This intro is always done last, because it takes the least time, and if I do run late then I can do this easier than a final card (or three).
This week has been interesting for me, with a few highlights, dinosaur golf, and nipper`s six month birthday, which was on Friday, and he also had his first bus journey, just one stop, on Tuesday, just to see if he liked it, and as he tolerated it, without barking, there will be more. However, the days in the middle of the week dragged a bit, and, as always, a lack of entertaining things to do led to a lack of enthusiasm.
So this week, our cast of characters involves : two Queens, a college, two forms of sewing, a 1960s pop group and a 1970s sci-fi. On Friday. What can I say.
Lets start with one of those Queens then...
Kings [trade : laundries : UK - York] "Kings and Queens" - untitled (1954) 7/30 - KIN-150 : KIH-1 : HX-116 : D.314
Let us start with our first trip back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, for today, in 1533, a child was born, who would one day become Queen Elizabeth I. However if you look at the back of this card it gives another date, 1558 - but that is when she became queen.
Elizabeth was born at Greenwich, to Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. He then married Jane Seymour, and had a son, and, at that time, a male child automatically took precedence, that was Edward VI, born in 1537. However though he did take the throne, in 1547, aged just nine years old, he died in 1553. Elizabeth was still not next in line, because she had a half-sister, Mary, but she also died in November 1558. And so Queen Elizabeth I was Queen of England.
There are many such twists of fate in the story of royalty, all over the world
This is an unusual set, and it was also issued by other manufacturers. However we think it was intended to be issued even earlier, because the last monarch featured is George VI, and by the time it was issued by Kings Laundries, the first to do so, in 1954, his daughter, our late Queen Elizabeth II was already on the throne. This fact looks even stranger by the time it was issued by the others, Kane in 1959, and both Gaycon and Gee's Food Products in 1961.
In our original British Trade Index part II this manufacturer, oddly, appears under a slightly different name - as only :
KINGS, York
Cleaners and dyers. Cards issued in 1950s. For anonymous silks issued by the firm, see Sets ZS81, ZS8-2.KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND (A). Sm. 67 x 37. Nd. (30). See D.314. Album issued. ... KIH-1
Perhaps this is because, immediately beneath this listing, appears "KINGS LAUNDRIES, Walthamstow", but I have not been able to make any connection between the two firms.
Those sets of silks, I am certain you are wondering, were "Flags of All Nations" and "Ships of the World", both being sets of twenty-four cards, and measuring 54 x 38 m/m.
Of course the "D" code is the one that lists the other issuers, at the back of the book, and that reads
D.314. KINGS AND QUEENS. Nd. (30)
Gaycon Products - Set GAY-1 [1961 - and a numbered version is known]
Gee - Set GEE-1 [1955]
Kane Products - Set KAA-11 [1959 - issued in two sizes 64 x 35 and 96 x 67]
Kings, York - Set KIH-1 [1954]
Queens, York - Set QUH-1 [1955]
That solves the mystery of why our set was only listed as "Kings, York" then, because the "Queens, York" is under another section, not sure why, and was issued a year later. That listing reads
QUEENS, York
Laundry. Cards issued in 1950s.KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND (A). Sm. 67 x 37. Nd. (30). See D.314. Album issued. ... QUH-1
However I am wondering if the "Queens" card were branded for Queens? Think that will have to be over to you....
Now in our updated British Trade Index the two sets of silks are listed with the Kings and Queens set - which is described as :
KINGS, York
Cleaners and dyers. Issued 1954.KINGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND (A). 67 x 37. Nd. (30). Album issued. See HX-116 ... KIN-150
There remains a separate listing for Queens of York, but catalogued the same as this, with the code of QUE-070
Jacques [trade : chocolate : O/S : Belgium] "Sports Insolites" / "Ongewone Sporten" / "Unusual Sports" (1967) 64/144
Leaping about a century ahead of our last story, and an ocean away, here we are at Harvard, founded today in 1636 in Massachusetts, and becoming the first college in the American colonies.
Now popular to belief, the English scholar John Harvard did not found the college, but he did donate half his estate and his library of precious books and texts (all but one of which were destroyed in a fire in 1764). In fact there was no founder as such, only a ballot, in which the idea of starting a college had good support, and so it happened.
Strangely enough it does not look as if any of John Harvard`s estate was used to build the college on. We know that the sum of £400 was given for the building thereof by the colony, and it seems likely that its location, at Newtowne, was renamed Cambridge because the English Cambridge was where John Harvard had received his Master of Arts degree
The Medical School came along in 1782, but the Dentistry branch not until 1867, and the Law School in 1817. And the college gradually spilled out across the land, adding sports fields in 1874, and a proper stadium in 1903. And it is football that most people connect with the college to this day, by which I mean American football, as shown on this card.
There is another important fact too, for Harvard has the honour of being one of the teams who took part in what are today considered the very first games of American football, on May 14 and 15, 1874 the other team being from McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. It was noted that the Canadian team played somewhat of a different game, running with the ball, and using any means to bring their opponent down; however, these little tweaks soon turned up in the American games too. And, after all, Harvard did win, 3-0.
This card has three titles above simply because the third is my English translation of the other two. Both of these words mean "unusual" - "Insolites" is French and "Ongewone" is Afrikaans. Now this could mean that the set was exported to South Africa, or a neighbouring country, or it could refer to the fact that I am thinking it is Afrikaans but it could well be Dutch, the language from which Afrikaans was originally developed.
As far as the sports being unusual, I suppose that American football might have looked a little odd in Belgium at that time, but today there is a Belgian American Football League, which was founded in 1987. I have not found a checklist online either, but I do know that the album has spaces for 144 cards. If anyone knows of a checklist, please do let us know.
American Tobacco Co. [tobacco : O/S - USA] "Men [and Women] of History" (1911) Un/50 - A565-112.A : A54-55.A : X2/T.68 : ABC/T.68 (half) : USA T.68
Here we have Mary Queen of Scots, who, today, in 1543, became Queen at just nine months of age.Because she was too young to rule, she had help, including from her mother.
In December 1543 England took advantage and invaded Scotland, intending to make her honour the arranged marriage between herself and Henry VIIII`s son Edward. Instead of this, she found herself sent to France. The war lasted for eight years, and at one time it almost spread into France to fetch her back but this was abandoned. In the mean time, she had been married, aged just fifteen, to the Dauphin of France. However he died in December 1560, and she found herself widowed, at the age of eighteen.
She returned to Scotland, and re-married, her half cousin. They had a son, who would grow up to rule both Kingdoms, as James VI of Scotland and James I of England. The marriage was unsuccessful though, and her husband was involved in at least two murders before he was also killed in 1567. There are rumours galore of what actually happened to cause his death, but it is thought most probable that the fourth Earl of Bothwell did the deed, maybe at the instigation of Mary, who he married the month after. However for some reason things went sour, Mary was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle and made to give the throne to her one year old son. She fled to England, hoping that Queen Elizabeth, a relative, would help. Instead Elizabeth locked her up too, for eighteen years, then having her beheaded in 1587.
This set looks straightforward, but has two strange things associated with it.
The first, which we reveal with this card, involves the title, because though it is known pretty universally as "Men of History", there are two cards of women, ours of Mary Queen of Scots, and another of Queen Elizabeth I, and on those two cards the title of the set is altered, to read "Men and Women of History". The other cards just say "Men of History".
The second is also on the card, because below that line it says "2nd Series. No. 51-100". However there was no other set called "Men of History" with or without the two women. The first series was actually called "Heroes of History", and it was primarily issued with our "Miners Extra Smoking Tobacco" and/or with "Royal Bengals", though other brands carried them too.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index our set is described as :
MEN OF HISTORY. Lg. 85 x 58. Inscribed "2nd Series". Unnd. (50). Brand issues. See ABC/T.68 (half) and X2/T.68. Ref. USA T.68. ... A54-55
A. "Miners Extra Smoking Tobacco" and "Royal Bengals"
B. "Pan Handle" and "Royal Bengals"
C. "Pan Handle Scrap". back (a) blue on white (b) black on silver.
D. "Royal Bengals", back in (a) black (b) brown
Now as at the moment we have not featured a card from "Heroes of History", the listing for that in the same book runs as follows:
HEROES OF HISTORY. Lg. 85 x 58. Unnd. (50). Brand issues. See ABC/T.68 (half) and X2/T.68. Ref. USA T.68. ... A54-48
A. "Miners Extra Smoking Tobacco" and "Royal Bengals"
B. "Natural Leaf Scrap" and "Royal Bengals"
C. "Royal Bengals".
In the almost fifty years which elapsed between the printing of the original World Tobacco Issues Index and the updated version, a few things had changed, not least the facts that neither the original "X" referenced handbook, or the American Book of Checklists, were so readily available to collectors. So that listing reads :
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index our set is described as :
MEN OF HISTORY. Lg. 85 x 58. Inscribed "2nd Series". Unnd. (50). Brand issues. Ref. USA T.68. ... A565-112.A
A. "Miners Extra Smoking Tobacco" and "Royal Bengals"
B. "Natural Leaf" and "Royal Bengals"
C. "Pan Handle" and "Royal Bengals". back (a) blue on white (b) black on silver.
D. "Royal Bengals", back in (a) black, F.2 and 17 (b) brown
I am not sure why the recording of these brands has altered so much. Maybe I will find out with time, or someone will tell me quicker? By the way, the listing for the other part of the series has seen similar alteration, and now reads :
HEROES OF HISTORY. Lg. 85 x 58. Unnd. (50). Brand issues. Ref. USA T.68. ... A565-098
A. "Miners Extra Smoking Tobacco" and "Royal Bengals"
B. "Natural Leaf Scrap" and "Royal Bengals"
C. "Pan Handle Scrap" and "Royal Bengals".
D. "Royal Bengals", F.2 and 17
Guerin-Boutron [trade : chocolate : O/S : Paris, France] "Les Bienfaiteurs de L`Humanitie" / "The Benefactors of Humanity" (1901) Un/84
Today Elias Howe patented his sewing machine. Which looks very similar to those we still use today, save the colour and the extra plastic cladding.
Our card tells us that Elias Howe was born in 1819 and died in 1876. Actually he was Elias Howe, Jr., according to Duke`s "Great Americans" (N76), which was issued in 1888. And he also appears on Allen & Ginter`s "World's Inventors" (A25), again issued in 1888.
He was born on July 9, 1819, and became employed in a textile factory, where he presumably was a bit bored, and started to think of ways that his job could be improved. He was a machinist and a mechanic, so put the two skills together and attempted to mechanise the sewing machine. It took him about six years, on and off, during which other people also had the same idea. In fact his patent, which we celebrate today, was the fifth such sewing machine patent to be granted by the U.S. Patent Office, but his operated in a radically different way, having the material inserted in an easier manner, and making the stitching more secure than any other had been. And most of all it worked when it was presented.
Sadly things went downhill after that, mainly because it was easy to make a sewing machine once you saw one working, and other people copied it mercilessly. He went to court several times, especially a five year running battle with Isaac Singer, which he eventually did win. The money that he did make was mostly donated to the Union Army, when Civil War broke out. He also served, for almost three years, in the volunteer infantry, but his health was poor and they seem to have taken pity on him and given his simple light duties.
One curious fact is that if you come across trade cards for Howe`s Sewing Machine Company, it is not our man. However it is his brother, and his son and sons in law. This operated until 1873, and the name continued later under new, non familial, ownership. By then our man was no more, he had died, of gout, in October 1867, aged just forty-eight.
There seems no checklist of this set, and though it clearly says a set of 84, the cards are unnumbered. However I have found a few online (and will add any others as I find them). These are :
- Berthelot - acetylene gas
- Christophe Colomb - exploration
- Daubenton - agriculture
- Dombasle - agriculture
- Humphrey Davy - miners lamp
- Fulton - steam navigation
- Velentin Hauy - education
- Jenner - smallpox vaccine
- Jussieu - botanical gardens
- Justinien - Emperor of the Orient
- Koch - cholera vaccine
- Monge - mathematics
- Nobel - founded the Nobel Prize
- Passy - peace
- Pythagore - philosophy and mathematics
- Renaudot - philanthropy
- Jules Simon - philanthropy
- Strabon - geography
- Torricelli - barometer
Now the inclusion of Nobel has truly invalidated the date usually quoted for this set. The mention of the Nobel Prizes is fine, for they were established from his will, which was read on his death in 1896. However if you read the back of this card it states that "Le Poete Sully-Prudhomme est un des Premiers Laureats" (in other words "The Poet Sully-Prudhomme is one of the first winners" - for Literature). Therefore, this set cannot have been issued in 1889, it must have been 1901, or later.
Chocolat Poulain [trade : chocolate ; O/S : Blois, France] "Rhythmes et Chansons" / "Rhythms and Songs" (1966) Album 9, serie 206, No.97
Today in 1967, the Beatles went on the road, along the A.30, to be exact, and started filming their third movie, "Magical Mystery Tour".
There were six new songs, including the title track, which was named the same as the film - it also marked the debuts of "The Fool on the Hill" and "I Am The Walrus". These had been recorded, more or less, in the week prior, at a studio.
Much of the film was shot in Kent, including at RAF West Malling. The beach scenes came from Devon and Cornwall. However the backdrop of "The Fool on the Hill" was Nice, in France.
The idea, songs, and direction was entirely of their own dreaming, sometimes added, impromptu, throwing the plans for the day into disarray.
The action revolves around something quite normal, a coach trip to the seaside for the day, but with a hint of magic and psychedelia and a cast of eccentric characters.
Though, poignantly, a large section of the story revolves around loss, with the character played by Ringo Starr seeking to comfort and support the character of his recently widowed aunt - especially touching when you remember that Brian Epstein, their manager for the last six years, had died at the end of August, 1967, from a combination of alcohol and barbiturates, aged just thirty-two.
The coach still exists, and has been lovingly restored by the Hard Rock Cafe.
However the film met with a quite disappointing original response, even when it was screened on television, though that was understandable for at the time it debuted there it had to be shown in a very unpsychedelic black and white.
Today, times have changed, and it is greeted more favourably. And the special edition DVD and Blu-Ray discs are best sellers, for they contain additional footage, plus a carefully curated commentary and interviews.
The important name on this card, apart from The Beatles, is buried in the bottom right hand corner of the reverse, and that is "Leloir". This is the photographer, Jean Pierre Leloir, and he was the most important French music photographer from the 1950s to the 1980s, especially shots like this, of the performers, live on stage. I have to wonder how many collectors of his photographs, especially those who pay vast sums for them, know that they also appear here on these little chocolate cards.
According to Paninimania/Poulain, this set of cards seems to have accompanied two vinyl records. So maybe a Beatles song was included.
The large wording on the card is nothing to do with this, more`s the pity - it just says:,"Pourtant, les groupes Anglaise... connaissant une vogue croissante." means "Yet, the English groups ... are becoming a growing trend".
Chocolat(s) Masson [trade : chocolate : O/S : Paris, France] "pastimes" (????) Un/??
So today let us sit a while, and cogitate on crochet. For it is International Crochet Day, and it is always on this day, the twelfth of September. Though I have not been able to find out why.
Now the main difference between crochet and knitting, just in case you were wondering, is that knitting is a pastime done with two needles of straight appearance, and crochet is done with just one needle, which has a hook on the end to catch the wool. The hook is called a croc, or a croche in French, hence the name Crochet.
As to which came first, well knitting did - for it is thought that fabrics mentioned in the bible are of that origin. However no garment survives; the earliest actual item discovered dates from the eleventh century.
Crochetting seems to have started in the nineteenth century, as a development of knitting, as it is now been discovered by needlework experts that what were thought to be earlier items than that were actually done by using two needles in a different way to loop the wool, and this slowly developed into making the same structures off one single needle, adding the hook for ease
In Europe it appears that the word crochet is a universal term, and on many cards you will see the word crochet, but the figure depicted will be using two needles, presumably making this early, oft confused, form of work.. Our young lady is definitely using just the one hook though, and so she gets to be immortalised.
This is a lovely card, with the cat playing with the wool behind the young lady`s chair, as she sits there, serenely, all dressed in blue, even her stockings.
One imagines that she is a rich young girl, but if so she will be married, and therefore have no need of learning such skills to make her an occupation - as a poorer girl would.
Perhaps, then, she was passing the time, in meditation, listening to the click and watching, with soft eyes, the piece on which she works grow longer.
I have not been able to find much out about Chocolat(s) Masson, except that it was founded in 1787 in Paris, and that a later Mr. Masson was very keen on Art Nouveau, especially an artist called Alphonse Mucha, who was commissioned to design many of the Masson posters and artworks. They do, quite readily, therefore, come up at auction - but at high prices.
Anonymous / Donruss [trade : bubble gum : O/S - USA] "Space 1999" (1976) 38/66
And lastly, let us chat about aliens. Actually, tonight, it is a space-woman, Barbara Bain, born Mildred Fogle, today in 1931.
Now I originally said that "she appears on this card with her husband, Martin Landau, who she married in 1957. They were divorced in 1993" but I have been corrected by a regular reader and frequent correspondent, for this is not her husband at all, it is Barry Morse, the Canadian actor, who was born Herbert Morse, in June 1918. Over seven decades in front of the cameras, or the footlights, he has many memorable roles, but you may know him best from "The Fugitive" where he portrayed Lieutenant Philip Gerard - and a fun fact is that he was offered a cameo in the 1993 film with Harrison Ford, but turned it down.
As for Barbara Bain, apart from her appearance in this series, as Doctor Helena Russell, (Doctor of Terrestrial and Space Medicine), she was also in "Mission Impossible", again with her husband, as Cinnamon Carter Crawford.
Space 1999 was a British science-fiction television programme which lasted for two series (1975 to 1977), but only for forty-eight episodes. The basic story was that we had already reached, and manned the Moon, but also not cared much for it, because they were storing nuclear waste on the far side of the planet, and in 1999 karma came along and it exploded, sending the Moon, and the colony, Moonbase Alpha, into an alternative orbit which was heading out into deep space.
The odd thing is that this blast happened today, too, on 13 September 1999.
It might not look it, but this series was also produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. However it was their last. They also objected to our lady, feeling that a British star would have been better. Many other British stars did appear, and if you get a chance to see it anywhere it can be fascinating to try and see how many you can spot before they became famous.
In fact there was supposed to be a third series, but it never happened.
If you look at the card, it says ATV, and that was the channel that the show was screened on. ATV stood for Associated Television, one of the pieces which made up the original Independent Television, the kind of upstart rival to the good old BBC. Later on Independent Television would find out that their name was a bit of a mouthful, and change it, to ITV. The odd thing about ATV was that it was very piecemeal, so it only appeared in London at the weekend and was not on all week.
The show was on in over a hundred countries, and several sets of cards were issued. These started with Bassett (Barratt Division)`s in 1975, and were followed the year after by our set (by Donruss) and Lyons Maid. Whilst the Bassett, and ours, show actual screen footage, sadly the Lyons Maid were but drawings.
Then there was quite a gap before the modern makers like Unstoppable and Rittenhouse discovered it and made new sets from old footage. In between that, perhaps what gave them the idea, was a set by Fanderson, the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson Appreciation Society, this was released in 2002.
This week's Cards of the Day...
This week we have wandered down Central America way, and are going to discover the curious world of the tiny but talented humming bird.
Here are some fun facts about hummingbirds:
They are called humming birds because their wings beat so fast that they make a humming sound. It is hard to hear, but it is there if you really listen closely, and quickly, because they are extraordinarily fast.
They can fly forwards, and backwards, but are unable to walk on the ground. They fly until they are tired and then they can hang upside down, just like bats, and go into a kind of trance, during which their functions are slowed or even suspended.
The humming bird species contains the smallest of any birds, the bee hummingbird, a tiny two and a quarter inches long.
They drink through their long tongue, and have to drink every ten minutes because they use up so much energy. However they have absolutely no sense of smell, they rely on the colour of the plant to show them where their favourite drink is, and that is nectar, which you may remember is the food of the gods. Perhaps those gods thought that if the hummingbird could fly that fast on that diet, so could they.
Most of them live but three years, though some manage five years and a few species live to see their tenth birthday.
Now we have featured this delightful little bird before in our newsletters - firstly in the one dated for the 28th of January 2023, when we showed you the Crimson Topaz humming bird, which is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela, for National Backwards Day on the 31st of January - simply because all humming birds can fly backwards. That card came from Brooke Bond`s "Going Wild".
In our newsletter of the 11th of May 2024 we also showed you a Ruby Throated humming bird, which spends its winters down in the warmth of Central America, Mexico, and Florida, and then flies up to Canada and North America. That card came from Ogden`s "Foreign Birds" and marked the birth of the zoologist Maria Koepcke, on the 15th of May, 1924.
Saturday, 31st August 2024
This card was a great link, but most of you are probably stumped.
The reason is a wonderful one, though, because there is an organisation called The Hummingbird Project, and it is linked to Coleraine Football Club in Northern Ireland.
It aims to reduce the stigma around emotional health and well-being, and to support the local people as well as their own players and staff
Intriguingly, there are very few cards of this football club - even the Trading Card Database/Coleraine only lists seven, and four of those are from our set. I thought that this might mean it was a recent team, but no, it was founded on June 20th, 1927, out of two local teams, Olympic and Alexandra.
I have found one other, Thomson`s "Football Towns and their Crests" (1931), presented with "The Skipper" magazine, which has four logos on each card, and on one of the cards you will find "Rotherham, Clydebank, Coleraine, and Durham". Sadly the cards are unnumbered.
So if anyone has any other cards of Coleraine F.C., or its precursors, do please let us know!
The really unusual thing about this set is that it comes from the age which is kind of the missing link between cards and stickers; they are too thin to be classed as cards, and they lack the adhesive backs of a true sticker, for you had to buy your own glue to stick them them into place. And this is backed up by the front cover of the album which says "7 stamps for 4p".
In our original British Trade Index part III this set is listed as :
1975-2 Soccer Stars `75-`76 (A). 64 x 45. Nd. (360). Anonymous, back style as Fig. FAA-2, in vertical or horizontal format. ... FAA-15
No FKS sets are listed in our updated British Trade Index, for that only covers issues up until 1970. However, there were sets issued before that time, "The Wonderful World of Soccer Stars" (1968) and "The Wonderful World of Soccer Stars in Action" (1969).
You can see a list of all the FKS issues at NigelsWebspace/FKS, though, along with links to galleries and checklists.
Sunday, 1st September 2024
Now here we have Colombia, and that is the home of 168 different humming bird species, more than anywhere else on earth.
Not just that but almost half of the entire humming birds in the world - and the final 8 of those are not found anywhere else in the world but in Colombia.
Interestingly, too, the humming bird has always been there, and we know that because it appears in early art, and legend, where it is written that they flew faster than any other bird, and could easily reach the heavens and the gods. Today, with our advanced measuring skills, we have proof that these early people were right - and one of the hummingbird specied can fly almost four hundred times its own length in a single second - faster than a fighter pilot, when the body size and weight is taken into account.
Sadly I do not know much about this card, so over, again, to you. Lets see what we can discover by the newsletter...
I have discovered that "Cocoline" was a type of margarine, made from coconut oil. And, so far, by trawling the internet, I have found :
- 2 - Haiti
- 6 - Norwege
- 7 - Indo Chine [Indo-China]
- 12 - Rep. Argentine [Argentina]
- 18 - Chili [Chile]
- 20 - Guatemala
- 25 - Bulgarie [Bulgaria]
- 30 - Siam
- 37 - Serbie [Serbia]
- 41 - Etats-Unis [United States of America]
- 42 - Chine [China]
- 51 - Bade [Baden]
- 55 - Monaco
- 60 - Maroc [Morocco]
- 71 - Liberia
- 76 - Tunisie [Tunisia]
- 83 - Rep D`Orange [
- 86 - Coree [Korea]
this seems to point to a set of a hundred cards - but I may be wrong. At the start of 1910 there were ninety-four recognized Sovereign States, a rise of sixteen since the turn of the century (when there was only ninety-four, and yes I do say this so you can check my maths).
We are also not exactly sure when these cards were issued, but there is a bit of a clue because Bulgaria only declared its independence on October 5, 1908.
Monday, 2nd September 2024
Another fiendish clue, though perhaps the bird, bottom left of the reverse could have given you a hint.
This card was chosen because it was issued in Ecuador, which holds the world record for the highest number of humming birds within one country, irrespective of species.
So here we have Sarah Bernhardt. She was born Henriette-Rosine Bernard, on October 1844, to a mother who seems not to have wanted her, she travelled and the child was an impedance, so she left her with a nurse and then sent her off to boarding school. The name of her father was not recorded, but today we think it was either a lawyer or an attorney, and, curiously, he wanted to be involved with her life, paying for her education, even for the boarding school, insisting that she go to church and be baptized, and even leaving her a little next egg, to be cultivated so that it could grown until she was of an age to use it wisely. He probably would have adopted her, given the chance, but for some reason he was not.
She was told that her father had died, in 1857. And we are not entirely sure if this is true.
She became a stage actress, and a very famous one, with the most popular playwrights so eager to feature her that they wrote works specially to appeal to her. She was equally adept at male and female roles, and had a wonderful voice, which allowed her to make sound recordings, and her fame also gave her the chance to make motion pictures, though she was quite aged then. However at the start of her acting career there was quite a scandal, when she attended a ball and made the acquaintance of a Belgian prince. A few months later she found out she was pregnant. At that time she was back living with her mother, who threw her out, so she found lodgings elsewhere and kept the child, Maurice. He was to be her only child, but, just like her mother, she did not want to have anything to do with the father, even though he frequently proposed marriage, despite his parents being opposed to such. He even offered to give up his title, but she was adamant and in the end he gave up, though it wounded him and he refused to ever accept any responsibility for the son he had made.
She returned to the theatre and toured the world, going to America in 1880. After a brief return to Paris, she kept touring. In 1886 she went back to America but this time to the south, Brazil, Argentina, etc. The tour lasted almost two years, and we know that she did visit Ecuador, to go crocodile hunting, at Guayaquil, where this card originates. Maybe it was issued a little earlier than we suspect?
After that she returned to France and bought what would be her final home, only leaving it when she ran out of money - something which was often the result of her son, who had become an inveterate gambler.
The picture on this card shows her as Melissande in "La Princesse Lointaine" by the by the virtually unknown poet Edmond Rostand. This was first performed in April 1895, and she played the lead. It was not a great success but she grew very friendly with the writer, and he wrote several other plays for her. The title of our play is an odd one, for it does not mean a Princess by the name of Lointaine, it means a Princess far away, or, more properly, sadly out of reach, through fame, or birth, or class. Perhaps this is a bit of a clue to how he felt about the actress, though he was married, to a fellow poet, and they had two sons. Sadly he died in 1918, in the terrible influenza epidemic that swept in after the First World War.
For all her fame, Sarah Bernhardt was plagued with ill health at the end of her life. In 1906 she had been injured during a theatrical performance where she leapt from a balcony on to a hidden mattress, and this had been wrongly placed. By 1914 it was causing her much trouble, both internally and externally, and in 1915 almost the entire leg was removed due to gangrene and infection. Then, on the 26th of March 1923, she died, technically of kidney failure. She wass buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
This is an unusual set and there are lots of gaps to fill in about it, maybe you can help?
First off, a lot of collectors file it under "M" for Marina, but that was the brand name. In our original World Tobacco Issues Index it is under "Lynch", and the full listing, since this was the only set issued by the company, reads :
La Marina - Gran Fabrica de Cigarillos Carlos C. LYNCH, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Spanish language issue, period 1900-1910. Proofs only seen.ACTRESSES (A). Sm. 46 x 33. Blue green tinted. Unnd. (100) ... L76-1
I have already been told that all 100 appear as part of the Jefferson Burdick collection at the New York Public Library but that they are slightly different, having lighter borders and also if you look very closely they have dotted lines around some of the edges which points to them having been cut from a sheet, perhaps even a proof sheet, because, remember, above it says "Proofs only seen". So did Mr. Burdick have that sheet, and send notice of it to Mr. Wharton-Tigar, who compiled the above description, and then either cut it into cards himself to make storage easier, or cut it subsequently so that it would be easier for the New York Public Library to handle and store?
Now if we go forward to our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, published in the year 2000, forty-four years on, a bit more information has come to light, along with some more sets. Again I will insert the whole section.
La Marina - Gran Fabrica de Cigarillos Carlos C. LYNCH, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Spanish language issue, period 1900-1910. Proofs only seen. Includes brand issue inscribed "La Marina"ACTRESSES (A). Sm. 46 x 33. Blue green tinted. Unnd. (192 seen) ... L970-050
BULLFIGHTERS (A) Sm. 68 x 45. Unnd. Plain back. ... L970-100
1. Black on cream, black border. Unnd (42 seen)
2. Coloured. elaborate framework in yellow. (8 seen)COMIC SCENES (A). Min 43 x 29. Spanish numbering (?36) ...L970-150
SCENES WITH GIRLS (A). Min about 44 x 33. Spanish numbering ... L970-750
1. "Capricho Venidoso" (19)
2. "Descanso Nocturno" (18)
3. "Despues del Balle" (15)
4. "El Sueno de una Soltera" (15)
5. "Le Gusto a Vd?" (12)
6. "Primer Cigarro". (10)
7. "Ultimo Cigarro" (10)
Tuesday, 3rd September 2024
This is a curious set, for Cavanders actually issued it twice, and sometimes you will find it called a set but containing both variations of reverse, in which case it is more correctly two part sets.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index both sets are described together, as :
FEATHERED FRIENDS or FOREIGN BIRDS. Sm. 63 x 38. Nd. (25). See Ha.516 ... C48-14.B
A. Titled "Feathered Friends"
B. Titled "Foreign Birds"
Another look in the Handbook has found Ha.516, in the early London Cigarette Card one, which reads :
Ha.516. FEATHERED FRIENDS or FOREIGN BIRDS (titled series). Front in colour. Numbered series of 25.
Abdulla - titled "Feathered Friends"
Cavanders - A. titled "Feathered Friends"
B. titled "Foreign Birds"
Phillips - titled "Feathered Friends"
ln our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, our set(s) are catalogued as :
FEATHERED FRIENDS or FOREIGN BIRDS. Sm. 63 x 38. Nd. (25). See RB.113/70 ... C230-280.B
A. Titled "Feathered Friends" (overseas issue)
B. Titled "Foreign Birds". Proofs are known with backs in violet and firm`s name mis-spelt "Cavender`s"
I have not seen any of these "Cavender`s" cards, but they do sound intriguing.
Now that we know that Cavanders was not the only issue, we notice the RB.113 here, which is the updated Godfrey Phillips Reference Book. Also both Abdulla and Godfrey Phillips had original reference books, Abdulla sharing booklet RB.5 with Adkin and Anstie, and Godfrey Phillips having RB.13 all on its own. The text from the Abdulla book appears elsewhere on this site, but as for the Godfrey Phillips book, which I presumed would be the most informative, it just says :
70. 25. FEATHERED FRIENDS. Small cards, size 64 x 38 m/m. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour, gold border. Backs in green, with descriptive text. Issued 1928. Two grades of board (a) white (b) cream backs. Similar series issued by Abdulla and Cavander. ("Feathered Friends" and "Foreign Birds").
To close, a little price comparison from the London Cigarette Card Company c Catalogue for 1955. They quoted the Abdulla at 1 1/2d a card or 5/- a set, but admitted that special offers of the set appeared in their smaller, abridged catalogue. The Cavanders were split, with the "Feathered Friends" version retailing at 9d. a card or 27/6 a set, and the "Foreign Birds at 6d. a card or 17/6 a set. Finally, the Godfrey Phillips version were 1/- a card or 4/6 a set.
Wednesday, 4th September 2024
This is an extraordinarily stylised picture of a hummingbird, but we must sit and think, and if we do we can only come to the conclusion that it would have been almost impossible for an artist to capture a hummingbird in its breathtakingly rapid flight - and if they drew from a deceased species, all of its former life, colour, and animation would be missing.
No wonder that this bird looks rather odd.
What else is odd is that this set originally appears in our original British American Tobacco reference book, or RB.21, as a footnote of a set it really has nothing to do with. That entry reads
324, BIRD SERIES or GAME BIRD SERIES. Small cards, size 68 x 38 m/m. Front in colour, fancy frames, different on each picture. Back with descriptive text. Series of 30.
A. Anonymous issue, with letterpress on back. Burdick C.45. Titled "Bird Series". Back in blue, inscribed at base "Series of 30". Numbered.
B. I.T.C. of Canada issue. Serial 9864. Burdick C.14. Titled "Game Birds Series". Back in green, inscribed at top "Series of 30". Numbered, in different order from A.
C. U.S.A. 20th Century issue. Burdick T.43. Titled "Bird Series". Back in black, inscribed "Mecca Cigarettes". Factory number at base. Unnumbered, listed in American Book of Checklists.
Note - A further "Bird Series" of 100 subjects, different from the above, is recorded in Burdick T-42
Before I speed on, you can see the listing for this other set under another Card of the Day, for the 26th of November, 2024.
If we look at the Jefferson Burdick descriptions of our sets, under T.42, it reads are :
T.42 - Bird Series (100).
Type 1 - white border (50). Type 2 - gold border (50). Mecca, Sw.Caporal, Cycle, Emblem, Sovereign, Old Mill, Am.Beauty, Piedmont.
He only valued them at five cents a card though.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the "Mecca" Set actually comes under American Tobacco Group Issues, where lots of other brand issues also appear. That reads :
BIRD SERIES - BURDICK T.42. Sm. 66 x 36. Unnd. Series of 100, half with white, half with gold borders. Brand issues, some brands with white or gold borders only. See ABC/T.42. Ref. USA/T.42 ... A54-26
A. "American Beauty". White borders only known. (50)
B. "Cycle". Gold borders only known (50)
C. "Emblem". White borders only known (50)
D. "Mecca". White and gold borders (100)
E. "Old Mill". White and gold borders (100)
F. "Piedmont". White and gold borders (100)
G. "Sovereign". White borders only known (50)
H. "Sweet Caporal". White and gold borders known (100).
The only change to this listing in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index is the addition of the Factory codes, our set, "D" now being out of F.30 and 649, set "F" adding "Gold only F.25, 42 altered to 25, and 42", and "H" adding F25 and 42. We know the location of these factories, too -
- F.25 - 2nd District, Richmond, Virginia
- F.30 - 2nd District, New York City
- F.42 - Liggett & Myers Factory, in Durham, North Carolina
- F.649 - 1st District, New York
Thursday, 5th September 2024
This card is not a card, it is a silk, and the wording appears on a paper backing which, it is said, is easily removed by loosening it at the corner and peeling it back, slightly wetting if it does not come away freely. After that you have a piece of silk which may be used to decorate home furnishings and clothing - or, as the backing paper suggests, “table centres, cushion covers, quilts, and other decorative articles for home ornamentation”. And you will also find several other silk humming birds amidst Godfrey Phillips 1921 set of "Birds", displaying their finery and beautiful colours to good advantage.
The text also tells us that Morris had been “established over 100 years”.
Sadly, our bird is only named "Humming Bird (Peru)" - and in Peru there are a hundred and twenty eight species. So I am afraid that I have not had time to give this little specimen a more appropriate name. If we have any ornithologists, or it rains all weekend and you get very bored, I welcome your assistance in the identifying game!
We know that humming birds were important to the native people, because there is one recorded as part of what we call the Nazca Lines, but which are more accurately called the Nazca Geoglyphs. These are a series of diagrams, added to the surface of the Earth between 200 BC and 500 AD, and they very accurately inscribe many hundreds of objects and animals. Their humming bird has a long straight beak, plus an intricate tail and wings, and it measures 320 feet long and 216 feet wide. The most curious fact, though, is that these objects only make a picture when viewed from some distance above. Today, we see them by way of an aeroplane, which does not explain how their makers created them so accurately. Of course, there are some who claim that they were in some way influenced, or created, by aliens. And until we have other proof, this could easily be considered to be the truth.
Now in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, this set is described amongst the other Morris paper-backed silks, of which there are three main sets. The entry for our set reads
ENGLISH & FOREIGN BIRDS. Md. 78 x 56. Nd. on backing. (25). See Ha.505-1. ... M142-15
The only difference to this in our updated volume is the fact that there is a new handbook code, H.505-1, and, new card code, of M884-240.
Once more the old London Cigarette Card Company Handbook came up trumps, for it reads :
Ha.505-1. ENGLISH & FOREIGN BIRDS - 1 (titled series). Medium paper-backed silks, size 3 1/2" x 2 1/4" (78 x 56 m/m). Front illustrated at No.1 in Fig.505, no letterpress. Paper backing printed in blue, with number, caption, and instructions for removing silk. Numbered series of 25. Numbered on paper backing, silk unnumbered. Issued by B. Morris
At the time this was published (1955) the silks were offered for sale at 1/6 each or 50/- a complete set.
By the way, I have now found it in our updated version of the Handbook, with exactly the same text, but not the imperial measurements, only the millimetres. On which note, silks are subject to variation; sometimes the edges can get a bit frayed and, quite innocently, a collector of olden times might have trimmed them off. Today, some sellers do it because they think it looks better, and will increase the appeal, or the value. However, a silk specialist always checks the size - and always has, for the measurements of silks have been considered vital enough to include in catalogues and handbooks right from the very first ones.
Friday, 6th September 2024
Now here in the United Kingdom, we do not have humming birds - nor in Europe, for that matter, though who knows what will happen as our climate continues to change.
What we do have though is this, the humming bird hawk moth. This arrives from Southern Europe every year about April, and it is quite unmistakable. Indeed, if you listen closely, you can hear that its wings move so fast that they, too, make a humming noise. However, it is a moth, and not a bird.
And it leaves us, for Europe, all over again, at the closing of the year.
This card is described in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :
BUTTERFLIES & MOTHS. Sm. Nd. (50). See H.80. ... C90-12
Crucially, though, it is part of the sets which are listed as "with I.T.C. Clause", being issued under their partnership with the Imperial Tobacco Company. That, plus the handbook code, means there are other issuers, namely Adkin (issued in 1924 - and which appears in our newsletter for the 3rd of September 2022, on Friday the 9th of September) and John Player, which was issued first of all, in December 1904, but which we have yet to use. Whilst their entries in the World Tobacco Issues Index are identical to the one for Clarke, typed above, apart from the card code, both of them have reference books all their own, with more detailed information. You can read the Adkin write up by clicking the link above. One day I will use the Players too, and link to it from here.
As far as prices, or at least prices in the London Cigarette Card Catalogue for 1955, the Adkin`s version retailed at 4d a card or 20/- for a set - the Clarke`s version at between 4/- and 12/6 a card or £30 a set - and the John Player`s at between 2/- and 5/- a card or £12 a set.
You will also find a humming bird hawk moth in Gallaher`s "Butterflies and Moths" (1938) as card 41/48, but, curiously it is titled "Humming Bird Hawk" on front and back. The text on the reverse of that card reads : "This interesting moth is not very common in Britain, and most specimens are immigrants, though many appear to have hibernated here. Like the Humming Bird, it hovers in front of a flower, pushing its long tongue into the blossom. The caterpillar feeds chiefly on Bedstraw, and pupates inside a loosely woven cocoon. The moth, which has small wings for the size of its body, is one of the few which fly by day and are fond of the sunshine."
As for a trade card representation, how about the Green Humming-Bird Hawk Moth, as seen on card 19/25 of "Butterflies and Moths" by Swettenhams (issued in 1958), plus several other issuers, as detailed in our handbook under HX-2. (A.1 Dairies - 1966 / Badshah Tea - 1967 / Barratt & Co. - 1960 / Lamberts Tea - 1966 / Universal Cigarette Card Co. - no idea of date) The reverse text on these, but perhaps not the Universal Cigarette Card Co. version, reads : "GREEN HUMMING-BIRD HAWKMOTH (Pterogon Proserpina) This moth is common in Southern Europe and expands 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches. The young larva is pale green with no anal spot and resembles the larva of a butterfly. It also feeds on different species of Epilobium".
and so, for now, I call a halt. At that time I needed to add the information from the updated British Trade Index - and I did that Saturday morning.
I am failing to find a card of John Logie Baird so that I can continue the gallery backwards. What I would like is the black back version of Brooke Bond`s "Famous People" if anyone can help. Many thanks in advance. The other card of this unwonted pairing that I could swop is Compton Mackenzie, but I think he is only on that one card, Ardath`s "Famous Scots", apart from Wills` "Famous British Authors" which I have used before.
Apart from that nothing to report. Thanks for tuning in, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much I enjoyed writing it. It has been a fun newsletter - with many new cards that I had not encountered before, and if you liked them, then thanks are due to the readers who sent them in. I thank them, too.