Newsletter - 2024-08-17

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Nestle [trade : confectionery : O/S : Switzerland] "Inventeurs" / "Inventors" - series V, stamp 6

Today, in 1807, saw the start of the first steam powered boat to run a commercial service. This was the North River Steamboat and it chugged out of New York and headed out along the Hudson River at an average speed of five miles an hour towards Albany. The journey, there and back, took sixty-two hours. Today, this journey, there and back, by road, takes about three hours. 

Our man, Robert Fulton, was born on November 14th 1765, at a place called Little Britain, in Pennsylvania. He was not even a teenager when he started to tinker with steam, and have the idea that, if controlled, it could be used for propulsion. There had been earlier steamships, the earliest recorded being the French vessel Palmipede, which was built in 1776. And there had also been one made in America, in 1787. It seems likely that Robert Fulton was aware of these, and maybe both used them for inspiration, and noted refinements that he might make.

By the time he made his steamboat, he was well known in Naval circles, and had already designed a submarine, the original Nautilus, for Napoleon Bonaparte. He had also visited James Watt, in England. Possibly this was not a special trip, but part of his visits to Britain, working on steam-powered boats for use on the Bridgewater Canal in 1796-1800. He also spent some time in Paris, which is where he first conducted experiments into the feasibility of designing a missile which could leave a ship secretly, below the water, by means of air-compression chambers. Today we call these torpedoes.

He seems to have enjoyed travelling the world, and did not lack for companions. Indeed it came as a surprise when he married Harriet Livingston, in 1808. He was forty-three and she was twenty five. And they went on to have four children, the youngest of which was only two when he died, in 1815, as the result of saving one of his friends from drowning in a frozen river. However the oldest child was born in the same year that he was married, which may explain the why he did.

Now according to the Trading Card Database/Robert Fulton, his first card was issued in 1887 by the Lone Jack Cigarette Co., closely followed the next year by Duke`s "Great Americans". Neither of these had biographical details. You can see all the rest by clicking that link. Our card was sent to us by a reader who joined in with the search when we featured another version of this set, as part of our newsletter dated 22nd of July 2024 (on Saturday 22nd of June, so not much scrolling down required there). However that set is branded on the top border for Peter, Cailler, Kohler, Nestlé - whilst ours is just Nestle alone. There are other differences too, because on the bottom border it says Serie IX and ours is Serie V. In addition we know that this set was also issued by Cailler alone, and that their name appears, like Nestle`s does on our card, in the decorative cartouche which is inside the picture, whilst the joint issued card has the title of the set in that place. 

We have also managed to complete the list of cards, the missing ones turning out to be 5. Niepce - photography and 8. Pasteur - vaccine de la rage

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Salem Cigarettenfabrik G.m.b.H. [tobacco : O/S - Germany - Dresden] "Die Welt in Bildern" Serie 96,`Bilder aus Sudschweden` (19??) Bild 3/1180 - S033-900.3 :S14-10.3 : X24-8.3.H

Our second day of this week celebrates a strange disappearance, that of Virginia Dare, born today in 1587 and died, well nobody knows.... 

All that we do know is that she was the first English child to be born in America, and she was the grand-daughter of the governor of Virginia, John White. This is how she came to carry the colony name as her own. Her mother, the daughter of John White, had been married a few years earlier to a tiler and brickmaker, who also went to Virginia, and whose skills were well used to build the colony. 

Another child, a boy, was also born that year, to another of the settlers. And nine children had gone across.

John White returned to England later that year, because the settlers were in urgent need of supplies. He thought he would load his ship and return, but unfortunately the Spanish Armada prevented this, and he did not return for three years. And when he did, he found the buildings deserted and not a trace of anyone he had left behind, some eighty men, seventeen women, and eleven children. 

Most curious was that they had a signal set up, that if they were forced to leave, that someone would carve the sign of a cross into a tree. This was never done, but they did leave a single word "Croatoan", which was the name of an island nearby. However he never searched there, and I am not sure why, all that was recorded was that he was "unable" to search.

As to what actually happened there are many theories, that they went with the Native Americans, either forcibly, or willingly when their own food ran out, or that disease claimed them, though no trace was found of any burials. One thing we do know though, and that is that in the intervening years the Native Americans in that region suddenly seem to have developed the ability to build houses out of stone, rather than living under canvas - maybe their new companions showed them how...

Now reportedly Virginia Dare has been used for all manner of advertising, even though there is no real idea of what she looked like. If some of that advertising is ephemeral, and you can supply a scan, I will happily change this card, which is only here because I found no other. Though it is a grandfather, with a child, and the clothing is somewhat reminiscent of what the colonists may have worn. 

Now this set was featured as our Card of the Day for February the 2nd 2022, which means that I will try to find another maker for either that card or this. We have already used Jasmatzi, but there is plenty of scope for other reverses! All offers welcomed, with thanks in advance, and I will only require a scan of the reverse. 

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Zigarettenbilder-Zentrale Kosmos [tobacco : O/S - Germany] "Sieg uber Raum und Zeit" / "Victory over Space and Time" (1952) 237/250 - K737-800 : K38-17

Today, in 1871, was the birthday of Orville Wright, brother of Wilbur, both pioneer fliers. By the way, these were not twins, as is sometimes said, and Wilbur was born earlier, by some time, on April the 16th, 1867. 

They not only designed and built an aeroplane, but they flew it, in the first controlled and sustained flight of an engine-powered, heavier than air, craft, called The Wright Flyer, on December 17th 1903, though the flight was only of eight hundred and fifty two feet in length and lasted just twelve seconds duration. There were other flights too, on the same day, and both brothers flew, but Wilbur was at the controls when the longest flight was done.

Yet they were home grown inventors, who ran a little shop selling and repairing bicycles and machinery. And it was those bicycles that held the key to their exploration of flight, because it showed them that a machine, even with additional weight, could become balanced enough that you could gain propulsion in a forward motion.

Sadly their fame did not bring them happiness nor success. In less than ten years they were one of many aircraft designers, and several craft were faster and better designed. There were many problems with the business and continual fights to protect their patent, which had not been for an aeroplane but for the system they used, easy to counteract with just slight changes.

In 1911 the brothers found cartophilic fame on their first ever card, issued by American Tobacco, as part of a lovely set called "The Aviators" (T.38). In fact I think it is one of the best sets ever, though the version with the gold back is very hard to read. This was the only card that it would have been possible for both brothers to see, for in 1912, Wilbur Wright died, of typhoid. And, less than five years later, Orville sold the business.

Now time is short so I will direct you to WrightBros.org - which has many fascinating pages and also a really good biography, which is where this link will take you. 

If you want a cartophilic tribute, then fly over to the Trading Card Database/OrvilleWright - where there are a hundred and fifty seven cards listed, though only six were issued during his lifetime 

Now this card looks like a 1920s and 30s one, but it is not, it was issued in the 1950s. However Kosmos did issue cards in that period, starting in 1928, though they were founded much earlier, in 1886. They also used an alias, of "Walter Krebs, Luxor-Bilderstelle". Their first cards, up until 1942, were issued out of Dresden, then, after the Second World War, they seem to have relocated to Memmingen, so that is a great way of telling when the card in your hand was issued. 

This set is listed in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, which was itself only published in the late 1950s, as : 

SIEG UBER RAUM UND ZEIT : AUTOS - FLUGZEUGE - SCHIFFE. (Victory over Space and Time : Motor Cars - Aeroplanes - Ships). Md. 74 x 54 and Lg. 108 x 74. Partly black and white. Nd. (250) ... K38-17

This description is repeated in our updated volume, but the "black and white" has been shortened to "B & W". 

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Goodies Ltd [trade : confectionery : UK - Watford & Bristol] "Mini Monsters" (1970) 7/25 - GOO-180 : GOT-8

A very unusual one now, because today is World Mosquito Day

According to the Trading Card Database/Mosquito/Insect there are only five cards of this insect, and ours is not amongst them. There is also another missing one, because "Britain's Nocturnal Wildlife" was issued both by Grandee and Doncella. Plus we can add that it was featured by Liebig. One set was issued in 1942, in the Netherlands as "De Muggen" and in France as "Les Moustiques". This has the reference numbers of F.1440 and S.1447. Whilst yet another appearance comes as card five of the 1956 Liebig set called "Arthopodes venimeux ou vecteurs de maladies du Congo" - or insect based diseases of the Congo" - the others being spider, scorpion, flea, tsetse fly and something called the Taon De La Filariose - which I have no clue about. 

Now in our original British Trade Index part II, this set is not listed, though the header does tell us that Goodies Ltd were based at Watford and Bristol, and that they had issued four sets of cards between 1961 and 1967, these being "Flags and Emblems", two series of "The Monkees" the first being black and white and the second being coloured, a set of "Prehistoric Animals", and lastly "Wide World - People of Other Lands". These are found as sets GOT1 to GOT-4.

However in our original British Trade Index part III, they have had a huge flurry of other issues - eleven of them, of which our set is one, described as : 

MINI MONSTERS. 68 x 36. Nd. (25) issued 1970 ... GOT-8

In the updated version of our British Trade Index we find out a lot more, including an additional three sets. The full listing of our set is : 

GOODIES LTD. Watford & Bristol
Confectionery, sweet cigarettes. Issued 1961-1971. Later issues in post 1970 volume. 

MINI MONSTERS. 1970. 68 x 36. Nd. (25). Cards issued in packs of Sweet Cigarettes. Set of 4 packs, displaying different insect `monsters` ... GOO-180

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W.D. & H.O. Wills [tobacco : UK - Bristol] "Art Photogravures" (February 1912) 5/50 - W675-550 : W62-397 : W/43.A.i

Here we have the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Now she was not painted today, or bought by the Louvre Museum in France then, and it is nothing to do with her artist.

Today`s event concerns the last line of this card, it reads :
"The disappearance from the Louvre, in 1911, when it was stolen, caused a sensation throughout the world, and its fate is still unknown." 

And it was indeed still missing when this card was issued. 

Now after this newsletter was published, we had a discovery, thanks to Mr. Andrew Walters, a regular reader, and that was a second version of our card, which he has kindly scanned for us.

The text on this version is identical as the one above, until almost to the end and then it says :
"The disappearance from the Louvre in 1911, when it was stolen, caused a sensation throughout the world, as did its equally dramatic recovery at Florence, December 1913." 

So now I am wondering if any of the other cards were updated in later printings? 

So to the tale of the theft. It happened in the early morning and was not discovered until a wealthy patron arrived at the Louvre Museum and asked to look at the painting. Then, to everyone`s amazement, it was not there. To me, this is rather a link in the chain, and you may feel so too as we continue. 

The story goes that an Italian immigrant, Pietro Vincenzo Antonio Peruggia, who was working at the museum, as well as being an amateur artist, took the painting. He had accomplices, two other workers, and they simply took it off the wall when nobody was looking, hid it in a cupboard, and then left with it in the morning.

Now he is very hard to find anything about, and, oddly, he was both born and died on the 8th of October, 1881 and 1925 respectively.

He moved from Italy to Paris a few years before the theft, in 1908, and he gained employment at the Louvre quite easily. As to what he did there, there are many thoughts, some say that he cleaned paintings, whilst others say that he retouched them, painting in the bits that were missing, something that was not strictly honourable, but must have been sanctioned by the gallery. There are also tales that he did not touch the paintings, he was a skilled woodworker who made replacement frames - or that he made the boxes that the paintings in storage were kept inside

There are problems with all this, because we know that he was arrested in 1908, and for something that resulted in him having a mugshot taken by the police, so not just a petty theft or accident. We do not know what it was. However it would have surely come up when he was interviewed to work at the Louvre. Then there is his own statement, shortly after his arrest, in which he says that he entered the museum, out of sight amidst the staff, and stole a smock to make him appear to be one of the workers.Well if he worked there, especially as a painter, he would surely have had a smock, and also would have had no need to sneak in with the staff.  Then he made his way about the gallery, found the painting, and took it off the wall, hiding it in a stairwell.

There were other versions, that he told later, too. In one he said that he stole the smock to wrap the painting in, but found the work to be too large, and in another that he simply used it to wrap the painting in before running out through the same door he had come in by. He never says in the later versions that he hid the painting or even tried to. Then there is another story, that he was not stealing it, but returning it to Italy, the land of its birth. 

He was eventually captured, and sent to jail for just over a year, though this was later reduced and he only served just over six months. 

All the while, there are other stories, that he either stole it for a private collector, possibly the "wealthy patron" who had turned up almost as the painting had gone, and the deal went sour, or that someone wanted to make copies and flood the market with them, or even to replace the original with a copy, maybe done by our man, return that to the Louvre, and then own the original without anyone knowing. This latter one is also backed up by the fact that the painting was hidden for two years, in our man`s apartment, perhaps whilst he worked on that copy.

Now this is not the only cartophilic appearance of this beautiful lady, for she also appears on R & J Hill “Famous Pictures” (H554-335 : H46-26 : H.468 ~1913) 2/25 - John Player “Miniatures” (P644-230 : P72-111 : RB.17/127 ~ June 1923) 1/25 - and on Coopers Tea “Mysteries and Wonders of the World” second series of 25 (1961) number 35 (the mystery and wonder being that her eyes reputedly seem to follow you around the gallery as you walk).

Our set was first catalogued in the original Wills booklets, parts III and IV. In part III it describes it at length, over three pages. I will attempt to shorten this for you, and one of the pages is a checklist of the cards, which I will gloss over.

The first section reads : 

43. ART PHOTOGRAVURES - Two series of 50. Fronts printed by gravure in brown. Backs per Fig. 35 in brown, with descriptive back (except C.3 below). General Overseas Issues, 1913-14, but in view of the number of cards found in this country, it appears likely that some cards were circulated in U.K. brands. In South Africa the cards were accompanied by coupons, which were exchangeable for a "Handsome Photogravure" measuring 15" x 20". 

The size of cards in all issues is extremely variable. Cards under A (i) and D average rather smaller than normal, all other issues are noticeably larger than normal, almost medium size. Approximate measurements are given below, but it should be noted that a great many cards of the larger size are found cut down - presumably by collectors holding mixed batches of cards who desired to standardise their cards to the smaller size. 

1st 50 Subjects :-

A. Backs per Fig. 35.A WITH dots between "W.D." and "H.O." of name in circle trade mark. Letters "H.O." close together. Words "Trade Mark" quite legible. The back format of all cards is VERTICAL, There were two printings :-
    (i) Average size 67 x 33 m/m. Small size portraits. On fronts, title appears immediately below portrait, with painter`s name underneath. There are thus TWO lines of letterpress on fronts.
   (ii) Average size 67 x 44 m/m. Larger size portraits. On fronts, title of portrait appears on right, painter`s name on left. There is thus only ONE line of letterpress on fronts.

B. Backs per Fig. 35.B. As A., but letters "H.O." normally spaced. Average size 67 x 42 m/m. There is one printing only. The back format of cards Nos. 1-4, 8, 16 and 41 is HORIZONTAL - other cards VERTICAL. On the seven cards with backs in horizontal format, the words "ART PHOTOGRAVURES" are in capitals. On fronts, title of portrait appears on right, painter`s name on left

C. Anonymous Issues - Average size 67 x 43 m/m. On fronts, title of portrait appears on right, painter`s name on left. 
    C.1. Backs per Fig.35 C.1, without circle trade mark and WITH frame line. At card No.5 "The Question" replaces "Mona Lisa"
    C.2. As C.1., but WITHOUT FRAMELINES
    C.3. Plain backs

Note : complete sets of the above have not been compared card for card with series A and B - such a comparison will probably reveal variations. 

2nd 50 Subjects -

D. Backs per Fig.35.D, WITHOUT dots between "W.D." and "H.O." of name in circle trade mark. Words "Trade Mark" hardly legible. Average size 67 x 36 m/m/ The back format of all cards is VERTICAL. On fronts, title appears immediately below portrait, with painter`s name underneath

I will add in the figures and the comparison back photos, asap

Now in our original Wills booklet part IV, there was an update, which reads :

43. ART PHOTOGRAVURES - see pages 90-92. 
The anonymous series under "C.2" was issued in Canada - see page 41, item C.43, of Mr. Burdick`s American Catalogue

As you might imagine, this text is shortened for our original World Tobacco Index. It falls under Wills` "Other Export Issues", and says that the sets were "...issued chiefly in Channel Islands, Malta, India and Malaya".  It reads : 

ART PHOTOGRAVURES. Sm. Brown gravures. Nd. See W/43 ... W62-397. 

1. First 50 subjects. Back with dots between "W.D." and "H.O." and words "Trade Mark" quite legible in circle. 
    A. Letters "H.O." close together.
        (a) Size about 67 x 33. Small portraits on front.
        (b) Size about 67 x 41-2. Larger portraits on front
   B. Letters "H.O." normally spaced. Size about 67 x 42-43

2. Second 50 subjects. Back without dots between "W.D." and "H.O." and words "Trade Mark" scarcely legible or partly omitted. Size 67 x 36

This is exactly the same in our updated version, except the code has been enlarged.

As for the Canadian issue, it is there in the original World Tobacco Issues Index as well, but some distance away, right at the back of the book and coded as ZB4-3 (and as ZB04-40 in our updated version). The text in both reads : 

ART PHOTOGRAVURES. Sm. Brown gravures. Nd (50) See W/43

(a) printing C.1., with framelines. Size 70 x 41
(b) printing C.2., without framelines. Size 68 x 48. Issued in Canada. Ref USA/C43. 

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John Player & Sons [tobacco : UK - Nottingham] "Arms & Armour" (April 1909) 27/50 - P72-15 : P/12 [RB.17/12] : H.273

As I am running out of time a bit, I have chosen to remember today in 1485, which is when the Battle of Bosworth Field took place. This was also known as the Battle of Bosworth, but it is a vitally important event, because it was the final battle of the Wars of the Roses, Yorkshire versus Lancashire, and it led to Henry Tudor becoming not just King of England, but the first Tudor King. Whilst his opponent, the Plantagenet Richard III, lost, in every way, for he was killed on the field, becoming the last English King to die in combat. 

Henry Tudor did one other very interesting thing though, for he married a princess from the opposing side, hoping to unite both the warring factions together. We are not sure that it worked entirely, but it was a good thought.

Now our card shows a foot soldier with a hand gun, though it is way too large to fit in a hand, however it was carried in the hand rather than wheeled on to a field like a cannon. This may sound a very early use of such a weapon, and you may think it the first of all - but that honour goes t the Chinese, who, not un-connectedly, also invented gunpowder. If you read the description of these weapons, you will see that the one shown is not much further along in the development, for the Chinese ones were tubes full of gunpowder, held up by spears.

Now when we uploaded this newsletter this card was entirely different, being F. & J. Smith`s "Battlefields of Great Britain", however we had used that card before, so now we have this one. Like the Smith`s card, we can also, with this, add another back to our growing gallery of the various backs of this set of cards. And don`t forget that the main listing for this set can be found as our Card of the Day for 18th of September, 2023 - and it also has the links to the other brands that we have featured so far.

Now the Player version is quite an important one, because, unlike some of the other issuers, they have a reference book (RB.17, published in 1950) which gives extra information. The entry there reads : 

12. 50 ARMS & ARMOUR. Small cards. Fronts in colour, no border. Backs with descriptive text. 
A. Home issue, April, 1909. Backs in blue, with I.T.C. clause
B. Overseas issue, April 1926. Backs in grey, without I.T.C. clause.
Similar series issued by Hignett, Mitchell, Wills and Anonymous.

By the time of our World Tobacco Issues Index, this text has been reduced, and also split, the Home issue being found under section 2.A of the Player listings ("Issues with I.T.C. Clause. All issued in the U.K.") and described as :

ARMS & ARMOUR. Sm. Nd. (50). See H.273 ... P72-15

and the overseas issue being in section 3.B, ("Export issues without I.T.C. Clause. Issued through B.A.T., chiefly in New Zealand, Malays and Siam."). It has the same text as for the Home issue, but a different code, P72-174. 

This is slightly altered in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, though they remain split. The home issue is in the same section, 2.A, but the text now adds "Back in blue" between the Sm. and the Nd. and changes the card code to P644-040. The export issue, however, has been relocated to section 4.A, because the modern Player issues now occupy section 3. That text also adds the colour back in, placing "Back in grey"  between Sm. and Nd. 

As for H.273, well you can find that at the main listing for this set, which is as our Card of the Day for 18th of September, 2023

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Brooke Bond [trade : tea : UK] "Out Into Space" (19) 8/50 - BRO-285.b : BRM-14.b : B.3

And we end this week with our Centenary Card, which celebrates a very exciting event in which the planet Mars came within fifty-six million kilometres of Earth, the closest it had come for many years.

In fact that last near pass was in 1845, and then it was almost exactly the same distance away, which suggests that this is part of a regular orbit. And in August 2003, they again neared each other, but by only fifty-five million kilometres. Looking back still further I also find that there was an approach in August 1766. And I discovered a table that you may find interesting - at Alpo-Astronomy

Now Mars is the red planet, though it is actually more like deep orange, and simply caused by iron oxide dust. It is also the planet of War, red being for anger, and Mars being the God of War, so, understandably, people were scared that the Warriors of Mars were planning an attack on the Earth during that time.

We know that the first time that Mars appeared in a written story was in 1656, and it was part of a dramatized trip around the solar system, or the parts of it that were known at that time. Intriguingly Mars was depicted as uninhabitable due to volcanic activity. 

It was really in the nineteenth century that the Mars and Martian phenomenon started, thanks to H.G. Wells "The War of the Worlds", published in 1897, and he admitted that he chose Mars because it was already known that life on the Moon would be improbable. He was also hoping that his readers would recall the news headlines of just twenty years earlier, when an Italian astronomer had discovered that Mars had many channels incised into its surface. He described these as Canali, and somehow the general public believed them to be canals - but if you translate "canali" into English it actually means channels, and it does not suggest life, or any construction work, simply a long line in a surface. 

This set is a very good one, yet quite expensive now. It was the third set of cards to to be issued by Brooke Bond, after "British Birds" by Frances Pitt (B.1 - complete in just twenty cards) and "Wild Flowers" by John Markham (B.2 - the first set of fifty) -  though earlier, much earlier, advertising cards have now been discovered.

It comes in two formats, which are described very well in our British Trade Index part II, as : 

OUT INTO SPACE. Sm. Nd. (50) ... BRM-14

A. British issue (B.3)
    (a) Back "Issued with Brooke Bond ..." (No.11 with captions "Inner Planets" and "Outer Planets")
   (b) Back "Issued in Packets of Brooke Bond ..." (No.11 without the above caption wordings.

B. South African issue, back with title and text in Englisg and Afrikaans "In die Buitenste Ruimte". Pretoria address. SA.3

By the time of our updated British Trade Index, the text is shortened, and there are scant details of the South African issue. The entire text reads : 

OUT INTO SPACE. 1956. Nd. (50). Back (a) "Issued with... " No.11 (a) with (b) without "Inner Planets" and "Outer Planets" (b) "Issued in Packets ..."  Also issued in South Africa.