This week, it became April, and we also had some warm weather, which was pleasing in the mornings and late afternoons, and also woke me earlier, most of the time - plus it meant that both a mad dog and an Englishwoman retreated from the midday sun, and found somewhere dark and cool to sleep and to type.
I was the one that typed - and so we have three lengthy description, plus two Wills cards, one of which, and a Carreras, have been tied into another version, used as a Card of the Day, and that Card of the Day has been rewritten to form the home page for that group.
Some of these sets proved much more fascinating than I had imagined too, and so there are a couple of rather lengthy descriptions. No lists, though, this time.
And so, without any more waffling, for it is getting late in the eve, allow me to introduce our themes for this week, which are a chance cosmopolitan contact, an almost anonymous Alice, a scientific sulfurus solution, a couple of creature collectors, assorted asiatic antiques, and a record reaching runner.
Rittenhouse [trade/commercial : cards : O/S - USA] "Star Trek The Original Series Archives and Inscriptions Checklist" (March 2020) card 46
Unusually, ha ha, let us start with science fiction - though it may yet be proven to be science fact. And in many ways I hope that it does.
Anyway the man on this card is Zefram Cochrane, and he was the first human to create a system that made time travel possible. This was rather complex, but simply he warped the time so that journeys became shorter, and in that way spaceships were able to travel to other galaxies many light years away. Then, in the year 2063, this was spotted, by people of another galaxy, who were called The Vulcans, and they made contact, the "first contact" with us, the human race.
Hence today, to all Star Trek fans, is #FirstContactDay. But who knows, in 2063, we may well find out that this was actually all true. And I will only be ninety-nine years old then, so I may get to see it for myself.
The image and quote comes from the episode "Metamorphosis", the ninth episode of season two of that original second series, which was shown for the first time in November 1967, and introduced us to Zefram Cochrane, the discoverer of the space warp. He was presumed to have died, because he had disappeared a century and a half before - but we find out that he had not disappeared at all, he had "merely" travelled in time.
For a lesser character, he seems to have attracted a vast fan following, and he reappeared, as the main character in the 1996 film version, which was also named "Star Trek - First Contact". However in that he was played by another actor, James Cromwell, whereas our card shows his original persona, as played by Glenn Corbet - hardly a new face at the time, for he had replaced George Maharis in the very popular roadshow series called "Route 66".
Sadly there was no way that Mr. Corbett could have reappeared in the movie, as he had been dead for three years.
This is part of the base set, ostensibly ninety-eight cards, but do not be fooled by that. This is card 46, but there are no fewer than thirty four different quotes that are also numbered 46. You can see the entire list at Sci-Fi Hobby.com/TOS - just click on the arrows to reveal all the cards.
CARRERAS Ltd [tobacco : UK - London] "Alice in Wonderland" (1930) 31/48 - C18-11.B
This card only tells part of the story, but an important part, for Alice was based on a real girl, or several real girls, and one of them died today, one hundred years ago. Her name was Alexandria Kitchin, and she posed as Alice from the age of four until she was fifteen. One of her most famous poses was in a white dress, laying on a sofa.
She remains an enigma, but mainly because she never sold her story. All we know about her was that she was born on the 29th of September, 1864, and she was the daughter of one of Charles Dodgson (or Lewis Carroll)`s colleagues at Christ Church, Oxford. In fact he took a shine to the whole family, and took photographs of her siblings too, three brothers and a sister.
She married a man called Arthur Cardew, in her mid twenties, who seems to have kept her well amused. He was a musician, and also dabbled in antiques, and they had six children between 1890 and 1906. They lived in Wimbledon, and she died aged just sixty. She is buried, without any reference to her being Alice, and not much more, as just "Alexandra Rhoda, the beloved wife of Arthur Cardew".
As for our card, this is the large version of a set we have featured before, so to read the full details of that entire group nip along to our Card of the Day for the 15th of January, 2024.
Sadly there is not much information about the set. It is too early to appear in any cartophilic magazine, and though it appears in our World Tobacco Issues Indexes, it is not a lengthy description, though there is some additional information in the header of section 2 of the Carreras issues, which is for : "Issues 1923-39. Small size 67-68 x 35-37 m/m, medium 67-70 x 60, large 76-78 x 61-62, extra large 94-95 x 63-64, cabinet size 133-135 x 69 x 71 m/m, unless stated.
It is then filed under sub section 2.A, which covers six sets of what are called "Games and Playing Card issues - Leaflets or Guides usually issued explaining rules. All with rounded corners, unless stated". And it is catalogued very simply as :
ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Nd. (48) ... C18-11
- A. Small, with
(a) rounded, (b) square corners- B. Large
In our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, the heading for sub section 2.A is rewritten, to say that "Paper instructions leaflets explaining rules issued, unless otherwise indicated."
As far as the listing for the set, it is much the same as before :
ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Nd. (48) ... C151-120
- A. Small, with (a) rounded (b) square corners
- B. Large.
W.D. & H.O. WILLS [tobacco : UK - Bristol] "Double Meaning - with playing card inset (1898) King of Clubs or 6/52 - W675-054.B : W62-40.B : W/5
It is often recorded that today, in 1827, John Walker invented the safety match. This is partially correct, for he invented the friction match, but today was not the date of its invention, it was the date that he recorded in his work book of when he sold the first one. And whilst he did not invent them - that is said to be Francois Derosne, whose complex combination of sulphur and phosphorous was made in 1916 - Mr. Walker did refine this idea, for those matches were rather unsafe, to say the least.
Let us start with the "Safety" match - for this is a stick of wood which has one end, often with a blob on it, that is coated with something that will set fire if it is struck on a suitable surface, like the side of a matchbox. It will not set afire unless it is struck, unlike many of the matches that came before them, and sometimes (or usually for me, because I flinch) it even fails to strike successfully the first time and you have to re-strike it.
A "friction" match is actually the same as above, but it is named for the principle that it uses to work, the rubbing of the head of the match against the prepared surface of the matchbox.
Now Mr. Walker was a chemist, from Stockton-on-Tees, and he was not intending to make a match to sell commercially, he was looking for a safe way to light the equipment he used in his work and research. There were lots of rather explosive ways of setting a flame, but they were unsuitable for use around chemicals. Then, one day, a piece of thin wood fell in one of his combinations of fluid, and later on it was somehow dropped on a harder surface, and, as he watched, it started to burn, very slowly, along its length. Mr. Walker was enthralled, and set to experimenting as to which substances it had fallen in so that he could recreate the slow burning flame.
Eventually he realised that the sulfur was the key, as Monsieur Derosne had also discovered, but that by playing around and combining it with other substances it sometimes lessened, rather than increased, the more explosive part of the reaction.
We think that he probably showed his handiwork to his fellow chemists, excitedly, and maybe gave them some samples, and when they asked for more, he had the brainwave of selling them in his chemists shop. He sold them in boxes, along with a piece of sandpaper which provided the ignition, when the match was run along it. They were not sold to members of the general public for quite some time.
However he not only kept his recipe secret, right to the grave, he also failed to patent the match in any way. And so the first patent for a match of this type was given in 1829, to a London chemist, called Samuel Jones.
Our card shows another type of match but I am not sure why it is a "Safety" one. We featured this set before, as our Card of the Day for the 20th of March, 2023, which is where you will find a lot more information about the set.
This version we show today is in another format, with a small playing card inset at one corner, and the suit and number at another. It first appears in our original Wills Book part one, published in 1942 as :
DOUBLE MEANING
(Note ;- This set has also been called "Well Known Sayings" and "Everyday Phrases")A series of fifty-two, similar to the above [that being the non-playing card inset-ted series of 50], but with two extra cards added, "A Highland Fling" (Ace Hearts) and "Outward Bound" (ten Hearts). With playing card insets.
Printed by A. Hildesheimer & Co.
Circulated abroad.Fronts in full colour, without frame lines. All cards have "Wills`s Cigarettes" and numbers on fronts printed in brown ink.
Backs printed in grey with Star and Circle ornamental design with "Ld." in circle.
There are two printings, and specialists can collect two sets both with and without playing card insets. The difference is a chocolate-brown ink as compared with a dark brown ink, which on some cards looks almost black.
There is no continuity in the suites of cards as related to the card numbers -
Card 1 Three Hearts Card 3 Five Hearts
Card 2 Two Hearts Card 4 Queen Diamonds
It next appears in our Wills reference book part two as :
5. DOUBLE MEANING - see pages 13-14
- B. Series of 52 WITH playing card insets.
Curiously, it mentions nothing of the playing card version being exported.
Our original World Tobacco Index is similarly concise, and has it as :
DOUBLE MEANING (A) Sm. Grey Scroll backs. Nd. See W/5. ... W62-40
- B. with playing cards inset (52)."
As for its appearance in our updated version of this book, the text is identical, though it is given a new card code of W675-054
Topps Chewing Gum [trade : gum : USA] "Animals of the World" second series (1951) card 174 - R714-1
Allow me to introduce you to a pygmy, or pigmy hippo. whose day it is today. It is so named simply because it is small, and it is also very rare - at first it was thought to be a form of wild pig, it was only identified as a form of hippopotamus in the mid 1840s, and it was not captured until 1873, but it died very quickly after capture.
This card tells us that the first ones ever found were taken to the Bronx Zoo in 1912. A bit of research has discovered that they were first exhibited there on the 15th of July 1912, after they had been discovered by Carl Hagenbeck, who told the press that they had cost him $20,000 dollars to procure. I am not sure he was ever reimbursed, despite that mention.
He had caught them in Liberia, after almost a year and a half of hunting for beasts which were so rare as to be thought pure myth. Press reports of the time describe the male as being thirty inches high and the females only eighteen inches. They measured them like a horse, from the ground to the shoulders.
The complexity comes with the title of the set, for it is called "Animals of the World" on the cards - and yet on the box and packets it says "Zoo Picture Card Gum", though on those packets, rather lightly, in one corner, it does say "Animals of the World".
It also ought to have had another title, or at least some reference to the fact that it was a follow-up set, to the earlier Topps issue called "Bring `Em Back Alive" (R714-2), which was also of a hundred cards, numbered 1 to 100, and celebrated the life of the newly deceased Frank Buck. It is a notable omission, as that is the reason why our set starts at card 101.
The Topps set called "Bring `Em Back Alive" was not a wholly original set though, as it was based on Gum Inc`s 1938 set by the same name. And that was perhaps, though a bit outdatedly, based on a book of 1930, and a film of 1932, both called "Bring `Em Back Alive" which were by, and starred, Frank Buck.
Now Frank Howard Buck, born in 1884, in Texas, knew Carl Hagenbeck, the discoverer of the pigmy hippo, by reputation, and some say he had been enticed into chasing animals by him, for Mr. Hagenbeck had made a lucrative career out of supplying animals to circuses and zoos, until the outbreak of the First World War saw people less willing to deal with a German.
At this point, Mr. Buck displayed his American birthrights, and took over the clientele of the man he so admired. However Mr. Buck gained his reputation mainly because of the care and attention which he provided his animals, all the way to their eventual home, travelling with them in close quarters, and he also ensured that when they got there the environment was as close to nature as it could possibly be. If he did not like what he found, he would refuse to leave his charge until it was fixed - and sometimes, the story goes, he even refused to sell the animal to the client at all, though in many cases this saw him much out of pocket.
During the First World War, in 1915 the San Diego Zoo opened in California. It may have been for commercial reasons, but I would like to think that it was also to give a home to the animals which were not wanted once the 1915 Panama-California Exposition closed, in which they had been displayed. Without the zoo, I would not like to imagine what may have happened to them.
Their new owner had seen them at the exhibition, and had founded the Zoological Society of San Diego, with help from the one in New York, and anyone he could contact. The animals were stored in temporary quarters for five years whilst a site was found on which would be suitable for a proper zoo to be constructed, and that opened in 1921.
Two years later, the owner of that zoo hired a new temporary director, who was none other than Frank Buck, and he had reportedly been one of the people who had helped it at the outset. However, for a variety of reasons, he only stayed a few months, and then went back to his former way of life.
At that time he was married to his second wife. His first had been a singer, and actress, and on his first meeting her he had thought her well out of his depth. She was also forty-six and he was but seventeen. Not just that, but she openly admitted to being the mistress of an author, Steven Crane. However he died, aged just twenty-eight, on June the 5th, 1900, and she married Mr. Buck in 1901. Both lied on their marriage certificate - he added seven years, she dropped thirteen. They remained married for twelve years, quite happily, and then divorced; apparently, she let him go, so that he could marry someone more suitable, a lady called Nina Boardman, and they were wed the next year. They divorced in 1927, and he then married Muriel Reilly, with whom he had a daughter. It appears that his third wife outlived him. He died in Match 1950, aged sixty-six, of lung cancer.
One day we may get to show all the sets, but for now we will have a brief run through of them.
First up was the Gum Inc (or, as the wrapper states "Gum Makers of America, Inc."). This was issued in 1938, with chewing gum, and the wrapper has several possible titles, "Adventures in the Tropical Jungle", "Frank Buck Series", and "Bring `Em Back Alive", which was the title of his book and film, and so would have been the one most picked up on. Jefferson Burdick describes it as "R55 - Frank Buck (48) Gumakers of America" and values each card at 5 cents. Now I thought that this was an error, but no, on the card the manufacturer is indeed cited as "Gumakers", and now I have had another look at the packet it is an easy mistake, for they have printed the "Gu" on one line and the "akers" on another, beneath, and used a large capital letter M to cover that letter in both the words. Each packet cost a cent, by the way.
The next issue was the "kind of" re-issue of this, in 1950, by Topps. These are not in the same order, and not even the same pictures in many cases, but are very similar, rather lurid, coloured cards, and clearly state "Bring `Em Back Alive" on the reverse of each. There is also a monotone picture of him, which, and I am showing my age here, resembles the man who ran the posh estate that Tom Selleck, as "Magnum" tried so hard to mess up. This set is catalogued by Jefferson Burdick under "R714. Topps unclassified cards", as number "2 - Bring Em Back Alive (100) Frank Buck 2 1/8 x 2 5/8. Numb". He values those at only four cents a card.
The third issue was our set, and they do not mention Frank Buck at all, in fact many people look for the first set, cards 1-100, and expect them to be also called "Animals of the World". They are also catalogued by Jefferson Burdick under "R714. Topps unclassified cards", but as number "1 - Animals of the World (No. 101 - 200) 2 1/8 x 2 5/8.". He values those at five cents a card.
Liebig [trade : meat extract : O/S - South America] "Chineesiche Kunst" / "Chinese Art" (1937) 7/12 - F.1346 : S.1350
Today is #NationalCherishAnAntiqueDay, and here we have most people`s idea of an antique, a vase. However, as the general definition of "An Antique" is something that is over a hundred years old, a lot of our cards are technically antiques too - and they are ones you may not imagine, for, as of this year, this now includes any set produced before 1925.
This pretty porcelain is a lot older than that, but the card is not.
It comes from a set which is often sold split into two parts as two sets of six, the first, or S.1350.a, being of Chinese architecture, and our set, or S.1350.b, being of smaller art forms. Our card shows work from the Ming Dynasty which was in power from 1368 until 1644, and took over from the reign of the Mongols.
At which point I have to mention that Ming the Merciless, from the planet Mongo, was probably related in some way to this, and that at least one of the writers of Flash Gordon knew their stuff.
Seriously, though, the Ming Dynasty was relatively peaceful, and was also ruled by people of China, or at least those from the upper classed. Then it was no more, partially due to a rebellion by a chap called Li Zicheng, a "Chinese Peasant Rebel", who was also known as "The Dashing King", I am pretty sure his poster was on the wall of quite a few girls, and some ladies. Sadly he supposedly died, just a year later, but I do hope he got to know his subjects, and had some fun. Here is the really fun part though, as we do not know if he died, or if he was spirited away by one of his followers, or even if he had just had too much fun, if such a thing was possible, and became a monk, living on in anonymity.
This set was available in :
- French, as "L`Art Chinois"
- Dutch, as "Chineesische Kunst"
Probably others too, waiting to be tracked down and tapped in.
The cards in the set, or two sets, starting with the six architecture cards show :
- Bouwkunst: Ruine van de pagode van Tai-tze-ta
- Bouwkunst: Pagode van het klooster "Hemelsche Vrede"
- Bouwkunst: Monumentale Poort van Gochhug-Amoy
- Beeldhouwkunst: Reuzen-Boeddha in de Koreaansche bergen
- Beeldhouwkunst: De leeuw van het graf der Ming
- Beeldhouwkunst: Boeddha-zuil van Korea
- Pottenbakkerskunst: Vazen der Ming-periode (pottery - Ming Vase)
- Porselein: Vaas en rookvaas der Ming-periode (porcelain)
- Glazuurwerk: Boeddha in wit glazuur, 18 eeuw (enamelling)
- Schilderkunst: Schilderij van Wang-Chao, Ming-periode (painting)
- Lakwerkkunst: Doos, vaas, en waaier in lakwerk (lacquerwork)
- Borduurkunst: Bruidskleed en draperie van zijde (weaving and clothwork)
Merrysweets [trade : confectionery : UK - London] "World Racing Cars" (1959) 34/50 - MER-120 : MER-3
Today in 1929 saw the birth of Mike Hawthorn, who is somewhere in this pack.
This set is a combination of cars alone, and action scenes, like ours, at Spa, often the site of the Belgian Grand Prix, the first of which was held here in 1925. The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, to give it its proper name, had been built in 1921, for motorcycles, and had also already been used by cars, in 1923, for a twenty-four hour endurance race. However the next time it was used for cars was in 1930.
The Belgian Grand Prix was not always held there, and it has also had several years when it was either affected by conflicts, the Seond World War, the Suez Crisis, or just removed from the calendar temporarily. The race has also moved, several times - the first race after the end of the Second World War took place in Brussels, in 1946, and in the decade between 1972 and 1982 it was shuffled between Nivelles and Zolder, with one exception, that being its return to Spa in 1983. It then went back to Zolder in 1984, but since then it has stayed at Spa, despite the fact that the weather can be appalling, and because of the fact that the drivers really like it there, apart from the weather, of course. It has seen many course changes, and also dropped in length from its original nine kilometres to just over seven.
This card describes it as "One of the fastest and most beautiful road-type circuits in the world, it winds in a series of uphill and downhill curves through thick pinewoods, with only one slow hairpin corner"
It shows the action at the start of the 1958 Grand Prix, just after the flag has dropped to send the cars out on their way.
You can see that the front runners have fallen into a line, and that is car two (Stirling Moss, in a Vanwall, who did not finish the race) followed by car four (Tony Brooks, also in a Vanwall, and the eventual race winner) whilst behind them there is a still a bit of jostling to attempt to get to and round the corner first. These two leading cars were not so on the grid, as the qualifying saw two Ferrari cars there - Mike Hawthorn taking pole, and Luigi Musso runner up. At the close of the race though, Mike Hawthorn came through, and took the chequered flag in second, with Stuart Lewis-Evans third in his Vanwall.
The reason for this card, though, is that it also tells us that "Mike Hawthorn has lapped its 8.76 miles at 132.36mph" - and that was in this race, so the cards must have been issued afterwards, with the text being written at almost the same time. The current fastest lap in the race is held by Sergio Perez, set in 2024 at 1m 44.701 seconds - whilst the fastest lap ever was set in qualifying, in 2020, by Lewis Hamilton, at 1m 41.252. I do not know how this compares with Mike Hawthorn`s but maybe someone can work it out?
Sadly, in January 1959, Mike Hawthorn was killed, on the A3 at Guildford in Surrey, aged just twenty-nine. He was driving a Jaguar, and went out of control on a notorious part of the road which had already seen fatalities. We do not know how and why the accident occurred, only that it did, and that he was killed almost instantly. Everything else is speculation. Though it was perhaps a more fitting end for him than his medical prognosis forecast, of death, by kidney failure, in less than three years.
Our set appears in our British Trade Index part two, as :
WORLD RACING CARS. Lg. 97 x 51. Nd. (48) ... MER-3
and in our updated version as :
WORLD RACING CARS. 1959. 97 x 51. Nd. (48). Special album issued ... MER-120
W.D. & H.O. WILLS - [tobacco : UK - Bristol] "Cricketer Series 1901" (1901) 49/50 - W675-050.B - W62-38.B : W/8
Today, in 1856, this man, Arthur Shrewsbury, was born. He was the first cricketer to score a thousand runs, closing with an innings of 106 at Lord's in 1893. His eventual total, 1,277 runs was the record right until January 1902, when it was beaten by Joe Darling.
He was born not in Shrewsbury, but in New Lenton. Nottinghamshire, and he was one of seven children. His parents seem not to have married, and been just as happy for it, probably more. He was educated at an establishment simply recorded as "Peoples College", but that cannot have been until he was ten for it was only founded in 1846, courtesy of a grand gift of three thousand pounds from a Mr George Gill, who lived local. This was then topped up by private subscription. At first it only gave education to boys, but within three years it had become co-educational, kind of, with a separate section for girls. At that time the boys outnumbered the girls by over two to one, and received a rounder education, including in the sciences, whilst the girls only had instruction in English and in women`s skills like needlework and taking care of not only the home but their menfolk. The school also operated as an evening school for those who worked during the daytime. And it was a good school, that would eventually become the first Higher Grade school in Nottingham, but not until 1880.
By then our man was twenty four, and just on the cusp of being considered the best batsman in the whole of the land. He had started his cricketing career at Lords, as a "Colt", which was the term for a promising youngster, worthy of a trial against a better team. We think this must have been the Nottinghamshire Colts, but I cannot find him listed on their team. We know that he was part of Nottinghamshire County Cricket team, as he is shown here, and that he would also go on to captain England in seven of his twenty three Test Matches. In 1890, he was one of the Cricketers of the year, announced by Wisden.
He was also, though you would not know it from this card, a rugby player, and he organised the first ever tour of British players to Australasia, in 1888, during which they competed in both rugby and what is known as "Aussie Rules". This was a great success, and it was hoped that Australian players would come over here and play us, but sadly this was never more than a hope.
Then, in 1902, he started to suffer pains, in his stomach and kidneys. He had had outbreaks of illness all though his life, his chest and breathing was frequently a problem, and he had struggled with bronchitis several times, the outbreaks of which hung heavy on him and were not easily dispelled. One day, whilst cricketing, he felt especially unwell and mentioned it to the club, some accounts even going so far as to say that he left the field because of it.
At the close of season it was still troublesome, and so he saw a doctor, then another. None seemed to be able to diagnose the condition. He started to rally with the better weather in 1903, but he was told that he may never be able to play cricket again, and that the hefting of the bat would be too likely to strain him.
We do not, and will never, know whether the pain increased, or whether the loss of his pleasure was the cause, but towards the end of April 1903 he shot himself, at home, once in the chest and then again, fatally, in the head. He was discovered, still alive, by his girlfriend, but by the time she had called a doctor and one had arrived, he was no more. After his death it was written that he believed he had "an incurable disease", but there seems to be no word of when this was diagnosed, or what it was, or whether it even existed.
This set first appears in our original Wills Book part one, or, more properly, RB.3 - The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills, which was published in 1942, and in which our set is catalogued, very well, as :
CRICKETERS. CRICKETER SERIES, 1901
(the first title is given in Matthews and the "Standard Catalogue". The latter is taken from the cards).
Series of fifty Numbered 1-50 Issued 1901
Printed by Meissener & Buch, Leipsig.Size 2-5/8 ins x 1-3/8 ins. Fronts printed in full colour to represent County, Team and Club colours. Subjects, head and shoulders of prominent players.
Make up varies from 1896 series, and fronts have "Wills`s Cigarettes" at head. Player`s name appears at base, viz., Mr. C.E. de Trafford, Leicestershire.
Title of set on backs, at base, followed by number, i.e., "Cricketer Series, 1901, No.11."
Backs, "engraved style" - not Star and Circle - printed in grey, with six different advertisements (see "Seaside Resorts" for particulars). These are differently arranged from "Sports of All Nations" as follows : -
- "Gold Flake" ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 2 3 4
- "Wills`s Best Bird`s Eye" ... ... ... 5 6 7 8
- "Traveller" ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9 10 11 12
- "Westward Ho !" .... ... ... ... ... ..13 14 15 16
- "Capstan Navy Cut" .... ... ... . 17 18 19 20
- The "Three Castles" .... ... ... .. 21 22 23 24 25
- "Traveller" ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 26 27 28 29
- "Wills`s Best Bird`s Eye" ... ... 30 31 32 33
- "Westward Ho !" .... ... ... ... ... 34 35 36 37
- The "Three Castles" .... ... ... .. 38 39 40 41
- "Capstan Navy Cut" .... ... ... . . 42 43 44 45 46
- "Gold Flake" ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 47 48 49 50
(Note - No. 33 - County spelt "Sommersetshire"
It next appears in our Wills reference book part two, or, more correctly, RB.11 – The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills Part I (revised) and Part II, completed in May 1948, by a new editor, Edward Wharton-Tigar. Here the entry is much smaller, but quite important, as it adds a reference number, and also an important discovery, namely :
8. CRICKETER SERIES, 1901 - see page 17
Card No. 45 describes Mr. P. F. Warner, whilst the picture is actually that of Mr. G. E. Winter. No corrected card is known.
More errors are picked up in our updated volume, RB.14 – The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills Parts I and II (revised) and Part III, which was completed less than a year later in March 1949, and once more edited by Edward Wharton-Tigar. The listing here reads :
8. CRICKETER SERIES, 1901. See pages 17 and 54.
The following typographical errors have been noted : -
- 8 - Mr. G. MACREGOR (error for MACGREGOR)
- 13 - Mr. C. H. KORTWRIGHT (error for KORTRIGHT)
- 42 - Mr. A. McLAREN (usual form A. C. MACLAREN
No corrected cards are known. Several cards in this series have been reported without the red colour printing.
It ought to be pointed out that the version of the name which appears first above is how it appears on the cards - that in the brackets is the actual name of the player.
Finally, in RB.16 – The Cigarette Card Issues of W.D. & H.O. Wills Parts I, II, and III (revised) and Part IV, once more edited by Edward Wharton-Tigar, and completed in January 1950, we have probably the most intriguing discovery of all....
8. CRICKETER SERIES, 1901 - see pages 17, 54, and 84.
There were two printings of this series, as follows :_
- A. Nos. 1-25, without backgrounds
- B. Nos. 1-50, with backgrounds.
So with this knowledge I can say that at some time, when we feature the other version, this giant description will relocate to a much more suitable space as a Card of the Day.
Our original World Tobacco Index is similarly concise. However it does add a fair amount of background information, because it is listed under section one of the Wills listings, as one of the "Early issues without I.T.C. Clause. Series prepared up to 1902 for home and/or export brands" - and then listed under sub section 1.D, with "other issues with Limited Liability indication - All other issues which carry the indication "Ld." or "Ltd." after the firm`s name. Series prepared between 1893 - 1902, although some (e.g. set W62-33 - Animals and Birds - may have been issued after 1902. Small size 67 x 36 m/m, unless stated. The set is described as :
CRICKETERS SERIES 1901. Sm. Nd. Engraved back, in grey, vari-backed, 6 advertisements,. See W/8 ... W62-38
- A. Nos. 1-25. Without backgrounds
- B. Nos. 1-50. With grey vignetted backgrounds.
As for its appearance in our updated version of this book, that carries the same headers as above, and the text slightly clarifies what is only hinted at above :
CRICKETERS SERIES 1901. Sm. Nd. Engraved back in grey, vari-backed, 6 advertisements,. See W/8 ... W675-050
- A. Nos. 1-25. Plain white backgrounds
- B. Nos. 1-50. With grey vignetted backgrounds.
This week's Cards of the Day...
...went beneath the sea, and revolved around World Aquatic Day, but with a difference, as we had a look at how many cards have an aquatic animal theme if we bend the rules a bit, and look outside the usual nature series.
Our first three clues bent these rules a lot, but all in the name of fun!
Saturday, 29th March 2025
So here we have Bert Trautmann, representing "Trout". And there are quite a few footballers whose names, if skewed, could be used as Aquatic Animals - including several with the surname Ray (for stingray), plus South African Mark Fish, Geoffrey Salmons (of Chesterfield, Leicester City, Sheffield United and Stoke City), and Peter Murray Haddock (of Newcastle United, Burnley and Leeds United).
If you said this card was issued by John G. Barker (Ireland) Ltd., with bubble gum, congratulations, you were not too far off, as they also circulated it.
Our card was the version by Mitcham Foods though, and their tale has not yet been told. So therefore this becomes the Mitcham Foods home page, from which you will one day be able to link in and out and view examples of all the different sets.
The name may sound like the immortalization of a surname, but it was founded by Mr. Delarageaz, who came to England after the First World War, and started a company on a wholesale basis, exporting goods to France and to their colonies in North Africa.
He then bought a company in France, who specialised in making what we would call margarine, but solely for business like restaurants and cafes. He thought that the product could be sold to the general public, but had no means to make it, so he bought into a small business in Mitcham, right beside the Common, which was already making cheese and other dairy products.
This new company grew so successful that it was taken over by Unilever in 1928, and they wanted him too, but he was not so happy there. They realised this early on, and had tied him in to a very odd contract that meant he was not able to make a rival product for at least five years. In those five years, he waited, and put out feelers, and refined his product, to make it smoother and better tasting. Then, when the time was up he left, though he had nowhere to make his wonderful new product - until he realised that when Unilever bought him out they had not wanted the old factory, and so he was not only able to take that over, but to make it into the most modern premises he could. This took another five years, and it was opened in 1938.
This sounds like a great time to build a factory, in many ways, with the outbreak of war fast approaching, and rationing on everyone`s minds. But it also meant that most of the male staff went off to war, and he had to convince their wives and girlfriends to come work for him as well as retrain them on the production and packaging lines. Then, in 1941, the lovely new factory was completely demolished by a bomb.
I am not sure if this is the same incident, of April the 16th, 1941, when fifteen Home Guard volunteers were killed by a parachute mine that fell on the common, but I do now know that they were on duty at Towers Creameries when they were killed, and though in the early 1940s they were a separate entity, they are shown on a map of the 1950s as being one of the two blocks that make up the Mitcham Foods complex.
In the early 1960s, there were more huge changes, for Mitcham Foods merged with George Lewis Limited, Minsterley Creameries Ltd, Auguste Pellerin Ltd, and Express Dairy Products Ltd to make Express Dairy Foods.
Sadly, by the mid 1960s, the margarine arm was failling, priced out of business by one of their rivals, who held the upper hand on getting supplies of cheap materials. This meant that the factory in Mitcham, which made the margarine, was closed. Though Kraft Foods took over the Mitcham brand, and ensured that those survived, a lot of the memories of the old factory were lost.
To their cards, at last!
In our original British Trade Index part II, the entire entry reads :
MITCHAM Foods Ltd., Mitcham
Cards issued 1957-60
- AIRCRAFT OF TODAY. Sm. 63 x 34. Nd. (25). ... MKE-1
Back (a) with
(b) without "Top Flight Sweet Cigarettes" above firm`s name- AQUARIUM FISH. Sm. 65 x 35. Nd. See D.216 ... MKE-2
1. 1st Series (25)
2. 2nd Series (25)- BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. Sm. 67 x 35. Nd. (50) MKE-3
Issued in joined pairs, Album issued ...- FOOTBALLERS. Sm. 66 x 35. Black. Nd. (25) See D.288 MKE-4
- MARS ADVENTURE. Sm. 64 x 34. Nd. (50) See D.315 MKE-5
- MOTOR RACING. Sm. 66 x 30. Black. Nd. (28) MKE-6
All the "D" codes mean that is that there are duplicate versions of these sets, issued with other companies and commodities - these being
- D.216 - Aquarium Fish - also by Brookfield Sweets (1959), Pukka Tea (1961), and in an anonymous version
- D.288 - Footballers - also by Barker`s Bubblegum (in the same year as ours, 1956)
- D.315 - Mars Adventure - also in an anonymous format
Most curious of all is the fact that despite that the first set listed under their issues mentions "Top Flight", it does not manage to link to another set listed by them in the same British Trade Index part two, and which we have already mentioned on our website, in our newsletter for the 23rd of February, 2024, you can see it by scrolling down to Friday the 29th.
It is not until our updated British Trade Index that that the entry reads :
MITCHAM Foods Ltd., Mitcham
Issued 1956-60. Includes brand issue "Top Flight"
- AIRCRAFT OF TODAY. 1956. 63 x 34. B&W. Nd. (25). . MIT-030
Back (a) with
(b) without "Top Flight Sweet Cigarettes" above firm`s name- AQUARIUM FISH. 1956. 65 x 35. Nd. See HX-87 ... MIT-040
1. 1st Series (25)
2. 2nd Series, Nd. 26-50 (25)- BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 1959. 67 x 35. MIT-050
Issued in joined pairs. Nd. (50), Album issued ...- FOOTBALLERS. 1956-7. 66 x 35. Black. Nd. (25) See HX-54 ... MIT- 070
- MARS ADVENTURE. 1955. 64 x 34. Nd. (50) See HX-138... MIT-080
- MOTOR RACING. 1957. 66 x 30. Black. Nd. (25) MIT-100
- TOP FLIGHT STARS. 65 x 34. Sport subjects. Nd. (25). MIT-110
Brand issue. `Top Flight`
Sunday, 30th March 2025
The reason for this card was not only its sound and spell alike-ness to the seal who swims in the sea, but also it shows that two sea horses support the shield. And animals, whether they fly, swim, or walk, are often an un-noticed part of heraldry cards. In fact if you look really closely, you will spot a lion atop the tower.
The two golden maned "seahorses", however, are slightly altered, as they are mythical creations, a blend of horses heads, webbed front feet, and a fishy, or some say mermaid`s, tail to finish with. Actually a seahorse does have a head which is similar to a horse, but not a mane, instead it has spikes. There are no arms. And instead of a webbed tail it is more akin to that of a monkey, both in looks, and in the fact that it can be used for gripping and balancing, and anchoring itself fast to where it wants to rest.
You will find the mythical version on the emblem of Newcastle United Football Club too.
Though this set may sound boring, and be dismissed as just a collection of wax impressions, on ribbons of differing hue, it is really fascinating - and, for those who are collecting cards of their area, should be highly prized, for it not only gives the seal of their foundation, but tells the tale of how they came to be.
Most of the seals shown are of cities, (Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Carlisle, Cork, Dublin, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle Upon Tyne, and Nottingham) - but there are also Boroughs (Bolton, Derby, Leicester, Portsmouth, Newport) and even the Corporate Seal of Chester, dating from the 17th Century.
There are several other seals pictured which are even older than that as well - including ours, which dates from before 1390, though it tells us that the motto was added later, to mark "the gallant defence of the city against the Scots, 1644"
This set first appears in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as simply :
SEALS. Sm. Nd. (25) ... M122-18
This text is identical in our updated version, apart from a new card code, of M757-340.
Monday, 31st March 2025
This card gave us a baby having a "wail", which links us to the whale, the largest of all aquatic life - with the Antactic Blue Whale measuring almost a hundred feet long and weighing in at up to ninety metric tons.
There is also a non-aquatic animal here too, the cat that licks the spilt milk.
If you look at the reference books, you will read that this set is one of only two that were issued by this company, the full details of which, and whom, appear at its home page, our Card of the Day for the 24th of April, 2024.
In addition, it seems to be universally regarded that our set was an export issue. And though I have not yet found out to where they were exported, I hope to one day be able to prove that this was to South Africa, for that would tie in extremely nicely with the fact that Bocnal segued into becoming the Amalgamated Tobacco Corporation (South Africa) Ltd., Johannesburg, and then into the Amalgamated Tobacco Corporation, Luton, (the home page for both these being with our Card of the Day for the 25th of September, 2024.)
Our original World Tobacco Issues Index, issued in 1956, lists our set as simply ;
- PROVERBS UP TO DATE. Sm. 67 x 36. Nd. (25) ... B80.2
And this remains the same in our updated volume, save a new card code, of B502-300.
I also have a "New Issues Report" for this set, from The London Cigarette Card Company magazine "Cigarette Card News", copy dated August 1938. This reads :
"Proverbs". Twenty-five small cards. Coloured cards depicting well known proverbs, rather crudely produced."
They are art drawn, and I think not crudely at all, rather well, in fact - yet they have neither monogram, nor name, for the artist.
It is an unusual set though, and is seldom included in thematic collections, despite the fact that there are cards of a cat (on our card), a frog and pelican ("Look before you Leap"), a bull ("He who Hesitates is Lost"), and a bulldog ("Let sleeping dogs Lie") - plus a policeman "No Smoke without Fire"), chefs ("Too many Cooks spoil the Broth"), and a kilted Scotsman ("Never look a gift horse in the mouth")
Tuesday, 1st April 2025
Here we have another interesting branch of thematic collecting, showing representations of animals not as living creatures, but on signs.
This is the most known group of sets, possibly because there are so many sets of them, and they are relatively modern. There are others though - Churchman`s "Curious Signs", a set of twenty-five, from 1925, which includes an ape, a boar, a bull, a cockerel, a dog, a duck, a dolphin, an eagle, a goose, a grasshopper, a lamb, an ostrich, Pegasus, and three squirrels - and Wills "Heraldic Signs & Their Origin", which brings us two eagles, an elephant, a martlet, a pelican, and a talbot hound, though we featured the sign of the anchor as our Card of the Day for the 27th of November 2022
So to today`s card. And a note, that, for the moment, this page has become the home page for the early Whitbread Inn Sign sets, for today`s card is from the second series - the earliest we have so far featured. However, when we show a series one card that what follows will relocate.
Series one, and two were made of metal, aluminium, and series two was the last series to be only available in metal form - series three being created in two forms, metal, as here, but also as cards. And after that, the metal was dropped, and the signs were only cards. There is a reason for this, for when the first and second set was produced, paper was still scarce, after the Second World War, but thin aluminium sheet was more readily available, and, it must be said, this material looked and felt more like an actual inn sign, which were hand-painted on either wood or metal.
The scheme began in 1949, when the Whitbread Brewery, at Wateringbury, in Kent, thought it would be interesting to make collectable plaques of some of the signs which hung outside their public houses. The cards were given away, just handed over the counter, when you bought a pint of beer. Now there are two schools of thought to that statement - the first has it that each card was only available at the inn where that sign hung, to get the rest you had to travel to all the other public houses, and buy a beer - whilst other collectors say that the cards were left at each pub in bundles, and you just got the next one at random.
The first ten cards of series one, issued in 1949, show inns in Hastings and St. Leonards on Sea in Sussex, cards eleven to fourteen from Rye, also in Sussex, and cards fifteen to fifty from Kent. In our second series, issued in 1950, they are again a mixture of inns in these two counties alone. And in the third series, issued in 1951 they are just from Kent. The fourth series, issued in 1953, actually contains an almost identical swan to the one on our card, as no.41, but if you look it has a larger eye - and the back tells us that sign hangs at the Swan Inn at Wickhambreaux near Canterbury, Kent, not our Wittersham near Tenterden in Kent. Neither this fourth series, nor the fifth, which was issued in 1955, includes the names of the counties.
This was the end of that line - what came next was called the "Special Issue of Four" and these are very often wrongly grouped online, though it is easy to tell the proper cards as the backs all say they are "A Special Issue of Four". And they never contained The Britannia Inn, which was a special, one off, issue, only available at the Britannia Inn, at the Brussels Exhibition, in Belgium, in 1958. So the cards which did form the actual "Special Issue of Four" were :
- William Caxton, Tenterden, Kent
- The Ordinary Fellow, Chatham, Kent
- The G.I., Hastings, Sussex - card no.1 from the first series of signs
- Queen`s Head, Maidstone, Kent - card no.23 from the first series of signs
The first three cards were all designed by Violet Rutter, whilst the fourth was by Harvey James. And though cards 3 and 4 had been issued before, I cannot trace cards 1 and 2 in any other sets - but maybe you can?
In our original British Trade Index part II, all these seven sets are catalogued together, as :
INN SIGNS. Md. 76 x 51 ... WHI-1
- First Series. Nd. (50). On aluminium
- Second Series. Nd. (50). On aluminium
- Third Series. Nd. (50). On (a) aluminium (b) board
- Fourth Series. Nd. (50). On board
- Fifth Series. Nd. (50). On board
- Special issue of Four. Nd. (4). On board
- The Britannia Inn. Unnd. (1). On board
Note : Signs were also issued uncoloured by certain Inns on the backs of calling cards, as pin-ons, etc.
In our original British Trade Index part three, item 7 was updated, and a later edition of three cards issued in 1958 appear. Item nine, though, is a repeat, of the note at the end of the above listing - and they are out of date order, for they are much earlier, being designed as business cards, having the sign of the inn on the front and the proprietors details on the reverse. In fact a lot of collectors believe that it was the making of those that set the idea of making the coloured series off. So the listing from British Trade Index three reads :
7. The Britannia Inn. Back (a) plain (b) printed, with reference to Brussels 1958 Exhibition.
8. Whitbread`s Inn Signs - 1958. On board. Series of 3.
1. Duke Without a Head
2. The Railway
3. The Startled Saint
9. Black and White reproductions, partly with proprietor`s names on reverse. 4 known.
1. Oak & Ivy - Hawkhurst
2. The Old Cock, Hildenborough
3. Spread Eagle, Chatham
4. Trafalgar Maid (back blank)
Section 9 is added to in our original British Trade Index part IV, with :
9. Black and White reproductions. Add :
5. Camden Hotel, Pembury
6. The Woolpack
This was the end of the line, for a while, but in 1973 the idea was restarted, with cards called "The History of Whitbread Inn Signs”. Eventually there would be eleven sets under this title, and we featured one of those as our Card of the Day for the 28th of November 2023
There is also a reference book about the signs - called "Whitbread Inn-Signia" by David Cockell and Chris Laming. This was first issued in 1996, and it is quite scarce but we have a copy in our library, for members to borrow - just quote the code of W.22.
Wednesday, 2nd April 2025
Another great source of aquatic, and indeed all animal, cards relate to sports, especially to teams, whose logos often feature them. Here we have the dolphin, for the Miami Dolphins, and you can also find many American football, baseball, and hockey teams with animal names or nicknames - but British teams also often have nicknames that involve animals, and a great place to start looking is Ogden`s "A.F.C. Nicknames" (which was also issued by Hignett). You will also sometimes find cards of sports mascots, which is another theme to pursue.
So here we have Skylar John Thompson, who started out with the Kansas State Wildcats and then joined the Miami Dolphins. See what I mean? However he now plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers, since January of this year. And he was born in 1997, which makes me feel a bit of a dinosaur.
This is yet another of those lengthy modern sets where if we are being honest, few people can collect them all - you only really "win" if you concentrate on collecting cards of one particular person, so you are restricted to buying one or two cards out of each set. Saying which, our man`s first card appeared in 2021, and he is already cited as being on almost six hundred cards.
In this set, the base set is four hundred cards long, but there are an unbelievable one hundred and thirty eight extra insert sets, and sixteen parallel sets, which you can wander through courtesy of the Trading Card Database/D22.
Thursday, 3rd April 2025
Today, another dolphin, but this one is a ship, one of several American vessels to be given that name starting with the USS Dolphin, a coastal patrol boat, of 1777. In fact our ship was the fourth of that name, the intervening two being a schooner and a brig. The last of these was decommissioned in 1860, and the name thought lost.
However in 1883, four ships were ordered by the Secretary of the Navy - The Atlanta, The Boston, The Chicago, and, oddly, for all the others were named after places, our ship, The Dolphin.
She started to be built in that same year but was not completed until over a year later, and not taken into the Navy until over a year after that. Part of the reason for the delay was in her fitting out, for she was graced with quite beautiful carpentry - in the absence of defences. Despite this she was almost scrapped in 1897, but was saved by the Spanish-American War, and sent to Cuba, where she served with distinction. After that, perhaps in way of thanks, she was kept on, used for surveying and also when needed, as the ship chosen to perform non military duties, and impress visiting dignitaries. She was also used in the First World War, and afterwards still kept going as the flagship of the Special Services Squadron. And she finally retired in 1921, though, for some reason, she was then sold, for scrap, something that many historians much regret.
In 1932 her name was given to a submarine, which served throughout the Second World War, and it was also used on a second submarine in 1968, though this was a research vehicle and not a military one.
Our set appears first in Jefferson Burdick`s "American Card Catalogue", as :
226 - Naval Vessels of the World (25)
He values them at fifteen cents each.
We know that this book was published first because the set appears in our World Tobacco Issues Index using that code, listed as :
NAVAL VESSELS OF THE WORLD. Sm. 70 x 38. Bkld. (25). Ref. USA/226 ... K32-16
This wording is exactly the same in our updated version, save the card code, which is now K524-270
Friday, 4th April 2025
Here we have an animal that you probably do not know was an animal - but it was, once, before it was rendered into something that stares at you from a shelf in your bathroom. Mind you, the replacement, a synthetic sponge, also has ethical problems, because they contain polyester, etc, which release microplastics and nanoplastics, both during use, and after it is discarded, if it is not discarded in the proper way.
There is a way to sponge with impunity though, and that is to find one which is made of vegetable cellulose. And they go straight in your garden compost bin and safely biodegrade. They are not cheap, but they are kinder to the planet.
Returning to the animal sponge, they have been around for many centuries, and some of them can trace their origins back six hundred million years. They are divided into four groups, the largest of which covers ninety per cent of all known sponges, and which gives the class its name, for they are "Demospongiae". They have a soft covering but are hard inside, which is how they get their name, "half sponge". They grow quite slowly, and can live for a thousand years if left to their own devices. The other groups are the glass sponges, so named because they are either clear, or white, resembling frosted glass - the cellular sponges, which have patterns across them - and the encrusted or worm sponges, which some people say look like a brain, for it is a round shape with what look like either furrows and growths, or like long worms crawling over a mound.
They are not corals, but you can often find sponges on coral reefs, because they do like to root themselves to something. Also they eat the plankton and small creatures which float about a reef looking for even smaller food than they.
Now I have to warn you that this set is not very pleasant, and the treasures that are depicted are pretty much us using some poor creature for a purpose other than allowing it to live. The cards comprise, in the French version
- Capture des Tortues dans L`Amerique du Sud (capturing turtles in South America)
- La Crevette, Peche des Crevettes (the crab - crab fishermen)
- La Perle, Les Plongeurs (The pearl - pearl divers)
- Le Corail, Banc des Corail (Coral - a Coral Reef)
- L`eponge, La Peche dans la mer Adriatique (The sponge - Adriatic fishemen)
- L`huitre, La Peche (The oyster - fishermen)
It is also available in Italian, as "I Tresori Del Mare"
And so, dear readers, I must close another edition, and go to sleep, perchance to dream and not be woken at 2 am by nipper barking with the foxes.
This has been a fun newsletter to write and I much enjoyed the fact that as I went along I was able to tie several of the sets into their home pages, some of which I had to construct first.
I have also started tying the reference booklets to the sets, which is something that I hope to do more of when I wake really early in high summer, provided I have remembered to bring one at a time down with me the night before.
Thank you for coming along, and for reading right the way to here. I hope that you will go off and investigate anything that sparks your fancy, and share your discoveries with us.
Until next time, good night....