Newsletter - 2025-04-12

Saturday, 5th April 2025

our first card was chosen because Mr. Ferdinand is listed as a "Defender", and that position on the field has a connotation to the fact that submarines are the defenders of the sea. I could also have had a striker, but that seemed to suggest it fired first and asked questions later, whereas a defender is more of a motherly, protective role.

This set is entirely devoted to Manchester United, and its full title is "Manchester United 2011-2012 Adrenalyn XL™ Official Trading Card Game".

There seems to be a lot of conflicting advice as to how many are in a complete set, ranging from 80 to 131. The problem is in the numbering, as the foil cards are mixed in between the base cards, so if you only collect the base cards you will have numbers missing. The first sixty are base cards, then you get "Special Foil" cards that are numbered 61 to 90. Card 91 returns to a base card again, and these continue until card 110, after which cards 111 to 126 are "Ultimate Foil" cards. After that there are five "Limited Edition" cards, numbered LE1 to LE5 inclusive. 

The packets contained six cards and retailed for 60p. However to get you off to a flying start you could get a "starter pack" for £4.99, which included a binder in which to keep your cards, and eighteen assorted cards. It also included a playing surface and the rules of the game, about which I know nothing, so if anyone has any memories of this do please send them along. . 

Sunday, 6th April 2025

This card gave us a "Diver", and that is probably the first word we think of when we think of submarines, as "Dive!" seems to be all these craft do in movies and on television. And yet for the most part a real submarine floats along just beneath the surface, it only dives to elude a pursuer or a torpedo. 

The Great Northern Diver is also known as The Common Loon. It is the largest member of the "Loon" family, and can be seen as either a breeding adult, when it is brightly coloured to its top plumage, with shades of green, purple and blue - or as a non breeding adult, when it is only brown. However, it seems to only breed in North America and Canada, plus Greenland and Iceland, coming to the United Kingdom purely as a winter visitor - though there are records of them having bred in Scotland in years gone by.

Now we have a home page for this set, with the first series, which was featured as our Card of the Day for the 12th of May, 2025 - so this page will only deal with our second series. 

They first appear in our original Ogden`s reference book, RB.15, first published in 1949, as : 

• 100 BRITISH BIRDS (1905-1908). Fronts lithographed in colour. Backs in green, with descriptive text. Home issue. 
  
  48. "Second Series". Numbered 51-100 on fronts. Backs off-white, matt. Issued 1908. 

In our original World Tobacco Issues Index, it appears under section 4 of the Ogdens listings, for sets described as being "Issues with I.T.C. Clause. All issued in U.K. Small size 67 x 36 m/m, unless stated." - and sub-section 4.A, for "cards issued between 1903 and 1917" , described as : 

• BRITISH BIRDS. Sm. Nd. See H.229 ... O/2-95 
  
  2. "Second Series". Nd 51-100

In our updated version of the World Tobacco Issues Index, it remains in section 4.A, and the description reads : 

• BRITISH BIRDS. Sm. Nd. See H.229 ... O100-414
  
  2. "Second Series". Nd 51-100 (50) 

Monday, 7th April 2025

This card shows Alexander the Great, and he was the first to use a form of submarine, or so says Aristotle, who speaks of Alexander descending beneath the ocean in a barrel of white glass during the siege of Tyre in 322 BC. 

We would call his craft a "diving bell", from its shape, or a "bathysphere", which has a Greek root, the "bathy" meaning deep and the "sphere" meaning a circle. Alexandra the Great`s is therefore presumed to be round, and perhaps even blown glass, but this would have been a huge undertaking, when you compare the blowing of a bottle for wine to the blowing of a circular craft large enough to fit a man.

As to why Alexandra the Great descended beneath the ocean, that was to spy on the opposing side. We do not think that the other side, as is often said, actually had submarines, but he could have easily seen the hulls of any ships as they approached. 

Now Alexander the Great was not the first person to go beneath the water, for we know that prehistoric man often cut hollow reeds and used them like a cross between a periscope and a snorkel to enable him to breathe the air above the water. There are also pictures carved into Ancient Egyptian tombs that show this happening during duck hunting. 

The "diving bell" idea had first appeared in the fourteenth century, often using barrels. As usual,  it was not long before a pleasure craft was spotted and the idea of how to use it against another nation in war came to mind, but this was not actually written down until the sixteenth century, though the way it is written proves that such had been long debated and improved upon. 

This card actually celebrates Alexander the Great`s horse, and not the man, but he is seen riding him. The set is quite scarce, but so far it comprises : 

1. Le Bouef Apis
2. Bucephale dompte par Alexandre le Grand
3.  
4. Les Oies du Capitole
5.  L`Aspic de Cleopatre
6.  
7.  
8.  
9. Le Cheval de Mazeppa
10. Les Pigeons des Venise
11.  
12. Les Chiens du St.Bernard

I have to say that I was rather surprised when I was trying to find the rest of the set, that my search engine gave me the following AI overview suggestion - 

"The phrase "Sochard Animaux Celebres" translates to "Suchard Famous Animals." It refers to a series of chocolate wrappers featuring famous animals, which was likely a marketing campaign or collectible item from the Swiss chocolate company Suchard. The phrase appeared as a clue in a Cardworld theme of the week solution, specifically mentioning the "Animaux Celebres" series 144."

Tuesday, 8th April 2025

Here we have Monsieur Goubet and his submarine. The image looks very little like his submarine so I presume it is just a submarine, and they could not find a picture of his. His submarine was a strange device, it took two people, and it was reputedly powered by electricity - though it was actually a battery to provide the power and an electric motor to drive the propellor and also keep a light on inside the craft. It was about sixteen and a half feet long, and the people sat back to back, looking out of a glass which was a bit like a short periscope 

Despite all these marvels, when it was tested, in the River Seine, it was not a success, but only because it was not able to maintain a constant depth, and occasionally veered off course, which was actually not the craft`s fault, for the men did the steering, and their vision was limited, as they could only see one way at a time, so when they were looking to one side they could not see the other. Anyway, the machine was scrapped. 

We can see what it looked like thanks to Murray`s "The Story of Ships", card 45/50, the text of which tells us that it was "...built by M. Goubet in Paris, was driven by current stored in batteries; but there was no means on board of recharging the batteries. The main body of the boat was a single bronze casting, with a glass and metal dome at the top. A universal joint on the propeller shaft enabled the screw to be set at an angle to the line of motion, thus dispensing with a rudder. Submersion was effected by admitting water ballast. The crew of two sat back to back with their heads in the dome. Abaft the dome was a "torpedo", it was to be released under a vessel, and rising attach itself by spikes, unreeling a wire behind it. The submarine would retire to a distance, and explode the torpedo through the wire"

This set is easy to spot but I know very little about it, not even the title. At first I thought it was "Inventeurs" (or Inventors) but as I saw more cards I realised they were all manner of people connected to the sea. Since starting this, and asking about, I have been told that the set is called "Ships", and the people are incidental, which is why they are in a smaller section than the ship. There is also a card of a primitive tribal chief, so they are not even all famous people. And then I got this list, supplied by Mr. Pryce. for which many thanks. 

• Ade Suffren de St. Tropez - Fregate du XVIIIeme Siecle [frigate of the 18th century]
• Agrippa - Unireme Romaine Vent Arriere [Roman unireme with rear ventilation]
• Amiral Aube - Torpilleur de Haute Mer : [torpedo boat]
• Amiral Courbet - Cuirasse Escadre : [warship]
• Amiral Dumont d`Urville - Trois Mats Moderne (France) : [modern three master]
• Amiral Makarov, inventeur - Navire Brise-Glace : [icebreaker]
• Andrea Doria - Galere du XVIe Siecle [galleon of the sixteenth century]
• Bab Aroudj - Corsaire Mauresque : [Moorish corsair]
• Chef de Tribu - Embarcations des Primitifs : [primitive sailors]
• Christophe Columb - Caravelle Espagnole : [Spanish Caravelle] 
• Commandant Deloncle - Paquebot [mail boat]
• Connetable Burkard - Chelande du IXeme Siecle {Byzantine super galley of the 9th century]
• Denis Papin - Premier Bateau a Vapeur : [first steam boat]
• Dracke - Vaisseau de Guerre Anglaise a trois Mats : [Francis Drake - English warship with three masts]
• Jean Bart - Vaisseau a Trois Ponts (XVIIe Siecle) : [three masted vessel 17th century)
• L`Ingenieur Goubet - Sous Marin : [submarine]
• Mandarin Amiral - Gondole de Mandarin Chinois [Mandarin Chinese gondola]
• Nansen - Bateaux Norvegien Au Pole Nord : [Norwegian boat at the North Pole]
• Navigateur Indou - Bateau de Transport sur le Gange [Boat on the Ganges]
• Pharaon - Barque Egyptienne sur le Nil [Egyptian barque on the Nile]
• Rolf le Genereux - Drakkar Normand [Norman Viking ship]
• Saint Louis - Selandre du XIIIeme Siecle [French East Indiaman of the thirteenth century
• Surcouf - Lougre Corsair [privateer lugger]
• Themistocle - Triere Athenienne [Athenian trireme]
• Vasco de Gama - Caraque Portugaise [Portuguese Carrack]

Wednesday, 9th April 2025

Here we have a set which is very similar to "L`Electricitie", issued in 1906. And there is also a sister which we have not yet featured, called "La Navigation Aerienne", which deals with aerial navigation, or aeroplanes. 

Our submarine is named as "La Pluviose", which you will often read means "rainy", but it also used to be the name of a month, the fifth in the calendar used by the Republic during the French Revolution, and it ran from the end of January to the end of February. What we do not know is why she was so named, as she was first ordered in August 1905,  launched in June 1907, and put into service in October 1908.

She was the submarine equivalent of the flagship, and the class was named after her. Her siblings all had double hulls and carried a pair of officers, up to twenty-three enlisted men, and eight torpedoes. Originally she, and several of those siblings, had the torpedo tube inside her bow, but there was what is referred to as "an accident" with one of those other ships, and the ones who had been set up in that way, including our submarine, were all brought back in to be refitted with external launchers. I have not been able to find out about the accident, which suggests a bit of a cover up. 

Our boat also had another accident, in May 1910, when she was hit by the liner Pas de Calais as she resurfaced. This was whilst her and two siblings were on what is reported as "a diving exercise", just outside their home base in Calais. She was ripped completely open and plunged to the bottom of the sea, with all hands. Oddly, it is reported that either twenty seven or thirty men were killed, reports vary - but we know her complement was only twenty five, so were there other men on board, observing, which added to her weight and made her less manoueverable, or were the other men on the liner, and just added in to the total ?

Anyway, the submarine was raised, and brought back to Calais Our card shows her after this, because it mentions this event, "Coule en 1910 a Calais puis repare" - which means "sank in 1910 in Calais then repaired". It also calls her "Marin du Guerre", which means war ship, so this dates the set as after 1910 but before 1918. (Another card, no.35, gives us the date of 1913, so narrowing the date still further.) 

In fact she was damaged again in 1919, and then there is another mystery, for she was sent to undergo "compression testing". This sounds like a test before she was returned to service, but sadly it seems more likely that she was subjected to repeated crushings, in the name of research for other submarines of the future, because in 1925 she was sold, for scrap. 

This is a set of eighty-four subjects, so we have a list, or the beginnings of one. I have also included the most recent of any dates printed on these cards as I go along so we may get closer to the date of issue. And if anyone can add any new names, please let us know via webmaster@card-world.co.uk

1.  
2.  
3.  
4. Marine de Guerre, Trireme Carthaginoise, 11e Siecle
5.  
6.  
7.  
8.  
9.  
10.  
11.  
12.  
13. Marine de Guerre, Pirogue Afrique
14. Marine de Guerre, Le Protecteur, 1790
15.  
16.  
17.  
18.  
19. Marine de Guerre, Le Borda, 1908
20.  
21. Marine du Guerre, Baleiniere
22.  
23. Marine de Guerre, Grand canot 
24.  
25.  
26.  
27.  
28.  
29.  
30.  
31.  
32. Marine de Guerre, L`Edgar-Quinet, 1908
33.  
34. Marine de Guerre, Pluviose, 1910
35. Marine de Guerre, Le Gustave Zede, 1913
36. Marine Marchande, Galion XVe Siecle
37.  
38. Marine Marchande, Bac a corde XVIe Siecle
39. Maine Marchande, Bateau marchand marseillais
40. Marine Marchande, Le Coche d`eau, XVIIIe Siecle
41.  
42. Marine Marchande, Cange du Nil
43.  
44. Marine Marchanda - Bateau da Commerce Hollandaise XVIIIe Siecle
45.  
46.  
47.  
48.  
49. Marine Marchande, Trois Mats XVIII Siecle
50.  
51.  
52.  
53. Marine Marchande, La Savannah, 1819
54.  
55.  
56. Marine Marchande, Vapeur a roues du Rhone
57.  
58.  
59. Marine Marchande, Barque Sardiniere, XIXe Siecle
60. Marine Marchande 1867
61.  
62.  
63. Marine Marchande, La Germania, 1870
64.  
65.  
66.  
67.  
68.  
69. Marine Marchande, Le Canada, 1874
70.  
71.  
72.  
73.  
74.  
75.  
76.  
77.  
78.  
79.  
80.  
81.  
82.  
83.  
84. Marine Marchande, Bateau de commerce Hollandais XVIIIe Siecle

Thursday, 10th April 2025

Here we have a nuclear submarine. There is often some confusion as to what this means, so it does mean that it is powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily that it has nuclear weapons on board.

They were first thought of by a physicist working for the American Naval Research Laboratory, way back in 1939, but for some reason, maybe because of plans falling into enemy hands if America was invaded, they were not worked on right until 1946, and no construction began for another five years.

This craft was named Nautilus, with a nod to Jules Verne, whose own submarine by that name was first written of in 1870, and which also had a revolutionary (and not yet possible) fuel system. for it was powered by electricity - the first submarine to actually be powered in that way being the Peral, belonging to the Spanish Navy, who was not launched until 1888. 

The submarine on this card is HMS Dreadnought, which was the first nuclear submarine to be used by Great Britain. This is not proof that the British set came first, just that Canada did not, and continues to not, have any nuclear submarines. HMS Dreadnought was built as a kind of co-production between America and Britain, the Americans supplying the reactor and some of the designs. 

This set is recorded in our original British Trade Index part two under Brooke Bond, where the header states : "2. Issues with rounded corners. Issued in North America by Brooke Bond Canada Ltd. and Brooke Bond Tea Co., Inc. Small size 68 x 37 m/m." They are described as : 

SERIES 10. TRANSPORTATION THROUGH THE AGES. Sm. Nd. (48). CU.10. Back with Montreal address, top line in (a) red (b) black. The two printings are not identical, e.g. No.29 shows a different picture ... BRM-35

Mr. John Levitt has contacted us to say that in the latest Brooke Bond Tea Cards Reference Book, which was completely revised in 2021, there has been several changes. The text there reads : 

Transportation through the Ages
Size 69 x 37mm with rounded corners. Coloured numbered series of 48 inscribed "Series No. 10" with bilingual text in English and French. Backs printed in black & red text, issued in Canada.
There are two printings of this set with the Montreal address black & red text on back

• (A) back with top line of text in red   ... CU10.1-A
• (B) back with top line of text in black ... CU10.1-B

There are also two printings of card number 29 with top line of text in black

• (A) Building on right at border of the card 1 set of three windows plus 1 tree 
  (B) Building on right at border of the card 3 sets of three windows plus 1 tree

Special album issued (no insert issued).
Wallchart issued

Note: The identical set was also issued in the USA.

The album was available at grocers for 25 cents, or by sending a coupon, plus a package or label from any Red Rose or Blue Ribbon product, to "Dept P.C. Brooke Bond Canada Limited, 5415 Cote de Liesse, Montreal 9, Quebec." You could send for more than one album at a time, but you had to send a package or label for each one.  The album also has a code number printed on the front - this one is CU.10.

I find it intriguing that the main difference between the version issued in the United Kingdom and this Canadian one does not seem to be stressed anywhere - and that is the number in the set, our set being fifty cards and the Canadian being forty-eight. I asked if anyone knew which the missing two were, and I actually got sent a comparison list, from Mr. Whyte, which proves it is a lot more complicated than that - so I am delighted to be able to publish it here. Just to save you hunting, the two missing cards are the monorail (British no.30) and the oil tanker (British no.27) but there are also many other differences, including curious transpositions of numbers.  I have straight pasted it in, so (B) is the British version and (C) the Canadian. 

1. (B)(C) Elephant
2. (B)(C) Camel
3. (B) Dog Sledge
4. (B) Ox Wagon - (C) Chariot 
5. (B) Chariot - (C) Ox Wagon
6. (B)(C) Stage Coach
7. (B)(C) Horse Tram
8. (B)(C) The Bicycle
9. (B) Kayak - (C) Galley
10. (B) Galley - (C) Kayak
11. (B)(C) Horse Barge
12. (B)(C) East Indiaman
13. (B)(C) Tea Clipper
14. (B)(C) Hot Air Balloon
15. (B)(C) Gas Balloon
16. (B)(C) Steam Coach
17. (B) Steam Wagon - (C) Stephenson`s Rocket
18. (B) Stephenson`s Rocket - (C) Steam Wagon
19. (B)(C) Modern Steam Locomotive
20. (B)(C) Diesel Locomotive 
21. (B)(C) Gas Turbine Locomotive
22. (B)(C) The Comet
23. (B)(C) Mississippi River Steamer
24. (B)(C) The Great Eastern
25. (B)(C) Turbinia
26. (B)(C) Modern Ocean Liner
27. (B) Oil Tanker - (C) Electric Tram
28. (B) Electric Tram - (C) Electric Locomotive
29. (B) Electric Locomotive - (C) London Bus
30. (B) Monorail - (C) Early Motor Car
31. (B) Early Motor Car - (C) Bluebird
32. (B) Bluebird - (C) Motor Cycle
33. (B) Motor Cycle - (C) Sno-Cat
34. (B) Sno-Cat - (C) The Wright Brothers Aeroplane
35. (B) The Wright Brothers Aeroplane - (C) Airship
36. (B) Airship - (C) Early Airliner
37. (B) Early Airliner - (C) Flying Boat
38. (B) Flying Boat - (C) Supermarine Schneider Trophy Plane
39. (B) Supermarine Schneider Trophy Plane - (C) Helicopter - but it is actually the Westland Whirlwind HCC Mk.12 off British card 41
40. (B) Transport Aircraft - (C) First Turbojet Airliner
41. (B) Westland Whirlwind HCC Mk.12 - (C) Boeing 727
42. (B) First Turbojet Airliner - (C) Variable Wing Aircraft
43. (B) Modern Jet Airliner - (C) The Mesoscaphe
44. (B) Variable Wing Aircraft - (C) Hydrofoil
45. (B) The Mesoscaphe - (C) Hovercraft
46. (B) Hydrofoil - (C) Nuclear Ship
47. (B) Hovercraft - (C) Nuclear Submarine
48. (B) Nuclear Ship - (C) Apollo Space Rocket
49. (B) Nuclear Submarine - (C) number not issued 
50. (B) Space Rocket - (C) number not issued 

Friday, 11th April 2025

This was shown to me as a fun card, of a futuristic submarine, but it turns out to be much more interesting than that... 

The title is "En L`An 2000", which translates to "In the Year 2000", and it is one of those things which think that in a hundred years the most fantastic things will have taken place, but then they do not. It is now 2025, and we are still not, unless we are millionaires, going off for the day beneath the sea in our illuminated submarine with huge glass windows that would surely burst. 

The images, and we think there are a hundred, were originally grand artworks by famous painters and designers. They started to appear in the year 1899, and went on almost until the rumblings of the First World War. They seem to have been converted into cards from 1901 onwards, just as the century had passed. 

And we know that they were also issued as postcards, for none other than Isaac Asimov speaks of owning "a set" in one of his biographical works. However, we do not know if his "postcards" were actually postcard sized trade cards, perhaps even these we show today... 

Curiously, they were reprinted in 1999.

Creme Express was not the maker, that was the product, and it was some kind of instant cream drink, available in vanilla, chocolate, coffee, orange, lemon, and pistachio,. said to be be "superior to all similar products and the only true one".

The actual maker was Ch. Jux, at 74-76 Boulevard de Reuilly, in Paris. I have not found much about them yet, but I will continue to fill in the blanks whenever I can