Welcome to another newsletter, and on time. This is because I have had to rest, after surgery, and not do anything strenuous, so sitting and tapping away on here fits that bill rather well.
This time we have included a few more actual cigarette cards than of late, which is pleasing - for when time is not on my side I have to stick to continental cards, which I know I will not need extra time to delve into the books for.
Anyway this week`s cast of characters await to be introduced, and so they are a sacred symbol, a culinary choke, a golfing great, a melting museum, some vintage viewings, a boxing bantam, and a French food .....
So lets start with....
The Goudey Gum Co. [trade : gum : O/S - Boston, Massachusetts, USA] "Auto License Plates" (1939) Un/66 + R19.4
.. our first card, which is a centenary, of a new flag, for New Mexico. Oddly I cannot find the design of this flag anywhere on a card, apart from this one - because it is the red ribbed cross with the circle centre, on a yellow ground. The "39" in the centre of that circle is nothing to do with the flag, it is the year of both the numberplate and of the year that the card was issued.
What I call "the circle" is more complex than that, for it is the red sun, sacred to the Zia tribe of the Pueblo Indians, and this is one of only two American flags that use Native American symbols in its design - the other being Oklahoma, who uses a pipe of peace and an olive branch.
The yellow represents the Spanish, who run a similar flag, and were in charge of that area for almost two hundred and fifty years, from 1535 to 1821, via a Viceroy who was under the command of the King of Spain At that time the colours were a yellow ground and a two diagonal lines from corner to corner, crossing in the middle.
After that, it had no flag at all, even after it became an American State (number 47) in 1912. This was only noticed at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, in 1915, when the State flags were all lined up and one was missing. The problem was solved by the Mayor of Santa Fe, who simply made one up, and a curious one it was too. You can see it at NewMexico15 - as I am not sure it ever appeared anywhere outside of that exhibition.
It was five years before anyone asked for a State Flag, and another three before anything was done about it, by holding a competition. at which the winner was a hand sewn flag by Reba Mera, to her husband`s design. She was an archaeologist, and had seen the symbol on a bowl. Though the bowl turned out to be later, pottery was a major art form for the Zia people, and their main trade.
The flag was revealed as the new State Flag today, in 1925. Unfortunately nobody had thought to ask the Zia people if they wanted their sacred symbol on a flag, and they did not. And ever since, without success, they have tried to regain it, using the copyright laws and everything else they could think of. In 2012 it was acknowledged officially that the flag should not have shown their sacred symbol, but it is now too late to alter it. So the unrest continues.
New Mexico appears as one of the plates in the first ever series of this set, which was issued in 1936, and the letters on that are "362". It is featured every year after, though the letters change. In the 1937 series their letter is just said to be a capital letter "I", but in actual fact it is from the Governor`s car, and is a green official plate. After that, for the 1938 and 1929 series, it becomes a standard yellow plate again, the former numbered "308", and the latter, our set, numbered "290".
The code of R19 comes from Jefferson Burdick, who described them in his American Card Catalog as :
R19 - Auto License Plates, Goudey, 1 1/2" x 3 1/4"
1936 (36), 1937 (69), 1938 (66), 1939 (30 seen)
He did not rate them very highly, only five cents a card.
Since that time only one more card has been added to this listing, and that is from the 1937 set, which is now seventy cards. And I do not know what that one is, but maybe you do and can say...?.
Guerin-Boutron [trade : chocolate : O/S - France] "Botanique Illustree" / "Botanical Illustrations" (1900) Un/84
This was one of those days when nothing worked out. It started out as the Centenary of the Lon Chaney film "The Monster" but we have featured him before. After that I discovered it was the birthday of George Ohm, but he only seems to feature in the Gutermann set of "Famous Men" and we have used that before too. However, third time lucky, it turned out to be National Artichoke Day - hence the card above.
Artichokes, dare I say it, are an acquired taste. They are actually related to the thistle, and they are one of those delicacies that are time specific, you have to pick them as buds before they start to flower, and only select the fleshy lower parts, which is known as the heart. The bit in the middle slowly hardens, until it is known as the choke, for very good reasons, as it is quite inedible at that stage.
I featured a very similar card to this, with a large diagonal in gold, but by Felix Potin, as our Card of the Day for the 5th of March 2025. At the time I wondered why I could find no others in the set and could only guess at the title. Now I have discovered this one, I have done a bit more research and the card I showed then, of the sunflower, also appears in today`s set, but this version has a series title, and wording that tells us it is a set of eighty four cards. I will therefore make a list on that page, some time, and add in the known cards from this set as I discover them.
W.A. & A.C. CHURCHMAN [tobacco : UK - Ipswich] "Prominent Golfers" (1931) 25/50 - C504-615 : C82-72.A : C/112 [RB.10/112]
Now we have shown a card of this player before, but only as a stop gap card to illustrate our speaking of of Cyril Walker - until we can track down what appears to be the only known card of him, by Spalding.
Today we are going to speak about Robert Tyre Jones Junior, also known as "Bobby" - who was born on this day, March 17, 1902. He was a lawyer as his day job, but he also played golf, to an amazingly high standard, though he was never a professional, and only ever played part time. Yet of the thirty-one major tournaments in which he took part, he was in the top ten in all but four.
His peak, during which this card was issued, was from 1923 until 1930. His last year was a milestone year for him, for he won the Grand slam, all four major competitions in one year, the UK Amateur Championship at St. Andrews in Scotland in May, the British Open at Royal Liverpool in June, the US Open in Minnesota in July, and the US Amateur Championship in September. After that, he retired, though he was still young, aged just twenty-eight.
After he retired, he kept his love of the sport, becoming a coach and also working on several innovations that modern golfers use, without probably realising he was behind them. He also co-designed the Augusta National Golf Club and co-founded the Masters Tournament.
He was so proud of the latter that he played in it, purely as an exhibition, from 1934 to 1948, by which time he realised that the illness which had stopped him playing golf in 1930 was going to render him unable to walk - though he lived until 1971. In fact he had been sickly as a child, and only took up golf because a doctor said it may strengthen his muscles; perhaps that was the fist stage of his illness.
His "Rookie" card is a strip card, issued in sheets or long strips, and known as "W-590". It is not very well produced, and only grey and white monotone. It also calls him "Robert T. Jones Jr. National Amateur Golf Champion", which dates the card quite well - for though he had won the Georgia Amateur Championship in 1916, in the same year he had only reached the quarterfinals of the actual "National" Championship. He only won the National in 1924.
His second card was Lambert & Butler`s "Who`s Who in Sport (1926)", which is notable for the fact that it calls him "Bobbie", not Bobby. The same error is repeated on the anonymous, British American Tobacco version too.
In fact, according to the Trading Card Database/BJ, he appears on ninety-nine cards.
Our set was from cartoons by "MEL", who also drew the characters for Churchman`s earlier set of "Men of the Moment in Sport" (1929). However I have not been able to find out who was behind the monogram.
Its first appearance in our reference books was in the original Churchman one, RB.10, published in 1948. There, it finds a companion, and they are described as :
111. May 1931. 50. PROMINENT GOLFERS (titled series). Size 2 11/16" x 1 7/16" or 67 x 36 m/m. Numbered 1-50. Fronts printed by letterpress, 4-colour half-tone process. Backs in dark green, with descriptions. Printed by Mardon, Son & Hall
112. 12. PROMINENT GOLFERS. Similar format to (111) but size 3 5/16" x 2 9/20", or 80 x 62 m/m
Bobby Jones appears in both sets, being number five in the larger version. This picture is not just enlarged, it leaves him in the centre and surrounds him with more crowd. Some time we will add his card in here so you can see that.
The description above is much reduced in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, to just :
PROMINENT GOLFERS. Nd. ... C82-72
A. Small (50)
B. Large (12)
And further reduced in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, to just :
PROMINENT GOLFERS. Nd. A. Sm (50) B. Lg (12) ... C504-615
W.D. & H.O. WILLS [tobacco : UK - Bristol] "Birds of Brilliant Plumage" - general Overseas Issue (1916?) five of spades - W675-564 : W62-404 : W/152.D [RB.21/200-152.D]
Our second centenary is of the great fire at Madame Tussauds in London, which broke out at half past ten in the evening of March 18th, 1925. The flames destroyed the dome, and were seen to leap and cavort some fifty feet above the building. It took the fire crews an hour and a half to bring under control.
The problem was not the wax itself, but the vapour; if you have ever lit a candle, you will have seen that the wax starts to melt but there is a kind of aura above it, and this is the steam coming off and catching alight, using the heat so produced to eat away at the wax in order to feed itself.
The damage was in two parts. The top floor was completely destroyed by the fire, including a world renowned exhibition of items pertaining to and owned by Napoleon; his death bed, horse drawn coaches, and his personal effects all perished. Whilst on the bottom floor, the water from the fire hoses swept everything together and damaged them.
A few models did survive, including Dr. Crippen, and, quite amazingly, Sleeping Beauty which was the oldest surviving wax model in the collection, from the 1770's, complete with an internal mechanism so that the figure actually appeared to breathe. She had been modelled on Louis XV’s famous mistress Madame du Barry, by Phillipe Curtius. He then moved to Paris and took a young female pupil for wax moulding, called Marie Grosholtz. She was imprisoned for three months during the French Revolution, but freed, and she started to model the heads of those guillotined, and display them to raise money. When her former teacher died, in 1794, he left her his models, including this Sleeping Beauty. And the next year she changed her name, on marrying Francois Tussaud.
And now I will put you out of your suspense as to why we have a parrot - that is because the only living exhibit, a green parrot, in a large cage, was brought down by two firemen, who believed the bird to be deceased, until it sprang back into life again, its first words, recorded in the papers of the time, being "This is a rotten business".
As far as the one off exhibits, like the Napoleonic souvenirs, they were gone. The waxworks were restored, because the moulds were not in the building, and the figures were simply remade. Yet the attraction did not re-open until 1928.
We have a home page for this complex series, as our Card of the Day for the 4th of February, 2025, and so this page only deals with this particular version, with that page linking to this rather than repeating.
It first appears in our original Wills reference book, part IV, or RB.16, published in 1950, as :
152. 52 BIRDS OF BRILLIANT PLUMAGE (adopted title). Size 63 x 35 m/m. Unnumbered. Fronts per Fig. 80, lithographed in colour, with Playing Card inset. Issued between 1910-15.
GENERAL OVERSEAS ISSUES
D. Backs in red, star circle and leaves design
There is an amendment to this in part V, RB.19, issued in 1951, with the dates of issue, however our version is not there. This simply means that it was printed in the country of issue, rather than in England.
The next book it features in is our original World Tobacco Issues Index, recorded under section 5.A of the Wills listing, with "Other Export Issues`, specifically those having no Imperial Tobacco Clause, and being issued through British American Tobacco, though they were still printed with the name of W.D. & H.O. Wills. They were "issued chiefly in Channel Islands, Malta, India and Malaya", and catalogued as
"BIRDS OF BRILLIANT PLUMAGE (A). Sm. 63 x 36. Playing cards inset. Back in red, star circle and leaves design. (52). See RB.21/200-152.C
This is actually a bit misleading because those "RB.21" codes, which come from our British American Tobacco reference book, contradict the "W" codes in our Wills booklets, which ascribes the letter C to the non -bordered Pirate issue.
In the updated World Tobacco Issues Index this text is repeated exactly, but the set is moved to section 6.A, and given a new card code of W675-564.
LIPTON`s Tea [trade : tea : O/S - Melbourne, Australia] "Lipton`s 3-D cards" fifth series (1960s) 14/16 - L12-3.5
Today, on National 3-D Day, we share a stereoscopic card, of a solitary coral. The day is well planned too, as it is the third day of the third week of the third month.
Younger readers may not realise that before they strapped their virtual reality headset on, there were other devices that offered much the same viewing pleasure. They all worked on the same principle, a separate lens for each eye and a slightly different photograph on each side of the card, so that as your eyes focused they made a complete image in the middle. Some people were unable to do this, and in others, like me, it induced of queasiness.
Most cards that were three-dimensional also had a special viewer, and our set was no different. It was made of plastic, and though this card shows it in blue, it was actually yellow - it is just that the reverse of the card was printed in blue. It folded into a slim kind of wallet, the eye pieces bending down inside the case formed by the lid and bottom. And you inserted the card within two small holders, as away from the lenses as a small plastic device would allow.
To get one of these magical devices, you had to send your name and address, along with a label from the end of a Liptons packet, and two shillings and sixpence, to their address in Melbourne.
This is part of a group that is only listed in our original Australian and New Zealand index, as :
Lipton`s 3-D cards (A). 105 x 44. Six numbered series ... L12-3
(i) ) Address for Viewer "Box 557D. G.P.O. Melbourne" :
1. "Save the Series of 15"
2. "Save 2nd Series of 16" (Nature)
3. "Save 3rd Series of 16" (Nature)
4. "Save 4th Series of 16" (Nature)(ii) Address for Viewer "Box 76, Collingwood, N.5" :
5. "Save 5th Series of 16" (Nature)
6. "Save 6th Series of 16" (Nature)
We must add that despite this book having the title being followed by an (A), which means the cards are untitled, they actually do all say, as our card "3-D Cards in every Lipton pack".
Lambert & Butler [tobacco : UK - London] "Who`s Who in Sport (1926)" (1926) 1/50 - L073-835 : L8-98 : RB.21/209-101.B : L/97 [RB.9-97]
Another centenary, for today we celebrate Charles Green defeating Eddie Martin on March 20, 1925, to win the world bantamweight crown, after fifteen-rounds of boxing at Madison Square Garden in New York.
And he would hold the title until February the 4th, 1927, when he was defeated by Bushy Graham, again over fifteen rounds, at the same arena.
Charles Green was born in New York too, on the Lower East Side, and he was part of a large family. Unfortunately before he was born his father died, in an accident, at a clothing factory. His widow was left alone with eight children and Charles on the way. She only coped by placing three of the children in care, and then, when Charles was five years old, moving to Harlem.
As soon as the children were old enough, and sometimes before, they were sent to work. Charles used to run errands for a shop, but one day a co-worker, called Phil Rosenberg, told him that he made extra money by boxing. Charles was unsure, but one night this co-worker had to pull out of one of his matches and if anyone wanted the gig they could keep the money. So Charles went, probably encouraged by the fact that he would have to box under the name of Phil Rosenberg, and so nobody would find out.
He was not large, but he was wiry, and determined. The result of that match is not recorded, or at least I cannot find it, but he must have found it exhilarating as he began to box. He did keep the false name though, adding his own "Charles" as a prefix.
He seems to have started fighting on a semi professional basis in 1921, though he seldom won. His first big win was in July 1922, and that led to better opponents, from whom he was able to learn much. He fought Eddie "Cannonball" Martin for the first time in the following year, but won neither of them, and their third was a draw. However, on their fourth, Charles won, and won big, being awarded the World Bantamweight crown.
The night he lost that crown was a strange one. He actually won the fight, but was forced to relinquish it because he was too heavy for a bantamweight fighter, by just four pounds. This may seem harsh, but he was experienced enough not to make that sort of mistake. Later it would emerge that there was some shady business going on too, a secret agreement about weight limits, and even an arrangement to split the winnings, over which Charles Rosenberg was suspended for a year and his manager had his boxing license cancelled. In fact our man never again fought as a bantamweight, he returned as a featherweight, and retired in 1929 after beating Johnny Dundee, again at Madison Square Garden.
He next turned up being sent to jail for racketeering, after which he seems to have settled down, and become a salesman for insurance, a job he did for over thirty years without any problem. Later he was a restaurant manager.
He died in March 1976, and records say he was survived by a wife, named Elsie. Perhaps she is the reason that he turned his life around, though I cannot find a date that they were wed.
The Trading Card Database/CPR has him on just five cards, and only in the three years from 1926 to 1928 - and I have not been able to track down any others. However he did box under the forenames of Charles, Charley, or Charlie, so maybe there are more under those names.
Our card first appears in our Lambert & Butler reference book (RB.9), published in 1948, as :
97. 50. WHO`S WHO IN SPORT (1926). Size 2 5/8" x 1 13/32" or 66 x 37 m/m. Fronts ; uncoloured photo prints. Backs in black with descriptions. Export issue
Our British American Tobacco booklet, however, adds a bit more, reading :
209-97. WHO`S WHO IN SPORT (1926).
A. Anonymous issue, with letterpress on back
B. Lambert & Butler overseas issue.
The two are split in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the Lambert & Butler version being revealed to have been "issued in India, South Africa, and areas with British Garrisons" and the description reading :
WHO`S WHO IN SPORT (1926). Sm. 66 x 37. Black & white photos. Nd. (50) See RB.21/209-97.B ... L8-98
whilst the anonymous version is listed at the back of the book under "English language issues without reference to tobacco" as "WHO`S WHO IN SPORT (1926). Sm. Black and white photos. Nd. (50) See RB.21/209-97.A ... ZB6-79.
However in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, the Lambert & Butler version is said to have been "issued chiefly in New Zealand". The description is identical to above though, apart from a new card code, of L073-835. As far as the anonymous version, the description is also the same, but it is now identified as having been issued through British American Tobacco and re-coded ZB07-870
Liebig [trade : meat extract : O/S - South America] "Pierrots avec bonnets noir" / "Pierrots with black bonnets" (1872/3) Un/6 - F.09 : S.23
And to close, with still time for tinkering, let us speak of National French Bread Day. Though oddly the French do not call it that, they call it simply a baguette. This is a word which has nothing to do with the contents of the bread, it merely means a baton or wand, pertaining to its shape and nothing else. In fact, something which ties in nicely with our card, is that in France chopsticks are called "baguettes Chinoises"
Long bread was first available in the 18th century, in a variety of sizes, both slim and wide. The size of a baguette was not regulated until 1920, that setting down the minimum weight (eighty grams), and the maximum length (forty centimetres). Curiously it also set a price, at no more than thirty-five francs each.
This set is very early, and it has a sibling, coded as F.08 or S.22, which was issued the same year. Both sets are identified as Pierrots with black bonnets, but this does not seem to notice that there is a food theme to them.
If we look at the earlier one, of twelve cards, that shows the little figures messing about with cutlery, and a napkin ring, riding a bottle, being ejected with a cork, and playing with fish, chicken, lobster, melon and a pie.
Whilst our set, of six, has them with a baguette, wrangling macaroni, floating on cheese, diving into soup, finding a chick in a boiled egg (one of my great fears) and lastly, in a very macabre scene, seeing one of them decapitated by a soda syphon. You can see the other five of these, as a part set of which, curiously, ours is the missing one, in the Lockdales Auctions archive, in the sale of March 2022.
Liebig also issued a very similar pair of sets to ours, but showing children. The twelve card set is coded as F.16/S.14 and the six as F.17/S.15 - and they were issued the same year as our set too, 1872/1873.
This week's Cards of the Day...
This week we followed on from, and complemented, last week`s celebration of #CultivationStreetWeek2025 with something similar, joining Royal Mail again, whose next set of commemorative stamps was released on March the 11th, and showed "Garden Wildlife".
I did not know what they would cover until after this selection was made, and amazingly we did not duplicate a single creature, though I was considering two of theirs, one of which proved too hard to find within a set I had not already featured, and the other, which would have been one of the clue cards, I decided not to in the end. I will let you ponder those.
Their choice, on the first class stamps, was the smooth newt, the hedgehog, the robin, the buff-tailed bumble bee, and the garden snail - and, on the second class, the fox, the blackbird, the common frog, the blue tit and the badger -
And ours were.....
Saturday, 8th March 2025
This card gave us a [Catter] mole, the tiny little chap who is regarded, often, as a pest, for tunnelling and making a mess on the lawn with piles of soil. However, they are useful too, their tunnelling ensures that beneath the lawn is well aerated, and that improves drainage, whilst they also consume a vast quantity of insects, including snails, slugs, ants, termites, and the larva of many beetles - in fact they eat more than their own body weight every day,
This set is not so bad as many of the others size-wise, perhaps because it only concentrates on the English Premier League. That means the base set is only of a hundred and fifty cards, though there are parallel cards for the last few, green instead of rainbow foil cards. I am always surprised that the rainbow is the base set and just green is the supposedly more exciting parallel.
As far as extra cards, there are only two sorts.
The first, of which there is also the relatively few number of thirty-three available, are what are often known as "costume cards" or "pieceworks", where an item of clothing, in this case a football shirt, worn by the featured star has been cut into small pieces and one inserted on each card. These are numbered from 1 to 350 though, by which you can gauge how small the pieces are. And some are just plain, the most prized are the ones with part of the number, or name
The second are player signatures, only twenty five different ones of these. They were inserted in the boxes, so if you bought a sealed box of fifty packs you were guaranteed to get an autograph, though it would be unlikely to be your favourite. These cards vary though, as some stars signed over a hundred cards, whilst others signed less than ten. You can tell that on the card as the first number is the number of the card and the second is the number they signed.
Sunday, 9th March 2025
Here we have a kind of seaplane, or "amphibian", which is a class of garden wildlife which includes frogs, toads and newts, but in total, worldwide, contains over eight thousand different species which you can see at wikipedia/amphibians. They are also great natural pest controllers, eating mosquitoes, flies, caterpillars, flying ants, and a variety of beetles, some larger than themselves.
Sadly they are on the decline, due to global warming, so if you do have one in your garden you are lucky.
I am delighted to be able to use this set as a Card of the Day because it is very complex, and really needs a home page, which this will be. It also has a sibling of sorts, which adds to the confusion, so we can discuss that here too.
Let us start with our set, which first appears is in our John Player reference book, RB.17, issued in 1950, where it is described as :
6. 50 AEROPLANES or AEROPLANES (CIVIL). Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey with descriptive text, adhesive. Special album issued. Numbered series
A. Home issue, August 1935 - titled "Aeroplanes (Civil)" and inscribed "Selected by the Editor of "The Aeroplane".
B. Irish issue, July 1935 - titled "Aeroplanes". Descriptive text differs from Home issue on cards 6, 8, 10, 19, 25, 31 and 33.
Three varieties are known in the home issue for card 42 -
Front Back
(a) Heinkel H.E. (b) Heinkel H.E.
(a) Heinkel H.E. (b) Heinkel H.E.70A
(a) Heinkel H.E.70A (b) Heinkel H.E.70A
This is all it says. However in RB.21, our British American Tobacco booklet, issued two years after, though it is listed underJohn Player, it is revealed that they were not the only issuer - the full line up being :
I. Small cards
- A. Player Home issue – titled “Aeroplanes (Civil)”
- B. Player Irish issue – titled “Aeroplanes”
- C. Anonymous issue, with letterpress on back. Titled “Aeroplanes of Today”
- D. U.T.C. issue - titled “Aeroplanes of Today”
- 1. Back inscribed “For an album send 6d. to Box 78, Cape Town” - part of a newsletter, scroll down to Tuesday, 16th May 2023
- 2. Back inscribed “For an album send 6d. to Box 1006, Cape Town”II. Medium cards, size 67 x 61 m/m
- E. Albert issue. Titled “Aeroplanes (Civils).” Picture same size as in I but wide margin above inscribed “Cigarettes Albert”. Back in brown, with descriptive text in French.
Note that one of these versions are already used, and linked in. They lead to pages which explain those particular varieties in more detail.
If we look at these in our original World Tobacco Issues Index we find that the descriptions are :
- (A & B) John Player - in section 2.C, "cards with adhesive backs. Special albums issued" as : AEROPLANES or AEROPLANES (CIVIL). Sm. Nd. (50). See RB.21/217-6 ... P72-151
A. Home Issue, titled "Aeroplanes (Civil)
B. Irish issue, titled "Aeroplanes"- (C) Anonymous - at the back of the book, under "Anonymous issues (1) with letterpress on back" - section 2.C (b) for "Overseas issues through British American Tobacco", as : "AEROPLANES OF TODAY. Sm. Nd. (50). See RB.21/217-6C ... ZB6-1
- (D) The United Tobacco Companies (South) Ltd. South Africa - under section 2.A, for "issues 1918-1943, cards in English only", as : AEROPLANES OF TODAY. Sm. 68 x 36. Nd. (50). Back inscribed (a) "Box 78" (b) "Box 1006", without firm`s name. Special album issued. See RB.21/217-6.D ... U14-11
- (E) Cigarettes Albert - actually a brand, used by British American Tobacco, and therefore catalogued under them in section 2 for "Issues quoting brand names", sub section 2.A for "Cigarettes Albert", which were was not just issued in Belgium, but in the Belgian Congo too. This set is described as : "AEROPLANES (CIVILS). Md. 67 x 61. Nd. (50). See RB.21/217-6.E ... B116-51
As far as dates of issue, the British American Tobacco “Albert” set only says 1935. John Player issued it that year too, but, curiously, in Ireland first, in July 1935, a month earlier than the home issue. The United Tobacco, and the anonymous issues were the following year, 1936.
By the way the text tells us that the cards were “Selected by the Editor of “The Aeroplane”. This was C. G. Grey and he remained editor until November 1939. His actual name was Charles Grey Grey and he was also the co-founder of the magazine, in partnership with Mr. Victor Sassoon, who was later to be knighted. The first edition was in 1911 and he stayed as editor until November 1939. He also edited Jane`s "All The World`s Aircraft" from 1916 until 1940. However he then became rather unpopular with the general public due to his open admiration for Germany, though it was really only in the way that they had gone from not being allowed to fly anything but gliders, to becoming one of the world`s leading air nations - but this could well be why only Mr. Sassoon was knighted.
Now the other set is also called "Aeroplanes" in some of its printings, but as you can see from this picture they are easy to spot on sight, with a very striking gold border.
The first mention of this version is in our reference book RB.16 – The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills Parts I, II, and III (revised) and Part IV, which was published in 1950, as :
122. 50 AEROPLANES. Fronts lithographed in colour, gilt borders. Backs in grey-green, with descriptive text. General Overseas issues, about 1925 ;-
A. Wills` name at base of back.
B. Anonymous backs.
Similar series issued by Bear and Player (titled “Aeroplane Series”.)
There was no reference book to Thomas Bear. However, the original John Player reference book, RB.17, issued in 1950, the same year as the Wills book part IV, and describes this version as :
5. AEROPLANE SERIES. Small cards. Fronts in colour, gilt border. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Numbered series of 50. Overseas issue, about 1926. Similar series issued by Bear, Wills and Anonymous (all called "Aeroplanes")
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index, published in 1956, the versions are recorded as
- A) Wills - under section 5.B "English Language issues, 1923-30, issued chiefly in New Zealand, Malaya, Malta, and elsewhere", as : AEROPLANES. Sm. Nd. (50). See W/122.A ... W62-435
- B) Anonymous - sent to the back of the book, under section 2 English Language Issues (1) with letterpress on the back, and sub sections 2C (issues 1919-1940) and b. (overseas issues through B.A.T.. Small size 67-68 x 35-36 m/m unless stated. It is first up in that section, described as : AEROPLANES. Sm. Nd. (50). See W/122.B ... ZB6-0. At which point I must say that I have not seen any other “0” suffixes, all the rest start at -1. So does this mean that our set was a late arrival, and quickly slid into place above “Aeroplanes of Today” without needing to reset a large quantity of type? Anyone know? And, even more curiously, by the time of our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, it fits in as 010 as normal for a starting set.
- (C) Thomas Bear & Sons. Ltd. - an associate of B.A.T., under their section 1. for English Language issues, issued overseas, in the Channel Islands, East Africa, the Far East and New Zealand, and catalogued as : AEROPLANES. Sm. 67 x 35. Nd. (50). See W/122 ... B34-1
- (D) John Player - under section 3, export issues without I.T.C. clause, sub section 3.B, issues 1923-30, chiefly in New Zealand, Malaya and Siam, and catalogued as AEROPLANE SERIES. Sm. Nd. (50). See RB.17/5... P72-183
Monday, 10th March 2025
This card supplies us with the most easy to spot garden visitor, a bird - which we can see flying above, or hear in the trees, whether or not they visit our garden.
As well as them also being fond of a tasty insect, slug or snail, some species eat larger predators too.
Others, like starlings, aerate your lawn with their beaks whilst hunting beetles, whilst some take seed off your plants and distribute it elsewhere in your garden, or maybe in someone`s who will be inspired to start gardening when that one seed comes up.
This bright bird is the missel thrush, the first of all the birds to nest, usually in March, but, these days of changing temperatures, often in February. As the card tells us, the name "missel" refers to the bird`s love of mistletoe berries.
This card has several variations, described in our original reference book to the issues of John Player & Sons (RB.17, first published in 1950), as :
23. 50. BIRDS & THEIR YOUNG. Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Issued June-August 1937, with special album
- A. Home issue, with I.T.C. and Album clauses, adhesive
- B. Channel Islands issue, without I.T.C. and Album clauses, adhesive
- C. Irish issues, with I.T.C. clause and large green numerals on backs.
1. Adhesive, with Album clause
2. Non-adhesive, with Exchange Scheme clause
By the time of our World Tobacco Issues Index, six years later, the group is catalogued very differently. First up, under Player section 2.B, for "Issues 1922-39, excluding cards with adhesive back", appears the Irish issue without the adhesive back, listed as
- BIRDS & THEIR YOUNG. Sm. Nd. (50). Back with large green numerals overprinted. Irish issue. See RB.17/23.C.2 ... P72-67
Two of the three others have to wait until Section 2.C, for "Issues 1934-39. Cards with adhesive back", these being :
- BIRDS & THEIR YOUNG. Sm. Nd. (50). See RB.17/23 ... P72-15
A. Home issue, album wording "one penny"
B. Irish issue. Back with large green numerals overprinted.
Lastly. the missing one turns up under section 3.C, for "Issues 1935-39. Chiefly in Channel Islands and Malta"
- BIRDS & THEIR YOUNG. Sm. Nd. (50). See RB.17/23.B ... P72-213
The same format persists in our updated version, but the codes have changed, the Irish non-adhesive backed issue becoming P644-142, and the Home issue and the Irish adhesive issues changing to P644-312 A and B. However the Channel Islands (and Malta) issue is far removed, and now appears under section 4.C, owing to the fact that more modern sets have been circulated and needed to slide in before the overseas. That means the new code for that one is P644-658.
Tuesday, 11th March 2025
Insects are very common visitors to the garden, but not many of us consider them to be wildlife - though if we look at the true definition of that word it means an animal in its natural environment, untamed. And very few people have managed to train insects, only fleas.
The truth is that over half of all non-human life on the earth are insects, with over a million different species, which makes them the most diverse classification too. The largest insect is the Goliath beetle, in its larval stage, which can reach just over four ounces in weight and is four and a half inches long - whilst some of their prehistoric insect ancestors had a wingspan of twenty-eight inches.
Many of them are also very helpful in the garden, ladybirds and lacewings gobbling up aphids, and many species pollinating your flowers and fruit.
This is a really beautiful set, which proves that insects can be attractive too. Each card shows a lady, dressed to resemble an insect, whilst somewhere on the image is a blue poster showing the actual creature, and giving its name.
The cards use either armour, or the reverse of the coats or dresses to portray the insect, though I have discovered that perhaps the name ascribed to this series is wrong, for the "insects" are not the mixture you suspect, they are all beetles. However the French for "beetles" is coleopteres, rather a mouthful. The problem is that as the cards are not titled with a series name it varies - and I have seen a couple of sellers on eBay who do call the set "women beetles".
I have to say that the names are not at all easy to read but with perseverance, and much assistance from https://bugguide.net/ - for which many thanks - they are all now identified, as :
- Casside - Tortoise Beetle
- Chrysochroa Ocellata - a Jewel Beetle or Metallic Wood-boring Beetle
- Circulio - a Nut Weevil or Acorn Weevil
- Hoplia - Scarab Beetle
- Lamprosoma [our card - Leaf Beetle]
- Psalidognathus Friendii - Longhorn Beetle
Wednesday, 12th March 2025
All animals fit into one of the following groups - mammals (our Saturday mole), amphibians (our Sunday seaplane), birds (our Monday missel thrush), insects (yesterday`s beetle women), and reptiles, which we are going to chat about today. There are just one other class, fish, but they are seldom garden wildlife, unless a salmon stream meanders through your lawn.
Our card today tells us the Latin names of both the creatures featured, so we can identify them much better as Lacerta Vivipara, or the common lizard, and Anguis Fragilis, or the common slow-worm.
The common lizard is now known as Zootoca Vivipara and not Lacerta. The Vivipara part means it gives birth to live young not eggs, though it does sometimes lay eggs. It feasts on insects, so is quite a good garden friend, though you will seldom see these in a garden, they much prefer cooler climates. In fact they have been found in the sub-arctic regions, and have the ability to freeze themselves and thaw out after the worst of the cold has passed.
The common slow-worm is not, as many think, a giant worm, it is a species all its own, a kind of missing link between the snake and the lizard, though technically a lizard in all ways but its missing legs. It is also known as a blindworm (for its tiny eyes), or a steelworm (for its colour). The "worm" part is actually a throwback to old English, where the word "wyrm" meant a serpent, and therefore came to mean a reptile too.
Stollwerck`s "Regne Animal" was a large set, made up of thirty-six different groups, each of which had six cards, covering a different group of animals, a hundred and ninety-six cards in all. We showed a card from group 5 as our Card of the Day for the 12th of November, 2024. It was first issued in Germany, then in France, and Holland (as "Dierenrijk") the cards of which seem to be much scarcer than the rest.
Series 33 covers reptiles (and amphibians), and the cards show :
- I - Le Crocodil le Nil (Nile crocodile)
- II - La Tortue d`Etang (pond turtle)
- III - Lezard et Orvet (lizard and slow-worm)
- IV - Vipere et Couleuvre a Collier (viper and grass snake)
- V - La Grenouille Vert et le Crapaud Commun (green frog and common toad)
- VI - Salamandre et Triton (salamander and newt)
Thursday, 13th March 2025
You may be wondering why we have this creature under garden wildlife, but some rural gardens do have them as visitors, and not all gardeners are happy The problem with them is their size, for they need a lot of leaves, fruit, and vegetables to slake their hunger, and their weight, whilst they are foraging, leads to much damage caused by their hooves. Growing thorny plants does not deter them, for they happily eat them too. Whilst they have even been known to kill trees by pulling the bark off with their teeth, which suggests that bark must be some kind of a delicacy, or dessert. There seems nothing you can buy to stop them coming in, only really tough fencing, and high ones, too, for they can jump six and a half feet in the air.
This card is the large-sized variation of a very familiar standard-sized one, which you will find as our Card of the Day for the 19th of February 2024 - and, pleasingly, the card we picked was Mr. Mole, the garden visitor with whom we started this week`s exploration.
Our original John Player Reference Book, published in 1950, lists the group as :
136. NATURE SERIES. Fronts in colour. Backs in blue, with descriptive text. Home issues.
A. 50 Small cards. Issued March 1909. Some colour varieties seen.
B. 12 Extra Large cards – Birds. Thick board. Issued October 1908.
C. 12 Extra Large cards – Animals. Thinner board. Issued October 1913.
There is a suggestion that another set was to be issued, but it was shelved by the First World War. I am not sure what it would have been, because the only creatures that are left are the amphibians, and they come under animals too. However now I have seen this larger sized card, I realise that it does not actually have a subtitle of "Animals", that was just added to distinguish the sets by the early compilers. So there could well have been a third series. This is also hinted at by the fact that in several sources the two larger sets are classed as "Birds" and "Mammals". But this far on, we will probably never know.
Seeing this size of cards has also supplied me with additional information, as they are branded for "Country Life" Cigarettes. At first this pack, and tin, was illustrated with a huntsman on a horse, but later it changed to three small silhouettes of rowing, cricketing, and cycling - none of which suggest the country to me, though at least they are kinder to nature.
Our World Tobacco Issues Index lists the group as :
NATURE SERIES. Nd.... P72-41
- A. Small (50)
- B. Extra-large (20) –
(1) Animals Nd. 1/10
(2) Birds. Nd. 1/10
In other words, the original John Player book was wrong by saying the extra large sets were each of twelve cards.
Now the large cards are numbered but it is a bit buried in the wreathing, especially as some of the cards have a tendency to be light of ink. We also know that all these pictures appear in the standard sized set, but not as the same numbers, so after each card in this list the small sized numbers appear in brackets.
The cards are :
ANIMALS - or mammals :
- The Roebuck (48)
- The Badger (39)
- The Hare (42)
- The Ferret (33)
- The Red Deer (26)
- Chillingham Cattle (47)
- The Fox (49)
- The Squirrel (41)
- The Stoat or Ermine (32)
- The Weasel (37)
BIRDS :
- The Red-Wing Parakeet (7)
- The Military Macaw (9)
- The Mallard (23)
- The Common Sheld-Duck (24)
- The Golden Pheasant (22)
- The Many-Coloured Parakeet (3)
- The King Parrot (1)
- The Impeyan or Moonal Pheasant (19)
- The Common Pheasant (17)
- The Amherst Pheasant (13)
And many thanks to J.S. Cards who has a set of the birds in stock right now, from which I was able to extract the missing names for this list
Friday, 14th March 2025
We close our week with almost certainly the most beautiful species of Garden Wildlife, the butterfly.
This brimstone may not be as colourful as some, but it is one of the larger species, with a wingspan of up to seven centimetres, and those wings are quite distinctive. It is also one of the most fascinating of all butterflies, as it has a wide distribution, across three continents (Asia, Europe, and Africa), and yet it is the only species of its genus. In this country it is usually found wherever there are buckthorns, which are found in wet woodlands, and on chalk and limestone. And they seem particularly fond of East Anglia.
Lastly, but definitely most important, it is believed that the yellow colour of its wings is the reason why we call these wonderful creatures "butter"flies...
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the anonymous version is revealed to have been an overseas issue through British American Tobacco. It does not mention the countries of issue. The description reads :
BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. Sm. Nd. (50) See W/156.B ... ZB6-11
This is identical in the updated World Tobacco Issues Index, save the code, which is now ZB07-130
The "W" code tells us that this set was also issued by W.D. and H.O. Wills, so we are able to add a bit more flesh to the bones above. Their version was issued in June 1927, but the anonymous version does not appear in the dates of issue list. Both of these first appear in our reference book RB,17, which is titled "W.D. & H.O. Wills Parts I, II, and III (revised) and Part IV (1950)" as :
156, 50 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Issued 1927. A number of cases of broken type at No.28 occur, these often appearing to be No.23.
A. Home issue - Wills` name and I.T.C. Clause at base of back
B. General Overseas issue - anonymous backs.
Slight colour variations are known for some numbers
This has added another complication, for there seems to be two anonymous issues, one issued by British American Tobacco and one by Wills. However there is no anonymous version listed in the World Tobacco Issues Index as an export issue under the Wills name.
So there you go, we finished early and everything is here. This might mean that I am able to crack on with the index over the weekend instead, you never know. And it also means I get a reasonably early night tonight.
Thanks again for tuning in. And I will be back with another newsletter next week. By the way, if you missed last week`s newsletter you can still read it at : https://csgb.co.uk/publications/newsletter/2025-03-08 - and to continue reading, we also have next week`s, at https://csgb.co.uk/publications/newsletter/2025-03-22