Newsletter - 2025-03-29

Saturday, 22nd March 2025

This was the odd man out, the only set not to have been issued in March, but our man, Didier Yves Drogba Tebily, fits the bill nicely, as he was born, at Abidjan, in the beautiful Ivory Coast, on the 11th of March, 1978. 

Quite a lengthy name for this set - and a lengthy set too, with almost six hundred and fifty stickers!

But wait, because you can actually also get every card with a blue back, which says, right at the bottom, "Made in Brazil", instead of our "Made in Italy".

And that is not all, for there are twenty four black back cards which are billed as "Tournament Tracker" cards, which were used to complete the wall-chart. They fitted around the edge, in the black spaces with the large initials, whilst in the middle were spaces for you to write in the winning teams from the second round matches onwards. However the wall-chart seems to have only had a very limited run, and few of them seem to have more than a handful of stickers stuck into place. 

To save you counting, all that makes a total of almost thirteen hundred cards, if you want to "collect them all".... And an awful lot of empty packets, as there were only eight stickers in each! 

To the football, the final was played in Johannesburg, at "Soccer City", and it saw Spain beat the Netherlands by scoring one goal in extra time. Our man actually captained his home team, Ivory Coast, but they only came seventeenth.   

Sunday, 23rd March 2025

Our first card to have been issued in this month, but also we included it for its military meaning, as this fine man is on a march.

Or march-ing, anyway. 

The caption in the middle on this card is rather hard to see, even on the cards themselves, but it reads ""The moment the order came to go forward, there were smiling faces everywhere." Extract from letter written in the trenches of the Aisne by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien". 

He seems to have been a sensible man, and is reported to have said before the actual outbreak of hostilities "that war should be avoided at almost any cost, that war would solve nothing, that the whole of Europe and more besides would be reduced to ruin, and that the loss of life would be so large that whole populations would be decimated."

From the back of our card we find out that the original poster was printed for the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee by the Haycock-Cadle Co. London S.E. - who also printed other posters that were reproduced for this set, namely "Come along Boys", and "There is still a place in the line for you". They also printed other military and recruiting posters, but I have not found much about them. 

The Parliamentary Recruiting Committee is easier to find. This was a group of thirty people who were under the direct supervision of the War Office, recruited once it was obvious that not enough men were signing up voluntarily to go to war. Their first idea was to give away small posters in the street, but when this was not met with a large enough response, they started to make larger posters and display them in prominent places. This had a twofold effect, firstly the posters could not be screwed up and thrown away, but secondly, if a man was out with his girl or his wife, maybe even his children, he might be shamed into joining up if they commented. Another scheme was to produce posters for rallies, at which many men could sign up all at once, and on the spot, without the thinking time, or the having to go and find somewhere locally to do so.

You can see the development of the poster on these cards. The ones which were earliest were just lettering, no pictures, and these were enlarged versions of those small flyers that had been pressed into the hand of any man that walked past. As time went by they grew much more elaborate, and used other tactics, including the mention of atrocities, in an attempt to rouse the anger and desire to avenge. 

Eventually the poster campaign was subtly changed, after a bit of a backlash, and also due to the arrival of conscription in 1916. Once there was no, or little escape, they concentrated on encouraging women to join up and replace the men, and on what would later be called "The Home Front", ways you could help the war effort, by not wasting food or materials, and by buying government stock, known as War Bonds.

Despite its early date of issue, this set waits right until RB.14 – "The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills Parts I and II (revised) and Part III" - to make an appearance, and that booklet was not published until 1949. Its entry is worth waiting for though, as it is revealed that there is more than one issue, which are described as : 

92. RECRUITING POSTERS. Unnumbered. Fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Issued 1914-15. 

HOME ISSUE : - 
    A. Series of 12. Backs in grey, with details of publisher of poster. First words of poster : - 

1. Another Call
2. Come Along Boys !
3. "Fall In"
4. Follow me !
5. He did his duty ...
6. Line up, Boys !
7. Rally Round the Flag
8. Remember Belgium
9. There is still a Place ...
10. The "Scrap of Paper"
11. Think !
12. What in the end ...

AUSTRALIAN ISSUE :-
     B. Series of 10. Backs per Fig. 52, in mauve, with quotations from speeches, etc, ; each card is found with two different backs. Anonymous issue. 

First words of Poster                     Backs

1. A Call from the Dardanelles ...   (a) In every man`s life ...
                                                            (b) In this country ...
2. (*)  Another Call ...                        (a) He was there ...
                                                            (b) Napoleon had said
3. (*) Come Along Boys ...                (a) He was present
                                                            (b) Was it unreasonable ...
4. Enlist                                               (a) Every one of the lists...
                                                            (b) The gallant soldiers ...
5. Halt ! Who Goes There ?             (a) Reinforcements are ...
                                                            (b) Some men ...
6. (*) Remember Belgium               (a) He made an ...
                                                            (b) It was Paramount...
7. The Empire Needs Men              (a) Britain, while ...
                                                            (b) Pensions
8. (*) There is still a Place ...           (a) The clarion call ...
                                                            (b) Rates of Pay.
9. (*) Think !                                        (a) Rates of Pay
                                                            (b) Service Conditions
10. What Will Your Answer Be          (a) Probably ...
                                                             (b) He was now ...

         (*) Similar fronts to Home Issue, but redrawn

Now the printing date for the Australian version is not recorded in the Wills "Works" magazine, so these cards must have been printed locally in Australia. We know that the original posters of  

By the time of our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the two versions were forever parted.

The Home issue was recorded in section two of the Wills` listing, under sub section 2.A, for "Issues 1902 - 1917", and appears as simply : 

RECRUITING POSTERS. Sm. Unnd. (12) See W/92.A ... W62-99

The Australian issue appears at the back of the book, under "Anonymous Issues (1) - with Letterpress on Back" and sub section 2.B.b, which covers "Issues 1905-17" and "Overseas Issues Through British American Tobacco." It is recorded there as : 

RECRUITING POSTERS. Sm. 65 x 35. Unnd. (10) Each subject found with two back wordings. See W/92.B. Issued in Australia ... ZB4-30

The text in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index remains the same in both these cases , but the codes are changed, our Home issue to W675-132, and the Australian version to ZB04-690

We must add that the Home issue was reprinted in 1987/88 by Victoria Gallery.

Monday, 24th March 2025

This card is another of our March issues, but there is another connection with the month, as it is when this fine butterfly first begins its flights. 

This set is recorded in our original reference book to the issues of John Player, RB.17, published in 1950, as : 

37. BUTTERFLIES. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey. Home issue. March 1932, with special album.

• A. Small cards, backs with descriptive text
• B. Small transfers, backs with descriptions for use

This is slightly shortened in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, to : 

BUTTERFLIES. Sm. Nd. (50) ... P72-74

• A. Cards 
• B. Transfers. Special booklet issued. 

The text in our updated version is exactly the same, but there is a new card code, of P644-156.

Now we featured the transfers in a previous newsletter, dated for the 15th of July 2022, and so if you want to read about why the booklet is only mentioned with them, nip off and visit that - though you will need to scroll down to Sunday the 17th of July.

And actually finding the album led to several discoveries about this set, none of which are evident from the cards.

There was also another discovery, because if you look at John Player`s "British Butterflies", the large sized set showing here, they use almost the same picture of this dashing Red Admiral as card 20/25 - except for the removal of the ghostly butterfly that clings to the thistle furthest right on our card. They also, and even more amazingly, use the same text, all apart from the last few lines, where this large sized "British Butterflies" ends with the more expansive : "It is a strong flier, and is to be seen on the wing far later in the day than the majority of our butterflies. The Red Admiral measures about two and a quarter inches across the wings." - and our card ends with the much shorter : "It is a strong flier and is often seen in and near large towns". 

As we do not appear to have featured this set yet, I will also add the entry for that, extracted from our original John Player reference book. That reads : 

31. 25. BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. Large cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issue, January 1934. 

This was almost two years after our set. I have not yet compared the fronts of those twenty-five larger cards, but will asap. I also wonder if there are only twenty five British and twenty five Foreign butterflies in our set of fifty cards, and, if, so, whether it was planned to issue a set of large cards of the Foreign ones as well, but, for whatever reason, this was not done.

Tuesday, 25th March 2025

Here we have the badge of The Royal Flying Corps, which non military collectors may think a bit odd in a set called "Army Badges of Rank" - but The Royal Flying Corps, founded in 1912, was indeed actually part of the British Army, and its early wartime service entirely geared into supporting the Army on the ground, noting any locations of moving or gathering enemy forces, and taking aerial photographs.

At that time there was only the Army and the Navy, no separate Air Force - that only happened on the first of April, 1918, when the Army`s Royal Flying Corps was merged with the Navy`s Royal Naval Air Service in order to form The Royal Air Force.

This badge was only given to pilots who had proved their skills at flying, and were therefore qualified to wear it. This is where we get the phrase "earning your wings".

The wings curve because they are based on the wings of a swift, one of the best fliers of all birds, and one which, amazingly, leaves its nest and remains in the air for three years, during which it eats, and sleeps whilst flying. This is mainly because it cannot perch or walk very easily. It only comes back to land at the age of three, in order to breed, and it lays its eggs almost on the same spot as it broke from its shell.

The Royal Air Force were not impressed with this romantic idea, and once they were born they changed the shape of the wings, to those of an eagle. The other change was in the lettering, which went from RFC to RAF. After that, the only change came in the 1950s, when the King`s crown on the top was changed to the Queen`s crown for Queen Elizabeth II. And now, once more, it carries the crown of a King, King Charles III.

Now this card is definitely the "odd man out" - as the other twenty-four of the cards are almost identical, being sleeves of uniforms, with the rank markings sewn in place, as showing here.

There is a slight difference, if you look closely, for some of them show the bottom of the sleeve, whilst others show the shoulder - and that purely depends on where the rank depicted wears their insignia - but they are all sleeves, and nothing else.

The only exception to this is our card, which, firstly, shows the badge all alone - and secondly, is the only card in a  horizontal format.

The only thing we do not know is why. There is a suggestion that this is because the RFC wings were not worn on the arm, but on the front of the tunic, but a three quarter view of the badge, on the tunic, would still have fitted in way better with the rest of the cards. 

Anyway, this set first appears in our original Churchman reference book, RB.10, published in 1948, as :

6. Mar. 1916. 25. ARMY BADGES OF RANK (titled series). Size 2 11/16" x 1 7/16" or 68 x 36 m/m. Unnumbered. Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs in brown, no descriptions, except for 4 cards marked *. Printed by Mardon, Son & Hall. 
Numbered below for convenience, titles taken from picture side of card.

1.       Colonel
2.       Lieutenant-Colonel
3.       Major
4.       Captain
5.       Lieutenant
6.       Second Lieutenant
7.       Colonel, Highland Regt.
8.       Lieut. Col,. Highland Regt.
9.       Major, Highland Regt.
10.       Captain, Highland Regt.
11.       Lieutenant, Highland Regt.
12.       2nd Lieut., Highland Regt.
13. (*) Warrant Officers, Class I (Crown in Wreath)
14. (*) Warrant Officers, Class I (Royal Arms)
15. (*) Warrant Officers, Class II
16.       Assist. Instruc., Signalling
17.      Serj.-Maj., Gymnastic Staff
18.      Serj.-Maj., Sch. of Musketry
19.      Master-Gunner, 1st class
20.      Master-Gunner, 2nd class
21.      Master-Gunner, 3rd class
22.      Battery Q.M. Serjeant
23. (*) Serjeant
24.      Infantry Pioneer
25.      Roy. Flying Corps Qual. Pilot

This is understandably much shortened in our World Tobacco Issues Index, to just :

ARMY BADGES OF RANK. Sm. Unnd. (25). See RB.10/6 ... C82-11

Whilst the entry in our updated version reads just : 

ARMY BADGES OF RANK. Sm. Unnd. (25). ... C504-180

Wednesday, 26th March 2025

Our next set, another March issue, is very intriguing, for it was issued a fair few years after the end of the First World War, in the mid nineteen-twenties, when the true cost of the war, in monetary, and human costs, was well known and any enthusiasm for such a thing had definitely ended. Maybe that is why the second series is of a hundred cards? All this makes me think that it was designed to be issued during that war, but either through paper restrictions, or whatever, it was readied but never circulated - then, after the war, it was found, and decided that it should not be wasted.

This is backed up by the fact that all the first sets that John Player issued after the war were re-issues. The first of all was "Counties and Their Industries", originally circulated in 1914, and re-issued in November 1919. Others were :

• Artillery in Action", extra large - printed in 1917, a few cards of which, somehow, made it into packets before anyone noticed, but then were kept, to finally be released in May 1920.
• "Cries of London", the second standard-sized series - printed in 1916, again had a few released, and then the issue was shelved until 1922. 
• "British Livestock," extra large size - originally issued in May 1916, then reprinted with blue, not brown backs, and circulated in January 1923
• "Players Past and Present, standard size - originally issued in June 1916, then reissued in May 1923, with a few adjustments, caused by the deaths of some of the subjects
• "Miniatures" - standard size - printed in June 1916, again had a few released, then were circulated from June 1923. 
• "Characters from Dickens", extra large size, originally issued in June 1914, reprinted for circulation in June 1923. 

In our original reference book to the issues of John Player, RB.17, published in 1950, this group is listed as follows : 

ARMY, CORPS & DIVISIONAL SIGNS, 1914-1918. Small cards. Fronts in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issues.

13. 50. A Series of 50. Numbered 1-50. Issued March, 1924. Two back printings. 
       A. Reversed letter panel "John Player & Sons" joining vertical frame-lines.
       B. With a fractional white space between the above panel and the framelines
           Varieties - Nos. 13 and 36 are known with "Player`s Cigarettes", etc, omitted from front of cards. 

14. 100. 2nd Series. 51-150. Issued February, 1925.

So there is a little explanation needed of some of this. Firstly, what is meant by "Reversed letter panel" is that the letters are printed in white on a coloured ground, and not that the letters are back to front. Secondly, the "fractional white space" means that sometimes this panel mentioned above extends right to the lines that makes up the frame round the text, and sometimes there is a thin vertical line of white between the panel and the frame. And to save you looking it up as well, card 13 is "The Guards Division", with the eye in the shield, and card 36 is the "47th London Division", with a white flower made of diamonds. I have looked at quite a few of these online and have not yet found any without the wording.

In our World Tobacco Issues Index, the description above is much truncated, though, to be fair, it was only issued six years after the John Player one, and it was still well in stock and easy to buy. It appears as : 

ARMY, CORPS & DIVISIONAL SIGNS, 1914-1918. Sm. ... P72-62

1. "A Series of 50". Nd 1-50.
        A. Back with base panel joining vertical framelines.
        B. Back with fractional space between the above
2. "2nd Series. 51-150". (100)

This text remains more or less the same in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, apart from the excision of the word "Nd", and, of course, a new code, which is P644-134 

This regiment, the 21st Corps, was formed in Palestine in August 1917 and was commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Edward Stanislaus Bulfin, who had been at the first Battle of Ypres, on the Western Front, fought in October and November of 1914, as well as the second Battle of Ypres, in April and May of 1915,  during which tear gas was deployed to devastating effect. He was badly affected by this, and had to leave France and recuperate in England, and, though he did return to the Western Front in 1916, it was not for long, before he was sent to a more suitable, hotter climate, in Palestine, as the commander of XXI Corps. This card tells us that "All its War Service was with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force" and, that when the war ended, it was occupying Beirut and Tripolis.

As for the green, and for the shamrock, this, on the card, is cited as being a "four leafed shamrock, for luck". But there is another reason too, because the commander was Irish, born in Rathfarnham, County Dublin, on the 6th of November 1862. And that made him in his fifties at the Battle of Ypres.

Thursday, 27th March 2025

Here we have a most unusual sight, a cannon ball used as a door knocker. However, it does not appear to be on the main gate to the castle, as the card twlls us it is "on an old wicket-gate at Chepstow Castle" -though it must be a string gate as it also says it is "an ancient cannonball suspended on two massive links" - and cannonballs are supremely heavy. 

Chepstow Castle has rather a history of attack and repel, so such a militaristic thing is apt. It dates from the time of the Normans, and they left it only to conquer, all about, even Gwent, in South Wales.

It is in a grand location, atop a spur of rock, with high cliffs to one side and a deep ravine to the other - routes by which you would imagine there would be little chance of getting up and across to the castle. Though it was captured, during the English Civil War, and, afterwards, was used as a prison, including for the politician Henry Marten, who died there in 1680, and who is still supposed to wander there, to this day, in ghostly form.

I am sure I have used a card from this set before, but cannot track it down. Anyway as I work back through the newsletters I will find it, and one of them will be replaced. 

The set first appears in our reference book to the issues of W.A. & A.C. Churchman, RB.10, published in 1948, as : 

78. Mar.1928.   INTERESTING DOOR KNOCKERS (titled series). Size 2 11/16" x 1 7/16" or 67 x 36 m/m. Numbered 1-25. Fronts printed by letterpress, 4-colour half-tone process. Backs in dark green, with descriptions. Printed by Mardon, Son & Hall. 

In our original World Tobacco Issues Index this is shortened, to just : 

INTERESTING DOOR KNOCKERS. Sm. Nd. (25) ... C82-56 

The only change to this in our updated version of that book is with the code, which now reads C504-530

Friday, 28th March 2025

Here we have another March set, our last of the week, and it shows Mr. Dumkins, "March"ing to the wicket, to take part in a cricket match between his side, Muggleton, and that of Dingley Dell. 

I am very pleased to show this card, because there are almost certainly cricket collectors who formerly had no idea that this card of the sport was out there 

This set is part of another huge group, so if you want to read more about all the versions, just nip along to its home page, with our Card of the Day for the 24th of December 2021, which holds the details of all the sets and linking out to where the various versions are featured. 

The first time our part of the group is recorded is in our original reference book to the issues of John Player & Sons, as : 

47. CHARACTERS FROM DICKENS. Drawn by "Kyd" (J. Clayton Clarke). Fronts in colour.Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issues.

• B. 25  Small cards, "2nd Series of 25". Numbered 26-50. Issued October 1912

Now in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, this is all changed, and the group split up. The B identifying letter code given above is also, oddly, different too. The main reason for this is the dates of issue, as not only are the pre-First World War cards are in one section, and the post-War in another, but the first two sets of twenty-five and the extra large set are now listed together, in section 2.A, for cards issued between 1903 and 1917 -  as :

CHARACTERS FROM DICKENS. See RB.17/47 and H.348 ... P72-25

• A. Small (50) - (1)  "A Series of 25". (2) "2nd Series of 25". Nd 26-50.
• B. Extra large. Unnd (10)

This remains the same in our updated version of the World Tobacco Issues Index, except for the removal of the RB.17 references, and a new code, of P644-060