Not to alarm you, but in a month`s time Christmas will all be over for another year. So expect to see a few flurries of festivity in the next few weeks.
This week has gone a little better but mainly because typing kept me warm at night when the heating failed to work. I also struck lucky with most of the things I wrote down first to hunt for, though the final two days were quite appalling and I still had nothing for either of them on Friday morning.
So this week, please allow me to throw back the curtains and reveal our colourful cast of characters.....
PRO Football Hall of Fame [trade/commercial : museum : Canton, Ohio, USA] "Football Immortals" (1985) 31/142
Starting with a Centenary is always fun, and this one marks the fact that today in 1924 the Cleveland Bulldogs beat the Chicago Bears in the 1924 National Football League season.
Now there are lots of teams in all kinds of sports that seem to be called the Bulldogs, and when you think about it the canine of that ilk has a lot in common with the nature of sport - they never give up, they will fight back when they need to, and often the name is given to a player or to a team which is shorter or smaller, even, shall I say, an underdog, but somehow manages to come out fighting and win the day.
If you are wondering why you have never heard of the Cleveland Bulldogs, well they were quite short lived, and do not seem to have appeared on any card, save as a mention, despite their 1924 win. They started in July 1923, when a man called Samuel H. Deutsch, a local jeweller, and sports promoter, mostly of boxing, obtained a National Football League Franchise. He called his team the Indians, because there was already a baseball team called the Cleveland Indians, which had been founded a year earlier. That still led to confusion, and as he was wondering what to do to solve that, the solution fell in his lap in a very odd way.
What happened was that in the last game of the 1924 season, the Indians played a team based in Ohio who were called the Canton Bulldogs. The game had not gone too well, to put it mildly, because the Canton Bulldogs won, by 46 - 0. At that time the Canton Bulldogs were a good team, as that result proves, but they had absolutely no money, so the owner of our team made an offer for the whole squad, plus the name, and it was accepted. After that he combined the names of both reams and ended up with the Cleveland Bulldogs.
One of the men he bought was the man on our card, Guy Chamberlin. He was born on January the 16th, 1894, at Blue Springs in Nebraska, had come through the University of Nebraska where he was very highly rated as a footballer, and was the coach of the Canton Bulldogs in 1922 and 1923, as well as their most valuable player. He had joined them earlier though and we have records of him being there from 1919 onwards, though he did have a brief time out with the Decatur Staleys, who were based in Chicago.
When the Canton Bulldogs were sold he became player/coach of the Cleveland Bulldogs too, at least until 1924. Then he seems to disappear, and only turn up as player/coach with the Frankford Yellowjackets in 1926. This is because in August 1925 the NFL franchise for a Cleveland team was transferred to a Mr. Herb Brandt of the Brandt food company - and it seems that Guy Chamberlin left pretty quickly as they went from being the first in the league to losing almost every game, and almost going bankrupt. They were saved by the return of Samuel H. Deutsch, with a consortium of investors, plus a new player, Benny Friedman. There was a brief rally in their fortunes, but in 1928 Deutsch walked away and sold the whole team, including Benny Friedman, to Elliott Fisher, who owned a team in Detroit called the Wolverines. And in 1929 the Wolverines were also sold, to the New York Giants.
Guy Chamberlin may have saved them, but he announced his retirement in 1927, albeit temporarily, because the Chicago Cardinals made him a good offer to coach them and he accepted, for the 1928 season. He was admitted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965, but only lived for two more years, dying on April the 4th, 1967, at the age of seventy three.
I do not know whether I am right in my assumption that the Pro Football Hall of Fame issued these cards. Most dealers just seem to list them as "Football Immortals" without an issuer. That may have been enough for me to find another set, but for one rather interesting fact, which is that the museum is in Canton, Ohio. And for that rather incredible link this set got the nod.
Primrose Confectionery Co. Ltd [trade : confectionery : UK - Slough, Bucks] "Bugs Bunny" - Series B.B.I (1963) 14/50
Today is "Eat a Red Apple Day", but when I tried to find out why I struggled.
Eventually I found that this was started in 1998, in Wisconsin, USA, and that it was named for the Red Delicious brand. Looking at that, I discovered that Red Delicious is kind of the Marmite apple, some people really love its red exterior and lighter, sweet flesh inside, whilst others find it a bit too sharp for them. As far as the date, well it was first discovered in Madison County, Iowa, but in 1872, so it is not that we celebrate. It was also America`s Favourite Apple from 1968 until 2018, at which time it lost the crown to Gala apples. However in 1998 it would have been the thirtieth year of holding the title, so there could well be a connection there.
It is certainly popular with our "apple picker", Elmer J. Fudd, who has taken time out from his relentless pursuit of Bugs Bunny and do something more, dare I say, "fruitful". I always thought he was an odd character to introduce to young children, shooting away at everything, and doing all manner of damage in the name of fun. And I am glad that since 2020 his gun has been removed, though he is still as violent as ever, more`s the pity. Though I still have a bit of an issue as to his rhotacism and lambdacism (which is the way he cannot pronounce his R and L sounds) being used for amusement.
I thought there would be lots of apples on cards, but all the ones I found I have used the sets before. However this was sent to me, and it is a new set for our gallery. Also, though we have featured Bugs Bunny a few times, this is the first appearance of Elmer J. Fudd.
There is also something curious about this card, as the set is not titled, only with "Series B.B.I". Thinking about that seems to suggest that the B.B. bit was Bugs Bunny and perhaps that it was intended to be a first series. A bit of research discovered that these cards probably tied in with the birth of his appearance as a television star, for it was in the Autumn of 1960 that American viewers first got to see many of his former film adventures on the small screen.
United Dairies [trade : tea : UK] "Birds and their Eggs" (1961) 23/25
This is another segue, because today is English Breakfast Day. However I picked it because the cards were issued with tea, and there is an "English Breakfast" type of tea - plus there is an egg shown on the card, which is Britain`s Favourite Breakfast - and than the bird, rather amusingly, is called a "dipper", which I am sure applies to many breakfasters, as they slide their soldiers down into their dippy egg.
The dipper is quite a small bird with a short stumpy tail. It lives by water, and enjoys standing on rocks from where it can survey the passing current, and watch out for things to eat. As it stands there it moves its tail up and down, and it is therefore poised, ready for action when something edible comes along, at which point it dives into the water and swims down to collect the tender morsel.
Strangely it seems not to feature on many cards - and the earliest card known is of its American relative, this having been issued in 1888 as part of Allen & Ginter`s "Birds of America". Whilst a quick search has discovered that the earliest card of our dipper might just be card 30/50 of Lambert & Butler`s "Representing Birds & Eggs" issued in 1906, where it is called "Water Ouzel or Dipper"
Unless anyone knows an earlier one???
Chocolat Revillon [trade : chocolate : O/S - France] "Premiere Traversee du Sahara" - series 7 (1924) 7/10
Our second Centenary involves an attempt to cross the Sahara Desert, and it was a successful one, reaching Save in Dahomey today in 1924 after eighteen days of travelling.
This was not the first expedition to cross the Sahara, for Captain Angus Buchanan had travelled from Kano in Northern Nigeria through to Tougourt in Algeria, starting in early 1922 and ending in April 1923. However he had made the trip by camel, and he had filmed it, making it into a motion picture which travelled the British Isles to much acclaim.
This card was designed to be cut into two separate images, then, using the strip beneath but part of that image, for the figure to be stood up, eventually forming an entire tableau of all the images. Now most of the cards contain two images, but some do not. So hopefully this list will combine both a list of the images, and also which of the images were paired together on each card.
- A range of sandy hills (paired with image 3)
- A stand of green trees, oasis? (paired with image 1)
- A large car, for the front of the scene (only one image on this card)
- Three cars in a kind of triangle (paired with image 15)
- Three cars in a line following (paired with image 19)
- Two Arabs riding camels, one walking (paired with image 12)
- Arab with hat, standing facing backwards (paired with image 11)
- Arab tribesman on a galloping horse (paired with image 7)
- Two people inside a long tent with striped top (paired with images 17 and 18)
- An Arab tribesman with a red cloak, facing backwards (paired with images 16 and 18)
- A dog (paired with images 16 and 17)
- An Arab tent (paired with image 8)
Now the large number 7 on the front of our card also appears on all the rest of the cards in this series - because Revillon issued other sets of cards that also make a cut out diorama, each containing 10 cards. Some of these are listed on the back of the card, but others are not. The list of sets, which I must get around to including in the newsletters, and therefore the gallery, are :
- La Ferme [the farm - not identified as series one on the card.]
- Le Champ d`Aviation [the airfield]
- L`Ecole [the school],
- Le Chemin de Fer [the railway]
- La Course d`Autos [the motor race]
- La Chasse [the hunt]
- Premiere Traversee du Sahara [first crossing of the Sahara]
- Depart d`un Paquebot [leaving by boat]
- Un Match de Rugby [a rugby match]
- L`Exposition Coloniale [the 1931 Colonial Exhibition, held in Paris]
- Les Regates [the regatta]
- L`Escadre [the Navy]
As to the other card, which the cut out replaced, it was this one - from Bussink`s "Het Verkheer" - of "Auto-Expeditie in de Sahara". At the time I originally placed it, I said it was a bit of gamble as to whether it was the right expedition because the text on the reverse was only how to obtain your album and nothing about the picture. However, it seemed very likely; because the expedition I was after was the first mechanised one, that`s partially why the vehicles were sponsored and supplied by Citroen. The five vehicles were also said to be six wheeled, and though the cars on the card were what I would call a half track, (a standard wheel at the front of each side, and then, at the back, a track enclosing one standard wheel, three smaller wheels, and another standard wheel) to a non motor person, that would be a six wheeler. It was also decided to fit a box construction on the reverse of each car, and that`s again shown here. In any event, the next Sahara expedition, would you believe, was not until the 1980s, and it was not motorised, being undertaken by camel, and by foot.
Mars [trade : confectionery : UK - Slough, Bucks] "Ceremonies of the Coronation"
Got a bit confusing here as I originally wrote down "birthday of Archbishop of Canterbury" - then after some panic, I rediscovered that Cosmo Gordon Lang had been not born on that day, he had been installed as the Archbishop of Canterbury
His full name was William Cosmo Gordon Lang and he was born on the 31st of October 1864, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the son of a Presbyterian minister. He did think of becoming something to do with the law or politics, but instead trained for the priesthood. He was twenty-six when he started to serve, mostly amongst the poorer communities. He took the position of the Bishop of Stepney, in 1901, simply because it would allow him to continue the same kind of work, and do the most good. He stayed there for some years, and then, in 1908, he became Archbishop of York. This made headlines, for it was a very rapid rise to such a major appointment.
He was Archbishop of York for twenty years, then was asked to become the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was not certain, as he did not think that the role would allow him to stay in touch with normal people but in the end he agreed. He was appointed today in 1928, and his service would encompass many major events, including the Abdication of King Edward VIII, the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, in which role he is shown here and the Second World War, during which, in 1942, he retired. though he continued to be in the House of Lords until his death, not long after, on the 5th of December 1945 - in curious circumstances, for he collapsed on the way to speak at the House of Lords. He was taken to hospital but never regained consciousness.
As far as what he did at the Coronation, he was part of the committee that stage managed the whole event - and he spoke on the radio, several times, about what would happen. He also spoke with the King and Queen every step of the way. During the ceremony he anointed the King, and also placed the crown on his head. And he said some time later that it was the best day of his life.
The post of Archbishop of Canterbury has an amazing back story. The first one was Augustine of Canterbury, who was sent to Britain by none other than Pope Gregory the Great, in 597. This makes Canterbury the oldest diocese in the whole of the British Isles. And, amazingly, his chair is still in existence, it is in the Old Palace, in Canterbury.
This connection with the Pope in Rome was retained right until Henry VIII decided to change things, and put his own man in as the first ever Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. This man was Thomas Cranmer, and he took over in 1533.
There are some curious facts about the Archbishop of Canterbury - firstly, that he is next in line to the throne should something happen to remove the entire Royal Family. The Prime Minister is only fifth, after the Lord High Steward (a role lost into the mists of time, and not been filled since the fifteenth century), the Lord Chancellor, and the Archbishop of York. Then there is his home, which is right up in London, at Lambeth Palace, for some reason, though he has what is called "lodgings" at the Old Palace, which is next door to Canterbury Cathedral. Some say that this is connected to that London address, but are sketchy about the why - though our man, on his retirement and raising to the peerage, took as his name 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth.
This is an unusual card and we have featured the set before, but not this version, which is the rarer blue/black permutation, these referring to the blue ink used for the title at the bottom of the front, and the black used for the reverse. It does not show up too well here, nor on the cards themselves - and I have to say that perhaps it is only our eyes that makes it rare.
Topps [trade : bubble gum : O/S - USA] "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" stickers - series 1 (1989) 10/11
So many moons ago I showed you a British card of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, and regaled you with how in America the set had actually been called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I promised to prove it. Who knew it would take so long?
Anyway today is#InternationalNinjaDay, so it seems a fitting time. It happens every December 5th, and it was started in 2003 - by a website, called NinjaBurger.com. They had then been going for four years, and the premise was a kind of conspiracy theory, that there is a squad of ninjas delivering burgers, secretly, whilst still keeping within the thirty minute delivery rules.
Now because there really is not that much fun in the world, the idea took off, and now there are games, cartoons, films, and a book, plus, even, in a masterful stroke, a commercial, which they managed to get aired on the Food Network.
As for the turtles, they were first seen in a comic book, in 1984, something which was written as a bit of a skit on super hero movies, and a few late night chats about what would happen if a slow moving turtle suddenly got super powers. It took off though, and there have since been tv series, feature films, and computer games. The first film screened in 1990, and was followed by parts II and III.
As for this sticker, it was released before the first film. Therefore it shows the cartoon versions of all the turtles, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo. The yellow on the sticker here ties it in to the first series, for all the stickers there have yellow borders (and the cards do too). The second series of stickers had blue backgrounds and borders. However both series of stickers were issued with the main cards.
The most exciting thing is that this set was still a true trade set, as each packet contained five cards, one sticker, and a stick of bubble gum - each pack costing twenty-five cents.
Chocolat Meurisse [trade : chocolate : O/S - France] "Les Dangers de la Mine" / "The Dangers of Mining" (1910) 5/6
This card both remembers National Miners Day, which is celebrated on December 6th each year, and the worst mining disaster ever, at the Monogah pit, on December the 6th, 1907.
That disaster, in West Virginia, took the lives of three hundred and sixty-two miners, we think. There were survivors, just over fifty people, but the full total of those lost will never be known, for it was common practise, and openly ignored by the officials, for miners to take friends, and relatives, even their children, down to the pit face without clocking them in, and without them knowing more than rudimentary mine safety. There were also miners from many countries, not all of them on the books, whose bodies may have been found, but not declared
What happened was that just before half past ten in the morning, an explosion took place in one section. This was followed, almost immediately, by a second blast but at another area. Most of the deaths were instantaneous, and a lot of the bodies were either buried forever in the rubble, or destroyed by the blast, which was huge, so much so that it also caused damage above the ground. Another reason for so many deaths was that the ventilation system was destroyed, along with any mechanical means of gaining exit, like the railway. And miners who did reach the entrance found it to be blocked.
To their credit, the first rescuers reached the mine less than half an hour after the blast. They reported that it was impossible to remain within for more than a quarter of an hour as a time the fumes were so bad. This was mainly caused by the loss of the ventilation system, which not only brought fresh air down to the miners but also removed the noxious fumes which were, and remain a side effect of mining. And the lack of light, and debris, and dust all created to sabotage the rescue attempt.
The cause was never found out - and it still remains a mystery. The company said it was human error, a lamp having malfunctioned, or a stray spark igniting gas in a seam. There was no investigation of how two blasts had occurred so swiftly. Later on, though, it was discovered that the two mines had been connected by a shaft which had made it possible to ventilate both mines from just the one entrance.
It was the general public who demanded change - and in 1910 the United States Bureau of Mines was set up, whose job it was to not only investigate after accidents, but to go and visit mines as a matter of course, to check that the safety measures were being followed and to ensure that the lists of workers showed everyone, no matter how few hours they worked. They also started to train the workers, and provide professional, trained rescue squads.
But it took until 2009 for Congress to decree that the day be observed every year.
Mining seems poorly served on cards, in fact the only set I know of is Wills "Mining". However, this set was shown to me by a reader, and I found it very moving, but also strange that there was no card of an explosion, only flood (showing here), gas (card 3), and fire (card 4). The other cards show the distribution of safety lamps (card 1), a rescue team running to assist after an incident (card 2), and them giving first aid (card 6).
This week's Cards of the Day...
have not, as you might have guessed, been Tackling Thanksgiving - they have been Talking Turkey with a Few Fun Facts, ably aided by my co-conspirator for the week, Malcolm Thompson.
The reason for this is that it is, for the most part, regarded that this year marks the five hundredth anniversary of the turkey`s arrival in Great Britain. This date relates to 1524, when six birds were acquired by William Strickland of Boynton in East Yorkshire. Now some records say he brought them in from Spain, and others that he got them in a trade with Native Americans. He is also supposed to also be the first turkey trader, for he reputedly sold the birds, more or less straight away, in Bristol, for tuppence each. This, so the story goes, was easy money, so he kept trading, until he had so much money that he was able to build himself a large mansion, as well as become a member of parliament.
Examining these facts brings us to a very interesting discovery, for Mr. Strickland is said to have sailed withe the Cabots, and they both sailed from and landed in Bristol. He also used the turkey as his family crest, and, in the church where he is buried, there are lots of turkeys.
So lets start with..... :
Saturday, 23rd November 2024
Question 1:
Is Turkey, the bird, from Turkey, the country?
And the answer is... no. They actually come from America, and only came to Europe by way of Spanish traders in the sixteenth century. As to why they are called "Turkeys", when Europeans first saw them they thought they were a new sort of African Guinea Fowl, which were imported into Europe from Turkey. This led to them being called "Turkey Birds", and then just "Turkeys".
So we started our week with a player from Turkey, Abdullah Ercan, born on the 8th December 1971.
He is now retired, but was a player and a manager, and he also represented Turkey, not just as an adult, but also as an Under 18, and an Under 21, as well as taking part in the 1993 Olympic Games.
Despite this, the Trading Card Database/AbdullahErcan only has him on ten cards
Now "Euro 2000" may be the title that this set is usually referred to - but the album calls it "UEFA Euro 2000 Belgium - The Netherlands". This is because the event was actually co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, which was the first time that two Nations had ever co-hosted. Sadly neither of these teams won - France beat Italy in the Final - though The Netherlands did make it to the Quarter Finals, where they were beaten by Italy.
If you look at the reverse of the sticker you will see that there are different languages, so the same stickers were circulated all over the globe without the need to reprint them each time. This is cost-effective, but sadly it does not allow us the fun of collecting the same set in different languages, as we have with issuers like Liebig.
Sunday, 24th November 2024
Question 2:
How are Turkeys connected with Thanksgiving?
In 1621, after a successful harvest, a group of colonists wanted to celebrate, so they made food from their crops. Then the story varies. Some say they also cooked the chickens they had brought with them, others say they had brought turkeys with them, and different others say they went out and hunted some of those pesky birds who ran wild and devastated their crops. The truth is nobody took notes and all this is fiction, but it is a good story and it has led to the poor turkey being seen as fair game ever since. What we do know is that there was a ceremony, and they asked the neighbours, the Wampanoag, who brought food to share. And that later on it all went pear and they ended up at war, and that was pretty much the end of the Native Americans` way of life and freedom.
This set was designed to fit in a hard back, 88 page album, which are fairly easy to acquire. However I do not know what was so special about 1951. I do know that Fritz Homann founded his first factory in Dissen in 1876, so that explains the first date, though not why the subjects on the cards date back further than this.
Now we can thank Stuart Arnold for filling in a lot of the blanks here, for he wrote in to say that Teuta Margarine was a brand by Fritz Homann, of Dissen, in the Teutoburger Wald, or the Teutoburg Forest, and that is famous as being the site of a great battle, which is also known as the Varus Disaster. This took place over three days in September, the 8th to the 11th, in 9 A.D., between the attacking Roman forces and the native German ones. In fact the Germans had set up an ambush, and they fought off three legions of men under the charge of Publius Quinctilius Varus, hence the alternate name. The Germans were led by a man called Arminius, or in some reports, called Hermann the Cherusker - and to explain that, it seems like Hermann was the Germanic way of pronouncing Armin [ius], and he was a Chieftain of the Cherusci tribe - however there was something very unusual about him, for he was a German who had not only taken Roman citizenship, but had received Roman military training, which he then used to defeat them in his former homeland. And it was such a rout that the Romans abandoned any plans to press on into Germany. What I do not know is whether something happened that altered the feelings of Arminius towards Rome - or whether it was all an elaborate plan because he felt so certain that one day the Romans would be coming for Germany.
Returning to the margarine, the brand name of "Teuta" is almost certainly a double salute to the area of Teutoberg, and maybe even a celebration and a memory of the grand battle The company also had other margarines - "Frihodi", which came from FRItz HOmann DIssen - "Homa", from the first four letters of his surname - and "Fri-homa", from part of his first and second name. Now "Fri-Homa", whilst not issuing cards, did issue small white plastic models, in various series, and you can marvel at those courtesy of Mokarex/Fri-Homa. We briefly featured a card as an aside which was issued with that very margarine as our Card of the Day for the 7th of January 2025 - but we also used another card, issued with "Resi" margarine in the 1950s as our Card of the Day for the 12th of October 2025
After that Homann stopped making food of any kind. It is often written that they went over to producing what they call wood fibreboard, and we call hardboard, but this is incorrect, because they had been producing hardboard since the late 1940s. So why they stopped the food, who knows. Do you?
Monday, 25th November 2024
Question 3:
Are Turkeys descended from T-Rex?
And the answer is... yes, and no.
Turkeys are indeed descended from dinosaurs, and specifically a group of carnivorous creatures called theropods, who have hollow bones and only three toes on each limb. And the most famous of the theropod group is indeed the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but they are much too big to have turned into turkeys; it would have to have been one of the smaller species of the group. However there is no denying that they share those hollow bones - and that although turkeys have four toes, three facing forward, and one, a much smaller spur, like a dog`s dewclaw, at the back of their leg, modern research has shown that theropods did too, it was just overlooked by early discoverers because they did not connect the positioning with it being a toe.
This card is also apt because the logo of Jurassic Park is a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
A quick tour of Jurassic Park, for the uninitiated, will start by saying it was a book, more or less science fiction, by Michael Crichton, and it was not even published before it had been bought as a future movie. The basic story is about a theme park, whose stars are real dinosaurs, cloned from DNA, and, of course, it all goes awry.
The original film, called Jurassic Park, was released in 1993; it was directed by Steven Spielberg, and there were cards - a set of eighty-eight cards, and eleven stickers, issued by Topps, also called "Jurassic Park" Each packet contained eight cards and one sticker, with a random chance of getting one of four hologram cards. Now there seems to have been two series, at least of the stickers, because they are series one (the reverse puzzle having red borders) and series two (the reverse puzzle having yellow borders). Other cards were issued in 1993 too, by Dynamic Marketing, Kelloggs, Kenner, and Weston. And I am also told by Mr. John Levitt, that there were other cartophilic commemorations, by Weetabix, and by Trebor Bassett, whose packets also contained dinosaur images on the slides; plus, slightly later on, there was also a set by Chupa Chups.
In 1994, a follow-up novel appeared, this was called "The Lost World" and it is that film for which our cards were released - the confusion, if any, over the date is because the film of this second book, also directed by Steven Spielberg, was not made until 1997.
And in that year we get more cards by Topps, a set of seventy two cards, entitled "The Lost World - Jurassic Park". However, these packets only contained six cards and one sticker, there were no holograms.
We also get our set, issued in France. There seem to be more than one card of each dinosaur, one with flesh on its bones, one just as bones or as a skeleton, and one which is luminous - and two cards which has the logo of the fictional theme park, one of which is darker and more skeletal.
The cards do not seem to be numbered, but by the look of it the dinosaurs available are :
- Brachiosaure (x 1)
- Parasauro (x 1)
- Pteranodon (x 1)
- Stegosaurus (x 2)
- T-Rex (x 4)
- Triceratops (x 4)
- Velociraptor (x 3)
This was the final book written by Michael Crichton, but there was a third film, "Jurassic Park III", released in 2001. By this time Inkworks had taken over and they released a base set of seventy-two 3D cards, with a lot of special additional spin offs.
However, the later trilogy, "Jurassic World "(2015), "Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom" (2018) and "Jurassic World : Dominion" (2022), do not seem to have any cards associated with them. What we did get, though, was a set of Panini stickers, issued in 2023 - to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the original film.
As for the next film, "Jurassic World : Rebirth", which is scheduled to open in 2025, stay tuned, in the hope that this will be recorded on cards.
Tuesday, 26th November 2024
Question 4:
Can Turkeys Fly?
And the answer is... again...yes, and no.
We will deal with the "yes" today, for this bird on this card could certainly fly, and fast, attaining speeds of approximately fifty-five miles an hour. They are also gifted with excellent vision, much better than a human`s, and in addition they have colour vision, unlike many species of the animal kingdom. The back of this card tells us something else very pertinent, that being that the male turkey is "...three feet or more in length and weighs as much as thirty pounds". It also ties down the area of "The Wild Turkey" as being "the eastern half of the United States, north into Canada, northwest to some parts of the Missouri region, southwest to Texas and through Mexico."
Now this set turns out to have several permutations - plus a bit of slight confusion, but more about that in a minute. Anyway, as this is the first time we have featured a card from this group, it becomes the homepage for this entire grouping, and where all the various information, plus links to the constituent parts, will appear.
Let`s start with our original British American Tobacco reference book, or RB.21, where they are all listed as :
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
Now that T-42 tacked on as the note at the bottom is nothing to do with our set, and it is easy enough to discount as it does not have the fancy gold frames, just a rectangular picture, with a straight gold border around it, and to the outside of that on all four sides a straight white margin right to the edge of the card. You can easily compare a card from that set, because we used one as our Card of the Day for the 4th of September, 2024
If we move to Jefferson Burdick, and his American Card Catalogue, we can track what he wrote about the constituent parts of our set.
First up in the above list is 324.A., the anonymous issue. This is recorded as "C.45 - Bird Series. (30), as T.43" and he values these at five cents. The "C" stands for Canadian Tobacco Cards, and it is under that section where our "324.B" Imperial Tobacco of Canada branded set also appears, listed as "C14 - Game Bird Series (30) as No. T.43 reversed." They are also valued at just five cents a card. And, as far as the "324.C" set, that is listed as "T.43 - Bird Series (30) Mecca, fancy gold frame. He liked these slightly better, valuing them at ten cents a card, though I think that is more reflective of the fact that he was more interested in American tobacco cards than anything else.
Now I have not been able to track down our card in that Mecca printing, so if anyone can show us that it is a reversal of this card, with the turkey facing the other way, please do.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index this was sorted out into a slightly different way - namely
A. The Anonymous set, appears at the back of the book, as part of the Overseas Issues Through B.A.T., as "BIRD SERIES. Sm. 68 x 38. Nd. (30). See RB.21/324.A. Issued in Canada. Ref. USA/C.45 ... ZB4-8" -
B. The I.T.C. (or Imperial Tobacco of Canada) set, appears as : GAME BIRD SERIES. Sm. 68 x 38. Nd. (30). Serial 9864. See RB.21/324.B ... I/6-24
C. The "Mecca" Set actually comes under American Tobacco Group Issues, but I will add those later
Wednesday, 27th November 2024
Question 4:
Can Turkeys Fly?
And the answer is... again...yes, and no.
Yesterday we dealt with the "yes", so today, with the no. For this turkey would find it exceeding difficult to fly. Compared with that card from yesterday, this bird is much fatter, disproportionately so, and the reason for this is that a lot of turkeys are bred with money in mind, and the more meat on the turkey, the bigger profit. Also a bird that cannot fly is easier to contain, they need less space to run around, and so the poor turkey lives but a shadow of their former existence.
We cannot blame the modern farmer, or today`s society, either, for the changing of the turkey into something more commercial has been going on for a long time. It started in the 1930s, conversely when consumers asked that their turkeys be a bit smaller, making storage and cooking easier, and also one which had more of the white meat than the brown. That led to a range of scientific experiments and interbreedings, using the wild turkey off yesterday`s card and several commercial breeds which it was thought might have the features required.
The research was abandoned during the Second World War, but resumed when peace arrived. What they came up with was the Beltsville Small White, and that hit the shops in 1951. It was amazingly popular with the post modern small families of the day, but it was then realised that there was less profit for restaurants and commercial users off of such a small turkey. Therefore the breeding programme started up again in the other direction, and led to the Broad Breasted White, a bird twice the size of the turkeys of the 1930s before all the messing about began.
This bird fulfilled every need except for its own, for they were incapable of flight and of breeding in the natural manner, and because they were unable to run about they became even fatter, which left them prone to heart disease, breathing difficulties, and also to increased wear and tear on joints which were never designed to support such a massive frame.
Now we have used a card from Jacquemaire before, but as a newsletter card (on Sunday, 25th August 2024 - the newsletter being published on the 24th of August, 2024) so this will become the home page for all their issues, and also for their biography.
If we start with that biography, the company is Jacquemaire Establishments, and it is named after Mr. Leon Jacquemaire. He was born in France, in 1894. The company was actually a partnership, between himself and a Maurice Miguet, and both men were pharmacists in Villefranche sur Saône, sixteen miles from Lyon - it is probably no coincidence, therefore, that most of their cards were printed by R. Fort in Lyon. Their most famous products were Blecao (a light food designed for restoring health and wellbeing), Bledine (a complete food to aid weight loss), though on this card Bledine is being advertised as the next best thing to mother`s milk, a follow on food for babies.
This set is titled "Animaux Domestique" or "Domestic Animals". It seems to either have been reissued several times or just issued with lots of different backs, some being pictorial and others just being text. In addition I have found several cards where the same image faces a different way - I am waiting for a scan of this second version of our card. which will then be added.
There was also a connected series called "Animaux Sauvages", or "Wild Animals", in a very similar style.
A quick trawl through the internet has discovered a few other cards in our set, namely
- Boeuf [bull]
- Cheval [horse]
- Coq [Cockerel]
- Dogue [Dog]
- Lapin Domestique [tame rabbit]
- Mouton Ecossais [Scottish Highland Sheep]
- Mulet [Mule]
- Pigeon Paon [Fantail Pigeon]
- Pintade [Guinea Fowl]
- Porc [pig]
- Renne [Reindeer]
- Vache [cow]
- Veau [calf]
Thursday, 28th November 2024
Question 6:
Are Turkeys Friendly?
This is a question that has a deeper meaning, because Turkeys are indeed sociable creatures, enjoying each other`s company, and also the company of humans. They are also very clever, learning to recognise the voices of their flock, other birds, predators, and even the farmer who brings them food - despite the fact that they do not have ears, only holes in the side of their heads, and these are invisible, being entirely covered by feathers. But they work, for the most part, like our ears, where sound enters the tube and vibrates the ear drum. They are also fiercely protective of their flocks, and their children; the mothers raising their chicks for five months or more.
However they do not look very friendly, with their elongated, wrinkled, hairless, red necks, to say nothing of the dangling, wobbly wattles at their chin - and yet there are good reasons for both.
The naked neck helps the turkey cool down on a hot day, for birds cannot sweat. This is especially important on an over large genetically modified bird. It also acts as a signal as to how the bird feels - if they are angry the neck becomes inflamed and reddens, or if they are scared, it turns blue. Both these things are easy to spot when not covered with feathers.
As for the wattle, this also has a cooling function, and like the neck. can change colour. However it is in the breeding season when it really comes into play, becoming brighter and more colourful, a beacon of romance for lady turkeys. In fact, you may be surprised that other birds have wattles too, including chickens, but also storks, pheasants, and cassowaries.
This card comes from a set of twelve, but it is often sold as smaller groups, under different titles, often putting the birds and animals into two groups and sometimes even being sold as pairs. Sometimes these smaller groupings are wrongly called "Animals and Their Young" but this does not apply to all the cards.
Anyway the full set of twelve cards contains :
- Cats and kittens
- Chickens and chicks
- Deer
- Dogs
- Duck
- Goats
- Horses and a Donkey
- Oxen (often called cows, but the yoke that joins the two together is more usual on oxen)
- Rabbits
- Sheep and lambs
- Swans
- Turkeys
Malcolm Thompson has been in touch and told us that these cards were actually reproduced as modern postcards by The Museum of Advertising and Packaging (or the Robert Opie Collection). They were sold in two series, each of six cards, these comprising of 6 - A & B see below. Best regards Malcolm
Set A :
- Cats and kittens
- Chickens and chicks
- Duck and Geese
- Rabbits
- Swans
- Turkeys
Set B :
- Deer
- Dogs
- Goats
- Horses and a Donkey
- Oxen
- Sheep and lambs
I have not been able to find a site that lists Huntley and Palmer cards but maybe you know of one? I did find out that at the latter end of the nineteenth century several things happened that are helpful when dating cards. The first was in 1878, when they were awarded a gold medal at the Paris exhibition. The second is that in 1898 they became a limited company, so if your card, like ours, says Ltd it must be after 1898. And the third thing is that in 1900 they were awarded two gold medals at the Paris Exhibition
Friday, 29th November 2024
So we end our week`s tribute to the Turkey with this set, and hopefully after this you might regard them with more affection and understanding, and not just as dinner. I also managed not to use cards that treated this noble bird so, and there were a couple of cards that I was offered which were rejected on just those grounds.
Cerebos Ltd was actually registered in 1894, by George Weddell, and he believed it would revolutionise the salt market, because before that time salt was sold in blocks much as you get to leave in a field and allow a horse to gnaw on, much as the cook would attempt to chip a bit off to add to their cooking pots. It was not thought possible to have salt in a container, just to sprinkle on food at the table, and actually it was not, until the advent of Cerebos` design, which included anti-caking agents, (in actual fact, phosphates) which prevented the Sodium chloride crystals from forming into a solid block.
In 1902 there is record of the dissolving of a partnership between George Weddell, Elizabeth Mawson, and Joseph Wilson Swan, of Newcastle upon Tyne. They had been known as Mawson, Swan and Weddell and had plied the trade of chemist and druggists in that city. And they had also sold the revolutionary salt. In fact in their advertising, and for some time, they had been able to say the salt was "....ordered by hundreds of Doctors as everyday food." But from that point, George Weddell was going it alone - though in actual fact he had already set up another company, Cerebos Salt, and had been running it since 1894. And he registered it as a Limited Company on the 28th of November 1903, with codicils that he would be entering into other countries to sell it, and also be buying salt wells and works, both here and abroad.
Not long after that he started to buy up works, starting in 1904 with the Greatham Salt and Brine Works in Hartlepool, which he made his HQ, presumably to prove that he made the salt all himself, at his own works. He already had plenty of brands, not just the Cerebos Table Salt, but Cerebos Baking Powder, Cerebos Cooking Salt, Cerebos Health Salt, Cerebos Pepper, and Pepsalia Digestive Salt. He added a lower cost brand, not so heavily or carefully refined, in 1907. This was called Saxa Salt. And the following year, perhaps by accident, he invented Bisto gravy powder. We know that from 1923 Cerebos also had a factory in Acton.
This card must have been printed for a French branch, but we know very little about that. We do know some of the other cards, which seem to suggest it is only birds - these are :
- Barbezieux
- Canards d`Aylesbury
- Cochinchinois fauve
- Crevecoeur
- Dindon Bronze - Dindon Cambridge
- Houdan
- Wyandotte
And there I must close my book for the week. Didn`t quite manage the card codes again but I have come to a decision, and that is not to dart about hither and yon looking them up as they appear in the newsletters, but instead to crack on with the card index, which will allow me to update all of the cards of each manufacturer all at once, and only then, once they are all ship shape, start updating the newsletters and diary cards.
This week`s selection have proved that there are still many things yet to chat about, and that the amount of things I know nothing about is huge.I wonder if anyone will really ever know everything - and if so whether it will be sad, for they will never again experience the joy and delight of following a trail through the kingdom of facts until they reach the treasure - and even then, that there still be things missing that they want to retrace their path to once more hunt.
Hope that you have pleasures planned for the weekend - I am off to a Christmas Market tomorrow, and Sunday, by bus and train respectively. I seldom buy much, if anything, but it is fun to walk round, and see sparkly things, and I much enjoy the hope of finding something amazing. And best of all they are usually free to enter, so that everyone can enjoy them.
See you all next week, and best wishes for your continued happy collecting.....