat about World UFO Day. There are actually two dates which form this event, June 24th, which was the first sighting of an Unidentified Flying Object in 1947, by a pilot Kenneth Arnold - and July 2nd, which was the forced landing of an alien craft at Roswell, New Mexico. And it must be noted that Mr. Arnold never called what he saw "a Flying Saucer", his description being of crescents whose wings followed a swallow-like curve.
This set first appears in our British Trade Index part III as :
UFO. 65 x 35. Nd. (70). As Set BAS-5 ... BAR-132
We have featured the Bassett version before as Card of the Day for the 10th of March, 2023, and so we thought we were closing the circle. The two are indeed exactly the same, except for the contents in the bottom box, and they both use the same copyright date of 1970. What happened was that in the dying embers of the 1960s Bassett took over Barratt, and for a short time both issued the same cards, including this set. And as usually happens, Bassett was themselves taken over, becoming Trebor-Bassett in the early 1990s.
Our updated British Trade Index lists this set as :
U.F.O. 1971. 65 x 35. Nd. (70). See HX-179. ... BAR-780
I am not sure why it was decided to add the dots in between the U, F, and O, because they are not there on the card, nor in our original British Trade Index.
HX-179 adds more info, which I may not have time to chase tonight, for that listing reads :
HX-179. U.F.O. 65 x 34. Nd. (70). Issued by :
Anonymous, plain back, see ZJU-020
Barratt. See BAR-780
Monty Gum. See MON-320.2
There is something missing from this group though, and that is the Bassett version of this set.
Anglo Confectionery also issued a set for "UFO", in 1970, but they were artists impressions not stills from the TV show..
E. & W. Anstie [tobacco : UK - Devizes] "British Empire Series" (1901) Un/16 - A685-020 : A66-1 : AN/2 [RB.5/2]
This card shows the city of Quebec, which saw its first actual building go up today in 1608. This was not a city though, it was a fort, known as Cape Diamond because that was where it was. This was done by Samuel de Champlain, but the area had come to the attention of the Europeans quite a bit earlier, in the 1530s, and they were Frenchmen under the command of Jacques Cartier - the explorer, rather than the luxury goods maker.
The reason he was interested was because of the amount of useful fur-bearing animals, and it mattered not that Native Americans and Inuits had been living there for many thousands of years - nor that they only took the fur and meat that they needed to survive, rather than wholesale slaughter, for money.
The area was then known as New France. Which probably explains the long links, even today, between Quebec and France. By the 1640s, New France had three cities, Quebec, Trois-Rivieres and Montreal, but it expanded and would come to include lands right down to Louisiana. However some of this land was lost after the War of Spanish Succession, and the Treaty of Paris. Britain was the beneficiary of most of these lands, and they tried to keep them on side by allowing them certain freedoms. In Quebec this mainly involved appeasing the Catholics, and the fur traders, whose best goods were trapped just outside the borders. It did work, and Quebec stayed on our side when the Americans invaded in the mid 1770s.
Some time later Canada was split rather unequally into two parts, East, which was less populated, and West which was running out of space. The solution to this, and several other problems, was the British North America Act of 1867, which split the areas in another way, making The Dominion, several individual states, namely New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario. and Quebec.
Our original reference book No.5, which is shared between the issues of Abdulla & Co. Ltd, Adkin & Sons, and E. & W. Anstie Ltd, records this set as :
1901. 16. BRITISH EMPIRE SERIES (untitled series). Size 2 1/2" x 1 7/16", approx. Unnumbered. fronts, lithographed in full colours, no margins. Titled thus : "Houses of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada". Backs, printed in green with solid panel "E. & W. Anstie - Manufacturers of High Class Tobacco and Cigarettes - Devizes etc". (There is no "Ltd. in title)
There then follows a list of the cards, which I will add to my scanning list.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index it is listed as :
BRITISH EMPIRE SERIES (A). Sm. 67 x 36. Unnd. (16). See Ha.17 ... A66-1
The updated version is almost identical but quotes another Handbook code, the later one, of H.17. These list the cards in the set because they are unnumbered, but also throw us a toffee, by saying that they are a "similar format to Player "Cities of the World". So that will be researched tomorrow!
W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK - Bristol] "Actresses" Vice-Regal brand (1903) Un/100 - W675-332.B : W62-211.B : W/34.B
Our slight tangent this time is this card, of a lady called Lettice. Why she is here is that today is the Centenary of the Caesar Salad, but I failed to find a proper lettuce on a card, or a salad come to that. But it is a card I have not shown before, and quite an interesting set at that.
In fact her name was not Lettice at all, or Fairfax, but Alice Lilian Robbins. Even when she married, in 1908, it was to an architect Charles Henry Biddulph Pinchard. Now he died in May 1944, as Major Biddulph Pinchard, which sounds intriguing, though I have not found the story yet. What I have found out is that he was born the same year as her, in 1876, and was not just an architect but a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, with an office in Staple Inn, Holborn and a home of his own design in Knotty Green, which is sadly now demolished.
Anyway she is still best known as Lettice Fairfax, specialising in theatrical performances - her first role was "Auld lang Sine" in 1892 - but also making a few silent films.
Now The Trading Card Database / LFairfax only shows four cards for her, including ours, but I know that she was also on at least one Guinea Gold, and probably several cards as an unnamed beauty, and a very quick look on eBay found three others, Bigg`s "Actresses FROGA" by Jas Biggs and Stephen Mitchell and Hill`s "Actresses HAGG" - both of which have other issuers too.
This set is recorded in our original Wills reference book part III, with just a correction to one of the names in part IV. In part III it says that it is :
34. ACTRESSES (adopted title). Size 61 x 38 m/m. Unnumbered. Fronts per Fig.34, printed by letterpress. Portraits in black and white, plum coloured background, ornamental grey surround, black border. Backs without descriptive text. Similar style to Fig,41-C, page 99. Australian issues, between 1903-1910.
A. Blue backs, with "Capstan" advertisement.
B. Olive green backs, with "Vice-Regal" advertisement.Plain backed cards with both plum and orange backgrounds have been seen - these cards are thought to be printer`s material and not part of a regular issue.
Now in our original World Tobacco Issues Index it can be hard to find this set, but it is under section 3 of the Wills section, "Australian Issues", the header to which says "Without I.T.C. Clause. Issued through B.A.T. Small size 67-68 x 36 m/m, unless stated." It is first up, under cards issued between 1901 and 1917, and listed as :
ACTRESSES (A). Sm. 61 x 38. Black and white, reddish plum background. Unnd. (100). See W/34. Brand issues. ... W62-211
A. "Capstan" back
B. "Vice-Regal" back
The text remains the same in our updated version, but there is a new card code, of W675-332.B
Topps [trade/commercial : cards : O/S - USA] "U.S. Olympic Team and Olympic Hopefuls Trading Cards" (2012) OC-7
Not sure I will get this one entirely finished but will try. Today is our last Centenary Card for this week, and whilst the picture on this card was taken then, this card dates from 2012.
The event was the opening ceremony of the 1924 Paris Olympics, at Colombes, in what was then known as the Olympic Stadium but is now a rugby, football, and athletics arena called Yves-du-Manoir Stadium. The name commemorates a person, Yves Frantz Loys Marie Le Pelley du Manoir, and he was born in August 1904. His parents, Viscount and Viscountess, were very wealthy, and he had the freedom to explore sports of all kinds, including motorcycling, but his favourite one was rugby, at which he excelled, winning eight caps. He broke off his play to go to military school, where he became as skilled in the air as on the ground. In January 1928 he was asked to attend a rugby match, France vs Scotland, and he really wanted to go, but he needed to take an examination towards his pilots diploma, so he reluctantly declined. And after the match the players were told that the aeroplane he was flying had crashed, shortly after leaving the runway, and he had been killed.
A hundred years after the 1924 Paris Olympics, (and a hundred and twenty four years after the first ever Paris Olympics in 1900), this year sees them back there - but with a difference, for the opening ceremony has been designed to bring the competitors closer to the people, and instead of a stadium, they will all be outdoors, along the banks and even on the waters of the River Seine. This is the first time in the history of the Summer Games that an opening ceremony has been conducted in this way, and it does have its critics as well as its plaudits, because whilst all the action inside a stadium is visible, and a moving event will be seen by more people than could fit inside one, there will be no way that one spectator can see the entire event.
Now this is from one of those huge modern issues with a base set of a hundred cards. Then you get the extras - just for starters three parallel sets in the colours of the Olympic medals, bronze, silver and gold. Then there are autograph cards - fifty of the competitors, and parallels in Bronze, Silver and Gold plus Gold Rainbow shimmer, twelve of additional "Champions" and twenty-five cut signature cards. I have not even started on the relic cards (with three parallels each), and heritage cards, let alone the patches, flag patches, stamps, competitor pins, event pins, team cards, and team venues. There seems to be only two ways to collect these, and that is to become a millionaire, or to just specialise in a base set, plus all the parallels and signatures etc of the one person who you have a liking for.
Our part is not so bad, it contains just twenty six cards and shows the opening ceremonies of every Olympics from 1896 until 2008, which was the one before London 2012, though if you showed this to a modern collector they might be baffled at where the later events were. I was at first. Time flies, you know.
This week's Cards of the Day...
have hopefully seen you investigating a night under canvas, or buying a purpose built temporary space on wheels. After all it is the final week of National Camping Month, and includes just one more weekend.
The sun has certainly been on the side of the camper, for it takes a strong will to continue when the rain is pouring down and the wind is buffeting you in all directions, to say nothing of when you come to try and drive away the next morning to find that all you can do is spin your wheels wildly in the mud.
Do we have any campers reading? If so, do say hi....
Saturday, 22nd June 2024
The clue here was a bit obscure, but it was the player`s surname, "Bell", which is the most familiar, and oldest, style of purpose built tent. Before that the idea was to hang a large sheet over a rope and use it as a shelter, on one side at least. In a bell tent, there is a pole in the middle, which allows the occupants plenty of room, and another pole supports the doorway, whilst ropes pull the canvas walls outwards, making them look like a bell, slightly.
Colin Bell probably had little to do with camping. He played for Bury from 1963, and in 1966 was transferred to Manchester City, where his career was cruelly ended by a mid match tackle in 1975 - though he did return on and off, and in 1980 he was signed by the North American Soccer League`s San Jose Earthquakes, who had already managed to attract none other than George Best. However he played just five games, and then retired. He moved into coaching with Manchester City, and was awarded an MBE in 2004. He died the next year, from bowel cancer.
Now there seems to be a bit of confusion over Williams Forlag and Williams Forlags AB, not helped by the fact that both are into publishing and both Scandinavian. Ediraf was easier, as they were the printer, and they were based in Turin. They also printed a British football set, "Football 73", for Top Sellers.
In fact, after more research, both were subsidiaries of Williams Publishing, part of Warner Communications, which clears up my original wondering at how they got to publish the DC and Marvel Comics. Williams Forlag was the Norwegian branch, it started in the early 1970s, and ran until about 1976 - whilst Williams Forlag AB was the Swedish branch, which had started first, in 1965.
I say opened, but they were already in business, they were just renamed to Williams, before that they had been parts of Gilberton World-Wide Publications. However when they ran into a slight difficulty the company was renamed to Williams after the founder`s son.
This is an unusual set; the title, "Fodbold" is Danish and it is a combination of "Fod" which means `foot` and "Bold" which means `ball`. The cards measure 65 x 48 m/m. and it does not turn up much as a complete set in the British Isles, you will mainly find the British players, which have been bought in from overseas. The first fifty-eight cards are all Danish, the national team, followed by selected players from the Danish League. Cards 59 -110 are League Division One players from the UK, in teams that range alphabetically from Arsenal to Liverpool (though include two cards for Norwich City, and immediately after are eleven cards which form a kind of fantasy World Team section; this includes three other British players, namely Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, and Bobby Charlton. Cards 122 - 173 are a return to the League Division One players from the UK, this time the other end of the alphabet, teams Manchester City to Wolverhampton Wanderers, though again two cards are out of place, these being Birmingham City. Looking closely at these I find that the Birmingham City cards are between Newcastle United and Sheffield United, where Norwich City would have slotted neatly in - but it is not so clear cut if you slide Birmingham City into the first selection. From card 174 you return to the Danish League Division Two, until the final card, number 215.
The set may seem to stop there, but it actually also included twenty seven unnumbered cards - eleven football badges - and sixteen cards that make up a puzzle of Alan Ball. Why Alan Ball, I know not, though perhaps it was because at the end of 1971 he became the most valuable player, at least in the UK, when he was transferred from Everton to Arsenal for the then record of £220,000.
Sunday, 23rd June 2024
The clue here was not only another bell, quite by accident, but it was mainly the fact that a line of camels, following together, are called a caravanserai - or a caravan. In fact it comes from the Persian language, where a "Karwan" is a group of people, travelling through the desert, not that they started out together, but they have joined together along the way, for company and protection. Much as campers at a site seem to be friendly to each other straight away. Lets see if that is still true when nipper is running down the field with one of their socks!
In camping terminology, though, a caravan is different from a camper, by way of it being an upgrade - camper is just one big area, and a caravan has separate sections.
Lastly, there are many similarities between this caravan and its modern day equivalent - not just that both allow you to transport your household items, and that both keep your possession, and your accommodation above ground level.
This set may not sound a very interesting one from the title but the paintings are superb. The subjects translate as :
- Camel Caravan Guide - sometimes known as the Sandstorm Guide
- Hermit`s Bell
- Japanese Temple Bell
- Lifebuoy
- Railway Crossing
- Siamese Street Musician
It comes in French (Le Role des Cloches), German,(Die Bedeutung der Glocken) - and Italian (L`Uso delle Campane"), maybe more.
Monday, 24th June 2024
Now the clue here was very elusive, until you see the reverse, for this is Hairy Bear, from the Winnebago tribe - and a Winnebago is an often much enlarged motor home, with all the mod cons you can imagine. Expensive too, buy one new and their smallest, cheapest model starts at just under $144,000. It is almost eighteen feet long.
Ooh, and it comes in red, that`s changed everything then! I didn`t think much of the white one I saw first.
My tent cost me £10 - and so far that has reduced, by usage, to £2 a night.
The first thing to clear up is that the brand on this set "G.P." was simply the initials of George Payne. I have not found out why it was "Government Tea", though it could be something to do with the fact that I have seen an advertisement that says a shilling duty had to be paid to the Government on every box .
This set is described in our British Trade Index part II, as :
AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES. Sm. Nd. (25) See D.206 ... PCH-11
D.206 leads us to the back of the book and to another issuer, which is The Stamp Corner, in Doncaster. The listing tells us that they were primarily known for using cards as advertising, which all had the reverses inscribed "Wanted to Purchase collections of coins, stamps, cards, medals..." with the Bowers Fold address. The full details of these reverses are a bit more interesting still, because they were plain, and simply had the Stamp Corner printing on, sideways, as it were. And the advertising text reads "Wanted to Purchase collections of coins, stamps, cards, medals. Good prices paid. If you return 25 of these cards to Stamp Corner, 23 Bowers Fold, Doncaster, (Phone 3623), you may choose a 1/- set free." However this set was issued as a standard set only - and it was the only set which was not used for advertising.
After that mild digression,the text is slightly altered in our updated British Trade Index, to add the date and change the code :
AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES. 1962. Nd. (25) See HX-28 ... PAY-040
Tuesday, 25th June 2024
Here we have the "bell" tent, being pitched, by Scouts. These were the same sort of tents that were used by the Army, heavy duty, and ready for all emergencies - and the back says, straight off : "According to the Army Instructions, which it will be difficult to improve upon, 6 men are required to pitch a bell tent"
Today this tent seems to have fallen from favour in the Scouting world. They either use patrol tents, which always remind me of a garden shed, having a sideways triangle on a block at each end and the sides sloping down triangularly - but take just a team of three people to set up - or a general purpose lightweight tent which can be of any style, some even look like mine, (but maybe not blue and orange), and, most importantly, can be pitched by one person alone.
This set was issued in three versions and I cannot believe I have not used any of them before.
The difference is not easy to see without both cards, the given colour too similar. Their description in the original Gallaher reference book (RB.4, issued in 1944) does not help much either, for that reads :
1911. 100. BOY SCOUT SERIES (titled series). Size 2 1/2" x 1 1/2" approx. Numbered 1-100. Fronts, printed from half-tone screen blocks, with marginal lines and "Gallaher`s Cigarettes" in block letters printed in blue. Backs, printed in grey-green (in some lights this almost looks a light blue), with descriptions and "Issued by Gallaher, Ltd., Belfast & London."
100 BOY SCOUT SERIES (titled series). Similar to the above, but with backs "London & Belfast" instead of "Belfast & London".
1922. 100 BOY SCOUT SERIES (titled series). Size 2 1/2" x 1 1/2" approx. Numbered 1-100. Fronts, lithographed in full colours with black marginal lines and white margins. "Gallaher`s Cigarettes" in margins in blue (this blue is paler than on the previous series.). Backs, printed in sepia-brown, with descriptions and "Issued by Gallaher, Ltd, Belfast & London."
Both series of "Boy Scout " pictures were printed by A.W. Saville & Co.
NOTE - Several pictures were changed or replaced for the reprint consequently the reprint must not be regarded as identical with the first issue.
In particular variations can be noted in cards 2, 5, 8, 9, 28, 31, 33, 37, 52, 58, 59, 60, 61, 98, 100
In our World Tobacco Issues Index, confusingly, the two original 1911 sets had been placed in section 1 of the Gallaher listing, covering 1908-1919 and the reprint in section 3, issues from 1921-1929. Our set is listed as
BOY SCOUT SERIES. Sm. Back in grey-green. Nd. (100). See X1/Ha.630.A ... G12-15
(a) Back "Belfast & London"
(b) Back "London & Belfast"
Because our card is (b) it usually means that it was the second to be listed, which must mean that our card is the scarcer printing.
Now those X numbers are in the Handbook to the original World Tobacco Issues Index, which was at first a separate volume, but was later reprinted under the same cover. That tells us a lot more about this set, namely that it was issued overseas as well. It also shows the two backs, whereupon I realised that they would have confused me way less if instead of giving the colours they would have said "text back" and "decorative back", because this was the first time I knew I had been describing the wrong one. I will show those too, by the weekend.
The full listing here is :
X1/Ha.630 BOY SCOUT SERIES. The same subjects were used in two Gallaher printings in the U.K., and in a shorter series issued in Canada and U.S.A.
1. Issues in U.K. Size 64 x 38 m/m. Two backs and fronts illustrated at Fig. X1/Ha.630-A and Fig. X1/Ha.630-B Issued by Gallaher. Numbered series of 100.
A. 1911 issue. Back in grey-green. Front without framelines, see Fig. X1/Ha.630-A Back inscribed at base (a) "Belfast & London" (b) "London & Belfast".
B. 1922 issue. Back in grey-brown. Front with framelines, see Fig. X1/Ha.630-BNote: The subjects in the two printings differ at Nos. 5, 8, 9, 33, 37, 52, 58, 59, 60, 61, 98 and 100. Other numbers were redrawn in "B", in some cases with picture reversed. See C.C.N., Vol.20, pages 143-4
2. Issues in U.S.A. and Canada. Size 71 x 39 m/m. Front illustrated at Fig. X1/Ha.630-C
C. Reed Tobacco Co. Reference USA/T.45. Numbered on front. Series of 36.
D. Tuckett of Canada. Back illustrated at Fig. X1/Ha.630-D. Numbered on back. Series of 25.
E. Anonymous, with plain back. Numbered on front. No. 14 known.Note: The "C" and "E" printings are without series title, and the numbering differs from "A" and "B".
In our updated World Tobacco Issues Index there has been a further change. That reads :
BOY SCOUT SERIES. Sm. Back in grey-green. Nd. See H.630.A ... G075-135.
(a) Back "Belfast & London" (100). (b) Back "London & Belfast". Skipped numbers (86).
This skipping of numbers was not mentioned earlier, so were the cards listed without checking, or have thet disappeared in the mists of time? Any Gallaher collectors know more?
Wednesday, 26th June 2024
This seems to have nothing at all to do with sport, but the text mentions dancing and music which are certainly pastimes.
Why we have it here is the fact that the gypsies were the next link in the caravan chain, removing the place to sit and store their worldly goods in from atop a camel to a box on wheels that was pulled behind a horse or pony. And instead of richly coloured silks and fabrics forming the area, they painted theirs, on the outside and inside, and decorated them with metallic shiny objects.
You might well be looking at this card and wondering what I am on about, because the caravan on it is rather invisible. It is actually situated right in the centre towards the top, but it is not at all brightly painted, instead it is a dull yellow canvas, stretched over a hooped frame. In fact, it looks more like the sort of wagon which was used in the Wild West - which makes me think that the artist had never seen a gypsy caravan, and when one was described to them, they filled in the blanks in their mind with what they did know.
The name of the company which issued this card comes from the founder. a Mr. John Arbuckle, who was born in 1839. You may not have beard of him, but he was, at one time, considered, and called "The Coffee King".
His base was at Brooklyn, New York, and even his premises were said to be the marvel of the day, being right on the riverside, which allowed the coffee to be unloaded straight from the ships, and actually, straight from Brazil, where they had been harvested. The truth was that there were lots of other coffee importers, in the same area, almost 90% of all coffee landed at New York. Admittedly he was the largest, but there was another reason, for he was also the king of the pre-packaging industry, grinding and roasting his beans before packaging it into one pound bags and selling it through his network of salesmen. He was also very good at promotion, these cards being just one example, for they were only given out by his salesmen if you purchased his coffee. This set has fifty cards, so it would take fifty purchases to complete a set, almost a year if you bought one a week, by which time the set would almost certainly have been replaced by another.
Is that not the true reason why these early cards are so scarce today....?
By the way there is a checklist of the set, and more information at PastTimeCards/ArbuckleSports, and they also supplied the date, which is rather small for me to see. With a magnifying glass and two pairs of glasses though, the card actually says "Painting Copyrighted 1893". And it does look like all of these cards were from original paintings. The cost of that is unknown.
It also does not really supply us with a date of issue but we may be able to get that if we can find out when Ariosa coffee was first produced, as it says on this card that happened 25 years ago.
Thursday, 27th June 2024
This card shows the Volkswagen Camper, which really popularised the camper van. They were first thought of in 1947, and were based on a rather cute motorised trolley which shuttled parts etc around the factory floor at one of the VW works. The first one was made in 1949 and launched at the Geneva Motor Show. This era of camper vans can be instantly spotted because they have a windscreen in two halves, rather than the sort of one we are more used to which wraps seamlessly around the front of the vehicle. This idea lasted until 1967, but later on some people replaced the splittie with a standard new screen, and devalued the van in the process.
In 1979 the design was modernised and squared up, and given a watercooled diesel engine. Purists objected, but the camper van kept on changing, and some feel it never looked so cute as it did to start with. Today there is an all new and fully electric Kalifornia camper, which could have been the start of a return to the old style, but is somehow still too angular.
This very striking artwork is often thought, and said, to be by Ed Roth, also known as "Big Daddy"; a cartoonist and also a custom car artwork designer, who created the characters called "Rat Fink" and "Mr. Gasser". However this set was not his work, instead it was R.K. "Bob" Taylor, leaning on Mr. Roth for inspiration, and certainly putting his love of art and cars together in this set, or rather this group of sets, because there was a whole string of them, starting in 1969 with the original "Odd Rods".
The basic idea was simple, soup up some cars and give them maniacal monsters to drive them. That first set, issued in 1969, was just forty-four stickers long. The following year gave us "Odder" and "Oddest" Odd Rods, which were each sets of sixty-six but actually combined to make one long series numbered from 1-132.
After that it got really complex for the cartophilist, because in 1971 there was an "Odd Rods All Stars", sixty-six cards, but selected from the first three sets.Then, even more confusion, for in 1973 the original second set "Odder" was reprinted in its entirety, under the new title of "Fabulous Odd Rods", and "Oddest" was also reprinted, as "Fantastic Odd Rods", in two series, though series one now contained cards 67-132 and series two was 1-66.
I am unsure why the reprints were done, but they certainly muddied the waters. Donruss had other ideas for new cards, using monsters and motorbikes for "Silly Cycles" (a set of sixty-six, issued in 1972) and also "Fiends and Machines" (another set of sixty-six, issued in 1970). The latter was really fun too, for there were thirty-three cars and thirty three monsters, so you could have endless fun putting one above the other and making any monster drive any car.
At this point we add more confusion, as in 1980 Topps came along and made a similar set, of fifty-five, called "Weird Wheels". They are pretty easy to spot though as the artwork fills the card more - and there is a Topps credit line along the bottom. Topps stalwart Norm Saunders and Gary Hallgren supplied the art for these cards, so if you look closely you can spot that they are slightly differently drawn to the originals.
Subsequently there was a battle as to who owned the trademark, and you can read all about that at IPTrademarkAttorneys
Anyway this definitely gives us loads of scope to see many more of these cards featured in our gallery, and I, for one, look forward to that immensely.
Friday, 28th June 2024
Here is probably the pinnacle of the recreational vehicle, or "RV", which is the new name for a caravan. Or a vehicle made by this factory, anyway, for this is towards the lower end of the scale price wise. These vehicles are homes, rather than caravans, and it would be possible to live very comfortably in them without having to suffer any of the things that non-campers feel are drawbacks to a life on the road.
However when the company started, in 1966, their selling point was that they cost about half as much as their competitors. They were of great quality, and already well equipped, but the gimmick was not only what set them apart, but what acted as free advertising amongst the other campers that they would be meeting as they toured around in places that no dealers or salesmen ever visited. And what could have been seen, and discounted, as a huge risk actually paid off.
Now this set is a base set of a hundred cards, which include a range of UV coated pictures of Winnebagos and Itascas dating from 1958 to 1994, as well as archive cards of relics associated with the company, logos, and a checklist. But there are also cards of their sponsorship of motor car racing, and these are beginning to attract a premium. And there were two hologram chase cards, number one showing a brand new 1995 Rialta, and number two being one of the early 1968 model F19s - but these are quite scarce, because they only came as part of the Factory Box Set.
The only thing I do not know yet is why this is Series 1, because I have not found a series two. Maybe you know of one though, and can tell us all about it?
and there you go, the weekend has just chimed itself into existence, and it is time to celebrate or to relax, whatever you most enjoy.