Newsletter - 2025-02-22

Saturday, 15th February 2025

We are going to mostly discuss the successes this week, and close with the losses. And we are starting closest to home, being part of the British mainland, though Cornish readers may wish me to say that they believe it to be an island, separated from us by the river Tamar. And as so it is only fitting that they have a language all their own.

So here we have John Gilbert Cock, and he was born in Cornwall, where we also have Cornish, or Kernewek, which originated, some say, in France, and was spoken by half the population of Cornwall in the Middle Ages, but died almost completely in December 1777, along with one of its last speakers, Dolly Pentreath, of Mousehole.

One of the reasons for its decline was that the Tudors made the Cornish speak only English, as retaliation for their uprising against the Crown in 1549. And though it almost certainly remained, to spite them, it was an underground language and almost certainly hidden from the public eye. 

However in 1904 a man called Henry Jenner, rather a rebel, wrote a book on the language, which he had been intrigued by as a child on hearing odd snippets of a forgotten world, spoken by farmers and the like . Yet it was not until he was twenty-two, and working at the British Museum, that he discovered there was a poem in the collection. That fired him up, and he was determined to learn more. This became his lifetime passion, along with restoring many of Cornwall`s traditions and customs, though by the time he wrote the book he was almost sixty. 

At the same time he started a campaign which wanted Cornwall to link up with other Celtic languages. In fact there was an International group called the Celtic Congress, and he applied to join. He thought they may say no, but they not only said yes, they sent him the reply, in Cornish. This led to him becoming President of the Old Cornwall Society, which had been founded by his friend, and fellow enthusiast for the Cornish way of life, Robert Morton Nance. Together they also started Gorsedh Kernow in 1928, which aims to preserve the county`s Celtic roots and Cornish spirit. And none were prouder when the first church service to be held in Cornish for two hundred and fifty years took place, in 1933.

Sadly, the following year, Henry Jenner died, aged eighty-five.

I have actually been told something really interesting, and that is that this card also appears in Gallaher`s "Famous Footballers" which you can see at the New York Public Library/GJGC. There were two versions of that Gallaher set, one with backs in green, which was issued in 1925, and one with brown backs, issued in 1926.

On the Gallaher version, the text reads  "No. 18 JOHN GILBERT COCK the International centre-forward, who joined Plymouth Argyle in March, 1925, is a native of Hayle, in Cornwall, and played first as an amateur with Old Kingstonians. Then he was transferred to Huddersfield Town assisted Brentford periodically during the War, when he won the M.C. and was wounded, and became Staff Sergt. Major at Aldershot. After the War, Huddersfield transferred him to Chelsea for £2,500, and they passed him on to Everton in January, 1923. A scrupulously fair player and a crafty leader."

I said I wished that the inscription on our card was clearer, and that if anyone had a more readable version that they would like to scan, it would be much appreciated. So with many thanks to Mr. Price, we now have this much better scan. And that means you can clearly see the difference in lines one and two,where our card says  "the Everton centre forward, who has been twice capped by England" and the Gallaher card says "the International centre forward, who joined Plymouth Argyle in March, 1925, "

Though I have not yet found his Military Cross, I can report that he was in the Duke of Cambridge`s Own (Middlesex Regiment) as part of the Seventeeth (Service) Battalion, also known as the First Football Battalion. And you can read a lot more about them on Wikipedia/FootballBatt.

As far as the card, this is one of three groups that appear in our original British American Tobacco reference book, RB,21, issued in 1952. However the listing includes a really useful table comparing the two  buff background sets, so I will scan that some time and insert it - plus there are a hundred names to type out.

In the front of the book it adds that these sets were all issued in the Channel Islands, and also gives a date, for each, Set 1 being from 1923, Set 2 from 1924, and Set 3 from 1925. 

In our original World Tobacco Issues Index the three versions are listed together, but not under British American Tobacco; instead they appear at the back of the book with the "Z" codes anonymous issues, under section 1.2.C - "Anonymous Issues (1) with Letterpress on back - English Language Issues Without References to Tobacco - Issues 1919 - 1940".

Their entry reads :

FAMOUS FOOTBALLERS. Sm. 64 x 39. See RB.21/458 ... ZB6-27

1. Set 1. Grey background. Nd. (50)
2. Set 2. Buff background. Nd. (50)
3. Set 3. Buff background. Nd. (50)

This is identical in our updated version, but there is a new code, of ZB07-300

Sunday, 16th February 2025

Here we have Ainu, which is both a people, and a language.

It is odd then, that the people were sufficiently well known to merit inclusion in this set, yet they were already removed from their traditional way of life, forcibly moved to barren lands, and often killed if they refused. 

Their language is currently only in daily use by a few elders on the Japanese island of Hokkaidu - in fact the language is also known as Hokkaido Ainu. It is therefore regarded as an isolate, or a language with only one point of use. 

More than that, though, for this language, and the race itself, are of unknown origin, and their language bears no similarities to any other words spoken in the entire world. Yet, until the start of the 1900s, it was the main language of the island, and had sibling languages, Kuril Ainu and Sakhalin Ainu, which are both now lost. 

The cause of this was that the Japanese government pretty much outlawed it, along with the Ainu people themselves. And all attempts to speak it were met with fierce opposition.

Strange then that in June 2008 the government of that time actually recognised it as a native language, and, ten years after, also recognised the Ainu themselves, after denying of their existence. They felt strongly enough in this belief that the year after they opened a museum and cultural centre in Hokkaido, along with a memorial ground to the lost people and their culture. However, no apologies for the centuries of maltreatment have been offered.

Despite this, interest has started to blossom, and there are attempts to revive the language, with several schools and online tuition classes. 

This set is recorded in our original Australasian Miscellaneous Booklet, RB.20, published in 1951, as :

27. NATIVES OF THE WORLD (adopted title). Size 68 x 36 m/m. Fronts in colour, with captions, Blue "Standard" backs (type 1), no initials at base, Issued 1904-8 period. Unnumbered series of 25

1. Abyssinian                        10. Hairy Ainu                    19. Samoan
2. Afghan                               11. Hindoo                          20. Solomon Islander
3. Arab Lady                         12. Java Woman               21. Somali
4. Australia (Aboriginal)   13. Kaffir Warrior              22. Tibetan
5. Bedouin                             14. Laplander                    23. Turkish Lady
6. Burmese Girl                    15. Maori                             24. Uled Nail Woman
7. Chinaman                         16. Norwegian Bride       25. Zulu Woman
8. Congo Warrior                17. Pygmy, Central Africa
9. Daughter of Japan        18. Red Indian

Similar series issued by Taddy (see Reference Book No. 12, Item 22), and L.C.C.C. Handbook, H.419

By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, it appears as simply :

NATIVES OF THE WORLD (A). Sm. Unnd. (25). See RB.20/27 and H.419 ... S88-24

This is almost identical in our updated version but by that time the original Australasian Booklet was long out of print, and so the code to RB.20/27 is no longer included - and there is also a new card code for the listing, namely S587-290.

I presumed that I already had this set featured by Taddy, but it does not look like I do, so I will add the info on that later. 

Monday, 17th February 2025

Another relatively local lost language that is now on the upswing, especially amongst children, for this is Manx, the home of this tail-less tabby.

Now the Isle of Man, like Cornwall, is also across water, but a larger body of water than the Tamar, taking three hours by ferry to cross the Irish Sea. This mention of the Irish Sea is no coincidence, as Manx is another Celtic language, though it is also a Gaelic one, and closely related to primitive Irish, possibly because of its location. However some of the words are more closely related to ones only found in Scottish Gaelic.

It died out in December 1974, with its last known speaker, Ned Maddrell, aged ninety-seven, who was both born and died in Cregneash, on the Isle of Man. However, since the year 2000, it has started to come back, especially in schools, where it is taught to pre-schoolers and studied at A Level. There is also a growing demand for adult classes.

This has also led to the most amazing thing, for they now have signage in both Manx and English. 

Of course some of this arose when UNESCO decided that the language was extinct, but were met with a barrage of letters in Manx to not only fight back but prove that it was widely used across the island. And UNESCO replied, taking the language out of the dead list and moving to endangered.

Here we have the Manx cat, tail-less, but with longer legs than usual. They have been native to and resident in the Isle of Man for centuries, but there are many theories as to why. Some say they were brought there by sea, which could well be true, as they are descended from the African wildcat and not the European one. Others swear that because of a lack of cats on the island they suffered with a genetic mutation due to inbreeding. And then there is the curious "tail" of a particular male whose lack of rear end decoration was compensated for by his very active romantic tendencies, all of his kittens being also born like him, and also spreading down through their descendants.

As to our card, we have a home page for Priory Tea - I Spy, with background info on the company, and a listing of all the sets, and, one day you will be able to see a specimen card from every set by linking out from there. Not yet though.

This particular set is described in our original British Trade Index part two, as :

Priory Tea & Coffee Co. Ltd., London, S.E.1. Cards issued 1957-64. Small size 69 x 37 m/m. Special album issued to house the 13 series, listed below in order used in album. Series numbers appear only on album sheets.

SERIES 2 "I SPY PETS". Sm. Nd. (24) ... PTT-2

Our updated British Trade Index adds "Special album issued to house all 13 sets. Albums to take one or two sets were available for 6d." And it also gives the date of issue, as series 1 to 4 were all issued in 1957. But I forgot to write down the card code. So that will come tomorrow

Tuesday, 18th February 2025

Today, for our first non clue card, it is fitting to speak of why we have an International Mother Language Day at all. The truth behind that is told by its other name, Martyrs Day, for it remembers four students, who were killed in Bangladesh, on the 21st of February 1952, during campaigns and protests that their beloved Bengali language should not be swept away. And to also note that Bengali did survive, becoming, today, the fifth most spoken language of all.

Everyone seems to agree on the French title of this set, but there is much debate about what it represents, Is the person the characteristic of the bird, or are they just the National Costume, or even just a typical child of that country ? The truth depends on how many cards you have. Some are indeed National, or at least a recognisable costume from that land, but not all. Whilst some, for example, several of the water birds, just show children on the beach or on boats. And others, especially the nightingale, do show a boy singing, to demonstrate the bird has one of the loveliest voices. 

Our card is entitled "Le Bengali", and the bird is presumably a Bengali Finch, though they have nothing to do with Bengal, or even Bangladesh, which is why they are called a Society Finch now. In fact, they came from China, and only came to Europe in the mid nineteenth century, starting out in zoos and then becoming pets. Another odd thing is that the "Bengali" was their English name - in Europe, and presumably France, where these cards were issued, they were known as `Movchen`, or small gull. 

As far as the person, the important characteristic is the bubble pipe, or hookah. To modern collectors, having a child smoking a hookah would be a bad thing, but at the time people would not have thought this way. The main thing about the hookah though is that this word is from Bengali: where it was called a `hukka`, and also where it has been the smoking device of choice for centuries. The shape of the rounded domes is actually a throwback to the fact that the original ones were made out of coconuts. This added a very slight flavour to the tobacco but it was often enhanced with flower petals, and spices. The idea of adding these, however, was not just for the flavour, it was also to act as a filter and to collect any grains of dust.

The set can always be spotted by the rather curious way that the golden borders have diagonals coming off them. And there is a rudimentary list, supplied by Mr. Sharp, whose card this is too. The cards are not numbered 

1. L`Albatros - (albatross) - a seaman on deck
2. L`Alouette - (lark) - girl with mirror, doing her hair
3. L`Eterneau - (starling #1) - chef spilling pans
4. L`Epervier - (sparrowhawk) - boy on a boat throwing a net
5. L`Ibis - (ibis) - an Egyptian by the Nile
6. La Bergeronnet - (wagtail) - girl with a sheep
7. La Mouette - (seagull) - girl with fishing net
8. La Sarcelle - (teal duck) - girl punting a boat
9. La Tourterelle - (turtle dove) - girl on balcony
10. Le Crabier - (heron) - girl with bucket on beach
11. Le Dindon - (turkey) - Dutch boy with flowers
12. Le fou commu - (booby bird) - a fool or jester with a stick
13. Le Guepier - (bee eater) - boy running with dog
14. Le Hibou - (owl) - boy in glasses with an umbrella
15. Le Martinet  - (swallow) - Chinaman with whip
16. Le Menure Lyre - (lyrebird) - girl playing a lyre
17. Le Paon - (peacock) - boy in red fancy clothing
18. Le Pic Vert - (woodpecker) - boy cutting down tree
19. Le Pinson - (chaffinch) - girl with dress caught in door, spilling the tea
20. Le Rossignol - (nightingale) - boy opera singer
21. Le Sansonnet - (starling #2) - shoemender by window
22. Le Vautour - (Vulture) - boy with sword robbing boy with basket

Wednesday, 19th February 2025

This Australian dates from a time before his land and language was taken away. Many languages were spoken before the invaders came, it is estimated that over two hundred and fifty different tongues, and as many as eight hundred regional dialects were heard across the land.

Today there are but a hundred and twenty three which have managed to survive, and over a hundred of those are on the list of seriously endangered languages. Efforts are ongoing to record them, but so many have been lost, and many of the ones which somehow survived are simply just a few words, with no connection to other languages, and no stories about from where they came.

Some of the work to restore the lost is detailed at AIATSIS, a truly fascinating site, and not a commercial one dragged from other sites, this carries the voices and words of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders themselves. And the work they do in all areas of making sure these people are not forgotten is quite amazing.

As this seems to be the first time we have shown a purely "Nestle" branded one of these little paper stamps, we ought to tell the story of Nestle too. Nestle was a person before a brand, a Heinrich Nestle, born on the 10th of August 1814, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and one of fourteen children. It is often reported that he was a glazier by trade, but not so frequently that one of his brothers became the Lord Mayor of his birthplace, nor that several members of the Nestle family tree were also mayors of other towns.

Nestle actually means a bird`s nest, usually one of the smaller birds, in which the chicks keep each other warm simply by their close proximity. In fact if you look at the logo for Nestle you will see the nest, with three little chicks popping up, and this is also on their coat of arms, where tradition has it that these are the first ever Nestle children, who were born in the sixteenth century.

The Swiss connection comes in when Heinrich Nestle moved, to Switzerland, in the mid nineteenth century. We do not know why that was, only that after completing an apprenticeship with a pharmacist in his town he suddenly left and became a pharmacist in Lausanne. He also changed his name to the more French sounding Henri Nestle. He also seems to have had a little sideline in selling alcoholic and carbonated drinks. This seems to have lasted less than five years, then he started experimenting with making fertilizer, and this led him into making gas for lighting, though he had earlier also been involved with a scheme to make oil. for lamps, out of nuts.

The fertilizer and the lighting seem to have also been abruptly ended, but they were replaced with something that would make his name, and that was powdered milk, specifically for babies and infants. We do not know why he started making this, especially as he had no children, but some have suggested that he picked up on the fact that the infant mortality rate was rather alarming, and thought there would be a market for a product that offered to reduce this.

The odd fact is that when he was making his fertilizer he had come across a man called Justus von Liebig, who was also working with fertilizers, but at the same time had developed a way to extract the nourishment of beef into a liquid form. Now the two men would enter each other`s arena again, for Liebig marketed his beef extract primarily as a health food for infants and babies. However, the nature of Liebig`s product meant that it was harder to prepare, and was not always digestible, especially if not served correctly. Maybe Nestle heard of this and that was the spur. Nestle based his not on beef, but on cow`s milk, wheat, and sugar, though he removed the wheat starch. He called his product "Farine Lactee Henri Nestle" (wheat milk by Henri Nestle). 

This was an immediate sensation, across the globe. However it also led to a new partnership, for it was his process for making condensed milk that was the key to the production of milk chocolate, by Daniel Peter, in 1875. And we will pick up the Peter story on another page - some time.

As far as our set, here is a list of all the cards

1.  Egypte - [Egypt]
2.  Turquie - [Turkey]
3.  Indes - [India] 
4.  Chine - [China]
5.  Algerie - [Algeria]
6.  Etats Unis - [United States of America] 
7.  Bresil - [Brazil]
8.  Mexique - [Mexico] 
9.  Japan - [Japan]
10. Canada - [Canada]
11. Conge - [Congo]
12. Australie - [Australia]

But do be aware that  this set was also issued by Peter, Cailler, Kohler, Nestle. They bear all those makers names, not just Nestle alone, but these  fill the top border, whereas our set just has "Costumes" and the name of the country shown. Also be careful in another way, as there are several versions - all the pictures of which are identical to ours, just numbered either as "Serie XVIII", "Serie 18" or as "Serie 18" with a "B" in the centre of the bottom border. The only versions I have not seen in all three versions are

•   9. Japan as an 18.B
• 11. Congo as an XVII
• 12,. Australia as an 18.B

And there is also a set that looks almost identical but is only costumes of European countries, that is Serie XIX.

Thursday, 20th February 2025

Here we have the most famous lost mother tongue of all, Phoenician. And this is especially amazing because their language was the basis of our alphabet.

Hardly any records or details of their way of life survive, and they were almost unknown until a French biblical scholar Samuel Bochart wrote about them in 1646. His words about this seafaring race of merchants and warriors fascinated the rest of the world, and it almost certainly inspired Jean-Jacques Barthelmy to attempt to, and eventually succeed with, translating their alphabet. 

The Phoenicians were a people who were at their greatest power between 1200 and 330 B.C., whose mastery of the sea and sailing was unsurpassed. This helped them trade, and both teach and learn from those other places, but also to conquer them, from the ocean, a way that most of those countries had no skills to defend. 

United Services Manufacturing Co. Ltd are listed in our "Directory of British Issuers" (RB.7. published in 1946), as : 

UNITED SERVICES MANUFACTURING CO. LTD., Ironmonger Row, London, E.C.1. 
[brands] "Services Navy Cut", "Services Gold Flake", "Dixona", "Echo", Monarch"

The first two brands and the company name, suggest that they supplied cigarettes to the Forces. That is also supported by seeing a packet of "Services Navy Cut" online at The University of Newcastle in Australia; they also have a "Gold Flake" packet there, but it seems that might be the post war design. I have not been able to find the other brands. 

There is a puzzle with this set, for in our original World Tobacco Issues index it is listed twice, once first up, under section 1, covering "Issues 1935-39", where it is described as : 

ANCIENT WARRIORS. Sm. 68 x 38. Nd (50) ... U12-1

and then again under section 2, covering "Issues 1954-55", as : 

ANCIENT WARRIORS. Sm. 67 x 37. Nd (25). Reprint of first 25 subjects in U12-1, back format revised ... U12-11

Now I am puzzled because this may say "back format revised" but that does not really explain whether they mean that the reprinted set of twenty-five says "Series of 25" on the reverse instead of our "Series of 50", in which case there would be no difficulty telling them from the originals. So if you know, do please tell us. 

In our updated World Tobacco Issues index, the texts are the same, just with a new codes, U480-100 and U480-810 respectively. 

Friday, 21st February 2025

This is another version of a set called "Les Ecritures", which means "The Writings" but shows the story of writing and languages. 

When we say "another" we really mean it for there are a lot of versions, all using the same pictures. These are summarised along with the first version of this set that we featured on our website as our Card of the Day for the 16th of July, 2024, that being Series 22.

Most of those are a combination of the names of four issuers, but our version only bears the name of Cailler. It is also entirely different in its appearance, having the title of the set at the top border, and the maker`s name in the dark cartouche inside the picture. And also it is perforated to every edge. Which begs the question were all of them perforated, to every edge, or were there edge stamps which had either a straight top, bottom, or side, depending on its place in said sheet ? And also were the ones that have no perforations at all simply trimmed by someone who wanted them more as cards than stamps ? 

Cailler is a brand, but was also a man, Francois-Louis Cailler, who was born in 1796. He opened a grocery store, in 1818, in Vevey, Switzerland, with a partner Abram Cusin. One of the things they sold was chocolate, the sort that we today know as drinking chocolate.

This is where the story gets complex, as some collectors say that it looks as if this drinking chocolate was a line he bought in from someone else, then wondered how easy it would be to make on his own, cutting out the middleman. The problem with this is that he opened a factory in a town nearby in 1819 and he was not only far enough along in his efforts to feel a factory was necessary, but he had also discovered how to convert the cocoa powder into solid blocks and tablets for eating. And within a relatively short time he was able to offer different flavours and styles - sixteen in all.

By 1840 he had three factories, a wife and two sons. However in 1852 he died, and his wife and sons took over. He must have had a daughter too, because in 1861 one of his factories was taken over by his son in law, Daniel Peter. And he has a huge claim to chocolate fame, for he invented milk chocolate. But we speak of him elsewhere on this site (somewhere...)

The merging with Peter and Kohler happened in 1911, to make Peter, Cailler, Kohler. And they were bought by Nestle in 1929.