Welcome to another weekend, and another newsletter. Which was rather a slow process this week with almost all the subjects failing to make it in for various reasons, and I am still not very happy with a couple of the cards, they did not scan well.
Anyway maybe I will find a way to replace them over the weekend, or have another go at rescanning them.
We are about a month away from the middle of the year, and I do hope that 2025 has been kind to you, providing you with new cards, and new friends, as well as, perhaps, even, the completion of a set or two.
By the way, if you have a particular set that you are despairing of ever completing, our "Memberad" scheme is proving very popular. This free service is only available for members, and the memberads are only printed in our magazine, not online. Worth a try, perhaps?
So let us slide into this week`s newsletter, maybe even over breakfast....
KELLOGG`s [trade : cereals : USA] "Advertising Blotter" (1950s) No.6005/?
first change of card, but not of subject, for today, in 1895, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg saw his patent, No.558,393, filed for "Flaked Cereals and Process of Preparing Same".
Note that it is, forward-thinkingly, not specific to a particular grain of cereal, which was generally the way that people got around a lot of patents, by bending them, not breaking them.
We must also say that despite the fact that we so readily associate Kellogg`s with cornflakes, his first ones were made with wheat, for medicinal purposes, to counter the effects of indigestion.
Now Kellogg was a superintendent, at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, which people seem to think has a connection with the American Civil War, or with injured patients from that conflict, but in fact it was a health resort, a very well known one, which had started up in 1866, though some of their ideas were a bit strange, to say the least. Later it would develop into a hospital, with laboratories and operating theatres, and a nurse training centre.
Anyway Dr. Kellogg became the superintendent in 1876 and remained so until 1943. However the cereal was actually created by his brother, Will Kellogg, who also worked at the sanitarium in a lesser role. He started serving the cereal at breakfast time, and his brother said it would make a good sideline, especially if it were produced to be sold outside the sanitarium. There were a lot of legal wranglings though, mostly between the two brothers, both of whom wanted to be named as the inventor.They also fell out over the fact that Will believed that sugar should be added in the making, and his brother did not. In fact they went in and out of court for about a year before the patent was granted, in Dr. John Harvey Kellogg`s name, and right up until December 1920 the brothers were battling rights and legalities through the court. That trial was the last though, as Will finally won.
For some reason, and to this day, Kelloggs is the top brand for most people. However he did have a big rival, a patient at the sanitarium, who came home and made his own cereal. His name was Charles William Post, and he started a company called the Postum Cereal Co. His first product was called "Grape Nuts", or malted nuts, which was very similar to a product served at the sanitarium. and in 1904 he introduced "Corn Flakes. He would also go on to introduce "Rice Krispies". Sadly he committed suicide in 1914, after having been in ill health for some time.
As for John Harvey Kellogg, he married in 1879, and fostered forty two children. His wife died in 1920 and he never remarried. he died in 1943, and was buried in the same town as the sanitorium. Battle Creek.
This card started out as a car, but I realised that I had used the set before, and that one featured a Land Rover.
So I asked about for interesting items to do with Kellogg, and Mr. White found me this.
Some of you may not consider it strictly cartophilic, but it was a giveaway, at exhibitions and perhaps even with the cereal.
Our younger readers may not even know what this is, so I will explain, briefly, that at one time, people wrote letters and cheques with fountain pens. These had an internal cavity into which you put ink, and then the ink would come out through the nib of the pen. But it all got a bit messy, definitely for me, and so you would write something then put this hard bit of cardboard (the picture side) on top of what you had written, picture side up, so that the a softer, absorbent side (the pink) could soak up a fair proportion of the ink.
This one is totally unused, which is rare, because most of them have words, in reverse, right across the pink surface.
A lot of them do show the product, as a permanent reminder to buy more, but some are sought after for other reasons. Probably the most desirable of all was issued in August/September 1947 to promote Kellogg`s "Pep" whole wheat flakes - and as to why, well it shows Superman, with three children.
WEET-BIX [trade : cereal : O/S - Australia] "The Great Barrier Reef" (1982) 18/20
Today, and every June the 1st, is #WorldReefAwarenessDay.
it is hard for those of us who have never seen a coral reef to understand how badly they need protecting.
The main threats are climate change where there is less or more water for them and their inhabitants, pollution of the water and the reef through toxic waste, and fishing which not only depletes their inhabitants but dislodges or breaks the coral as the boats come ever closer to it in an attempt to gather ever more fish.
However, there are ways that we can get to experience the beauty of the reef for ourself, tv documentaries, or online sites, like YouTube, where you will find a BBC Earth broadcast which lasts for ten hours, and which, despite its daunting length, has been watched over four million times.
Our set features just one reef, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, covered in twenty cards, designed to fit on a poster.
This is the largest reef of all, though it is made up of separate parts, almost three thousand of them, plus almost a thousand islands, stretching over a hundred and thirty three thousand miles. No wonder that it is visible from outer space.
The cards show the flora and fauna that live on the reef, like our staghorn coral.
However there was another set, by Sanitarium Weet-Bix, which is called "Great Barrier Reef", and which was issued in 1971. The way you can tell them apart is that our set does not mention Sanitarium, and it has that very smudgy line of green text at the back of the bottom, which actually says "Courtesy The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Authority. Photos Len Zell, Gordon Bull, Jamie Oliver"
There is also a 1948 Sanitarium set called "Marvels of the Great Barrier Reef", which adds to the confusion, as there were several versions of this, you can find it completely un-numbered, which was the first version, and led to much confusion as to where to place the stickers in the albums. This was hastily rectified by adding the number on the back, but there is another version, presumably later, which has the number on the front instead.
But tomorrow I will quote you what it says about both sets in our Australian and New Zealand Indexes
We were going to start June with the Derby horse race, but we featured that before too.
We then lit on a rather curious, and also sporting tale, that being that today in 1901 a man called Benjamin Adams was arrested - for playing golf on Sunday.
On the face of it, this seems very strange, for he was at a golf course, the Saegkill Country Club in Yonkers, New York. He was fully clothed. He was not drunk, or being disorderly. And he was not even arrested whilst playing. Odder still, our man was a respected member of society, a member of the local education board, and also a lawyer.
The truth was that he was a showcase. Several local churches had got together and decided that it was not on to play baseball on Sundays, and they got the police involved too.
Now the nature of baseball involves a bit of hooting and hollering, some revelry, a few cuss words now and then. However perhaps the police commissioners were a bit heavy handed, or maybe the ministers were overwrought, and the statute was written that all sports, not just baseball, would have to take a break on Sundays.
This caused outrage, as many churchgoers were keen golfers, and they said that they would stop going to church if they were stopped from a little golf related pleasure afterwards. The church were not so keen on this, once they realised they would feel it in the collection plate, for golf was a bit of a rich man`s sport.
The fuss died down, and for the first two weeks church and sport co-existed, though the baseball team did manage to schedule both its games away rather than at home.
However, on the third Sunday two detectives went to the golf links and caught Mr. Adams golf. There were several others in the party, but Mr. Adams was the only one observed to strike the ball. He was arrested, and quickly bailed, by a member of his party.
Then, on the 8th of June, the case was brought before a jury, who found Mr. Adams not guilty.
That was pretty much the end of the sporting ban, but in the course of researching this I did discover that professional baseball games, on Sundays, were prohibited by state law in all of the six New England states right up until 1919. Though amateur Sunday baseball was first allowed in Rhode Island in 1891.
This is one of the cards I thought did not work, the back was way too light, and I have tried my best but it is still illegible. However now it is on here it does not look too bad - and it is a really lovely front...
Edwards, Ringer & Bigg [tobacco : UK] "Birds & Eggs" (June 1906) Un/50
This was the day that held me up. I started with the birthday of Tony Curtis, but he has already been featured on this website, then I found out it was the birthday of Jefferson Davis, but failed to find any cards. But just as I was about to crack, I found something else that did just that, for today is #NationalEggDay.
This egg, the goldfinch, adds another maker to the home page for this convoluted set - which you can find as our Card of the Day for the 27th of September, 2023. Sadly, or at least at the moment, this is not for the first ever issuer of the set, who was Harvey and Davy, but that could well change one day.
This version, by Edwards Ringer and Bigg, was issued one month after the Churchman one, which is the current home page set. However there is one surprising difference, as the Edwards, Ringer and Bigg cards are not only un-numbered, but they have no title.
W.D. & H.O. WILLS [tobacco : UK - Bristol & London] "The Coromation Series" (1911) 28/50
This card may be changed too, for it shows King George III`s Coronation and today, in 1738, was his birth. Also I have a bit of a suspicion I have already used this set several times before.
George III, or George William Frederick, was King of Great Britain and, from 1800, of Ireland too, and he was crowned on the 25th of October 1760. He was also King of Hanover, from 1814. And he was King right until he died in 1820, at Windsor Castle.
He was born at Norfolk House, in London. This was so named because it was the London home of the Dukes of Norfolk, and it was the original one, then, sited opposite Lambeth Palace. Later on, starting in 1748, it would move, and become a new build in St. James`s Square. But that, too, was demolished in 1938.
When he was born, his grandfather was King of England, that was King George II. His son, and our man`s father, Frederick, Prince of Wales, was not destined to be King, he died in 1751, at which time our man became both Prince of Wales and the heir apparent. And when his grandfather died, he became King George III.
At that time he had no Queen, but the following year he was married to Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The pair had little in common, he married her, so the story goes, because she was German, minor royalty, and not very bright, with no interest at all in politics. However they were married for fifty seven years, and had fifteen children, including four future monarchs - King George IV, King William IV, the King of Hanover, and the Queen of Wurttemburg. Indeed if it had not been for their large family, we may not have had a Buckingham Palace, because they bought it to accommodate their ever increasing needs.
In fact she was very intelligent, with a great interest in botany, so much so that we have her to thank for the current Kew Gardens. And it was she, long before Queen Victoria, who had the first ever Christmas tree in this country, at Windsor Palace in 1800.
She died at her preferred home, Kew Palace, in 1818. Her husband lasted a year longer but by then he was very sick with an illness of the brain, which led to manic episodes. For many years this was thought to be either genetic, though there was no trace earlier, nor later, or caused by a liver disease called porphyria. However later studies seem to be leaning towards arsenic poisoning, either from medication, given to help him, or from cosmetics, which at that time often used mercury or lead. However, this far past, we will probably never know, we can only conjecture.
J.I. BATTEN & Co Ltd [trade : tea : UK - London] "Screen Stars" second edition (1956) 5/25
This card closes a link from a long way past, as we mentioned this lady in conjunction with her husband, who became Sir Richard Attenborough - as part of the newsletter for the 26th of August, 2023 (the entry for Tuesday, the 29th August)
Sheila Beryl Grant Sim, who would become Baroness Attenborough, was born today in 1922, in Liverpool.
Her father was a banker, and some time later they moved to Purley in Surrey.
Miss Sim went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and her first film was "A Canterbury Tale", released in 1944. She made one more film, "Great Day" released the following year, and then moved into films for television.
However, she was tempted back to the cinema by a film called "The Guinea Pig", a social drama which concerned a working-class boy who wins a scholarship to a public school. It was released in 1944, and one of the first films to try and broach the subject of how life could be after the war was over.
The boy was played by Richard Attenborough, and during the filming he revealed to her that he had seen her at RADA, but they had never been in the same place at the same time. She did not remember him at all, but was charmed by him, and they married the following year.
They frequently worked together, especially on stage, and they were both in the original 1952 cast of "The Mousetrap".
They had three children, one of whom was tragically killed in the tsunami of 2004, along with her daughter and her husband`s mother.
Richard Attenborough died in August 2014. They were just nearing their seventieth anniversary. Sheila Sim lived for just over a year, and died, aged ninety-three, in January 2016. She was by then living at Denville Hall, a retirement community for the theatrical profession, which she had been a keen supporter of for many years - and for which she had also helped raise funds for two separate upgrades of the facilities.
LIEBIG [trade : meat extract : O/S - South America] "Kinderspelen Van Voorheen" (1962) S1762 - 5/6
I was back and forth with this one, and then I discovered it was #NationalYoYoDay
After that it was fairly easy to get this card, which shows the central figure with a Yo-Yo.
And I also found you a visual delight in the form of the website of the National Yo-Yo Museum in Chico, California.
Before you nip along to that though, a Yo-Yo is briefly a mechanical, self powered toy, using a rod which is fixed to two discs, and a long piece of string which is wrapped round the rod and fills the central space between the two discs. The idea is that you hold the end of the piece of string, which is usually a loop, tied to fit round your finger, and throw the Yo-Yo forward or drop it down. Then you attempt to halt the motion and spin it back up, quickly, and repetitively.
I fail dismally at this.
It is supposed to work through gravity, but we know that it long predates Sir Isaac Newton`s experiments, for it appears in ancient texts and on pots, the earliest of which dates to 440 B.C.
This card shows children`s games, and, despite its scientific nature, the Yo-Yo has often been just that, a plaything. The other toys on the card are a cup and ball, where you jerk the cup and attempt to make the ball fall in it - bubble blowing, with an old clay pipe - the Yo-Yo, in the hand of the boy in green - and a spinning top.
Our version is the Dutch one, "Kinderspelen Van Voorheen", but it was also available in other languages.
This week's Cards of the Day...
This week our theme concerns Ian Lancaster Fleming, who was born on the 28th of May, 1908 – and who is best known today for being the creator of James Bond.
James Bond was basically a spy, but for Queen and Country. And his author was from a very well-off family, related to the banker Robert Fleming & Co. His father was also Member of Parliament, for Henley, for seven years, from 1910 until he was killed in action on the Western Front, when James was just nine.
He was then sent to a succession of schools, Eton, Sandhurst, and then to European universities. When the Second World War broke out, he found himself part of Naval Intelligence, who were mainly concerned with planning. One of the things he worked on was Operation Goldeneye, which was keeping tabs on Spain to ensure it neither joined Germany against the Allies, nor invaded Gibraltar. In 1943 it was stood down and forgotten, apart from by Ian Fleming, who called his Jamaican house "Goldeneye".
However the James Bond film of that name was nothing to do with Ian Fleming, and it was, in fact, the first film deliberately not to use any ideas from his published books.
This week`s theme is being supplied to us by reader Mr. Walkyer, who is a very keen James Bond fan, and not just of cards. In fact he freely admits that he paid way over the top for his first card, because he had never seen one before, but now he has a huge collection of them, and says he really enjoys hunting them out - plus they also take up less space than some of his other James Bond collectables....
Saturday, 24th May 2025
Our first clue revolves around the first James Bond novel to be published, and also to be filmed.
This was "Casino Royale", written in 1953, when Ian Fleming was forty-four years old, and first filmed, for television, in 1954. Curiously it was just one episode in a long running series of one off dramas, but the lead, James "Jimmy" Bond was played by Barry Nelson, though there was a bit of artistic license as this Bond was an American, working for the CIA. Also in the cast was Peter Lorre, as the villain.
Now as to the reason for our card, because there does not seem to be a card of Barry Nelson the actor (unless you know of one), but there was an Australian first grade rugby league player called Barry Clyde Nelson, who played in the 1950s for two of the teams shown on this set, Newtown and Canterbury-Bankstown.
Sadly he is not shown on this card, but he did manage the team from 1957 to 1961, so it is very possible that some of the players still remembered him.
He would also become their club president in 1982, and remain so for twenty years, at which point he was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia for service to Rugby League football.
He died in 2021, aged eighty nine.
This set is listed in our Australian & New Zealand Index, part two, (RB.33), which was published in 1993. The entry reads :
- N.S,W. Rugby Football League Teams - 1966 (A). 138 x 66. Black. Back in blue, per Fig.DA1-3. Unnd.(8 known). ... DA1-3
1. Australia - First Test, 1966
2. Balmain - First Grade, 1966
3. Eastern Suburbs - First Grade, 1966
4. Great Britain Test Team - 1966
5. Newtown - First Grade, 1966
6. North Sydney - First Grade, 1966
7. Paramatta - First Grade, 1966
8. Western Suburbs - First Grade, 1966.
The picture (Fig.DA1-3) is the same as our card but in black and white. However we know that all the cards were identical, and the signatures are nothing to do with the players on the front, these signatures are the Daily Mirror rugby reporters - Johnny Roper is easy to spot first but the other two are unknown as yet.
We also now know that there are more cards than eight, and it seems certain that the full set is of twelve cards, these being the ten first grade teams which made up the Sydney League, plus the Australia and the Great Britain Test Teams. But because the above list was numbered it is now all thrown out of kilter by the addition of these newly discovered cards. Therefore the true list, unnumbered, but still in alphabetical order, reads
- Australia - First Test, 1966
- Balmain - First Grade, 1966
- Canterbury-Bankstown - First Grade, 1966
- Eastern Suburbs - First Grade, 1966
- Great Britain Test Team - 1966
- Manly-Warringah - First Grade, 1966
- Newtown - First Grade, 1966
- North Sydney - First Grade, 1966
- Paramatta - First Grade, 1966
- South Sydney - First Grade, 1966
- St, George - First Grade, 1966
- Western Suburbs - First Grade, 1966
Sunday, 25th May 2025
This card gave us the first person to play James Bond on the large screen, Thomas Sean Connery, in 1962.
The film was Dr. No, though it was not the first book to be written, that was Casino Royale.
This led to a script which is very out of sync, and often mentions things that the book readers would have already known, but the filmgoers would be unaware of.
As to why this card gives us Sean Connery, well he was in the Royal Navy, and as a Seaman, or rather as an Able Seaman, before he was James Bond.
You will often read that he was a milkman before that, but he was more of a delivery boy, as he joined the Royal Navy at the age of sixteen, too young to have already been a milkman, or even to have driven the float - you had to be seventeen to do that.
He served in Portsmouth, on H.M.S. Formidable, but he was discharged aged just nineteen, because of a duodenal ulcer, something that had affected many members of his family.
And he would go on to be Bond in seven more films, the last one being in 1983. That was "Never Say Never Again", which some consider to not be a proper Bond film, as it was not produced by Eon Productions.
There is some debate as to his first cartophilic appearance. Somportex`s 1964 set of "James Bond 007" is definitely his first card in this country, and he is also on card number one. However his first sighting could well have been on matchbox labels, issued in Holland by Vlinder. On some of these he is titled as Sean Connery, but on others "James Bond". The ones with "James Bond" on them came first though, in series B, so he must have already been in the cinema. If the Sean Connery had come first they could have well been circulated when it was announced that he was to play James Bond.
Its first appearance is in our original John Player reference book, RB.17, published in 1950, as :
- 139. 50. OLD ENGLAND`S DEFENDERS. Small cards, Fronts in colour. Backs in blue, inscribed "Authentic and Copyright Designs of our Soldiers and Sailors from the time of Charles I to the Battle of Waterloo...." Home issue, between 1895-1900. The normal series is numbered; a few unnumbered cards are found, but whether or not these formed part of a regular issue is not known.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the set appears in Player section one, "Early issues without I.T.C. Clause. Issued 1893 to 1903, in home and export brands. Small size 67-68 x 35 m/m unless stated."
The entry there reads simply :
- OLD ENGLAND`S DEFENDERS, Sm. Nd. (50) ... P72-12
And this is identical in the updated version, save a new card code of P644-032
Monday, 26th May 2025
As for this clue, you really have to be clued up on James Bond to know the connection.
This is that when Ian Fleming was writing his first novel, he could not think of a name for the hero - until he found a book, "Birds of the West Indies", published in 1936. That book was written by an ornithologist called James Bond, who was thirty-six when it was published.
We know that a copy of the book was in Ian Fleming`s Jamaican residence, as he was a keen bird watcher, and that he thought the name was short and to the point, as well as the fact that "Bond" suggested a sense of honour and duty. However he did not ask for the use of the name, and for several books the ornithologist was quite unaware that he had an alter ego. But when he did find out he was not displeased, and when he and his wife turned up and visited Ian Fleming at his home in the mid 1960s they seem to have got along well, and after that we know that there are several little in jokes and references to the real James Bond, and ornithology, scattered about in the text, as well as in the films.
To our card, and the reason why it is here, well that is because the first edition of James Bond`s "Birds of the West Indies", published in 1936, has this very bird, the Cuban Tody, on its cover.
This set appears in our original British Trade Index part two, as :
- SERIES 6. TROPICAL BIRDS. Sm. Nd. (48). Subjects based on Set BRM-16, less two, different numbering. CU.6 ... BRM-31.A
A. Back with Montreal address, in red and black, top line in (a) red (b) black
B. Back with New York address, in red and blue
The Canadian and North American issues were not included in the updated British Trade Index, so the only card code is the BRM one. The CU one is actually Brooke Bond`s code for the set.
The UK set that this was supposedly based on was the one from drawings by Tunnicliffe, I am not certain about this, and very few of these birds are in our version, only, so far, those on Canadian cards 19 and 45. But maybe there is a specialist who would like to help us out. I have done a list of the Canadian cards, in the hope it helps -
- Common egret
- Scarlet ibis
- Flamingo
- Nene
- Black bellied tree duck
- Fulvous tree duck
- Bahama duck
- Swallow tailed kite
- Brown noddy
- Fairy tern
- Scarlet macaw
- Hyacinthine macaw
- Carolina parakeet
- Thick billed parrot
- Yellow headed parrot
- Mealy parrot
- Crimson topaz
- Quetzal
- Cuban trogon (UK 26 - different picture)
- Coppery tailed trogon
- Gartered trogon
- Green kingfisher
- Cuban tody
- Turquoise browed motmot
- Great jacamar
- Emerald toucanet
- Chestnut eared aracari
- Kell billed toucan
- Puerto Rican woodpecker
- Ivory billed woodpecker
- Lovely cotinga
- Red cotinga
- Peruvian cock of the rock
- Three wattled bellbird
- Fork tailed flycatcher
- Great kiskadee
- Green jay
- Blue mockingbird
- Tiwi
- Red legged honeycreeper
- Montezuma Oropendola
- Yellow winged cacique
- Spot breasted oriole
- Lichtenstein`s oriole
- Blue hooded euphonia (UK 29 - different picture)
- Rose breasted thrush tanager
- Red crested cardinal
- Yellow grosbeak
Tuesday, 27th May 2025
Here we have Roger George Moore, the third actor to play James Bond if you only count the official Eon Productions movies. If you count them all, he is the fifth - and curiously both those other productions were adaptations of "Casino Royale", the two Bonds being Barry Nelson and David Niven.
As we found out yesterday, the Eon Productions canon started with Sean Connery in "Dr. No" (1962) and he continued until "Diamonds are Forever" (1971), with one exception, "On Her Majesty`s Secret Service" (1969), which starred George Lazenby.
Roger Moore was born on the 14th of October 1927, so when he made his first Bond film, "Live and Let Die" (1973) he was forty four years old. He was already well known as a television actor, for he had played "Ivanhoe" in the British television series in 1958-59, then replaced James Garner in the American television series "Maverick", and then played Simon Templar (aka "The Saint") for seven years, between 1962 and 1969. After that he was partnered up with Tony Curtis in "The Persuaders" (1971-1972).
There is something very important about Roger Moore, as he holds the honour of appearing as James Bond more than any other actor, seven times - "Live and Let Die" (1973), "The Man With The Golden Gun" (1974), "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), "Moonraker" (1979)., "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), "Octopussy" (1983), and "A View To A Kill" (1985).
In the middle of these another non Eon Production version of James Bond was released, starring Sean Connery, and that was "Never Say Never Again" (1983).
After James Bond, Roger Moore continued to make films and television. His last performance came in a series called "Car S.O.S." in 2016. He died at his home in Switzerland in 2017, and was buried in Monaco.
He also appears on the Vlinder set of matchbox covers, which are rather fun as with them you can trace his career through "Ivanhoe" and into "The Saint". You may be interested to know that "The Saint" also appears as part of Monty Gum`s "T.V. Shows", the second series.
Our card, however, is his first cartophilic appearance as James Bond.
This is "Moonraker", a space epic, from the novel,which was written in 1955.. It involves a space shuttle hijack, which James Bond is sent to investigate. He finds the owner, Hugo Drax, is making a nerve gas that will kill humans but not affect animals. He also has a sub-plot romance with one of his scientists, who is actually working secretly for the CIA. They both end up masquerading as shuttle pilots, and manage to make the secret space station appear on radar, so it can be targeted. Then there is a huge battle, in which Hugo Drax is killed and the secret space station is totally destroyed.
Our card of the day for today is actually a sticker, hence the plain back, and the fact that if you look closely around the red border you can see a line where you peel the inner sticker from within the frame.
There were ninety nine cards, with blue borders, and a mixture of film stills and cast portraits, and twenty two stickers.
In America, the packets cost 20 cents each, though it does not say this on the packet, only on the counter sales box, and each included "10 Movie Photo Cards, 1 Sticker, I Stick Bubble Gum".
They were also sold by O-Pee-Chee in Canada, and though the packets look similar, they are bi-lingual (English and French), as are the cards, and it does not state on the packet how many cards there were inside, all it says is "Bubble Gum With Cards & Sticker - Gomme Balloune Avec Cartes et Collant". In addition they were sold for just fifteen cents a pack, and this is printed on each packet.
We also know there is a Spanish version, though it is very rare.
Wednesday, 28th May 2025
Here we have Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett, who appeared in just two films as James Bond, these being "The Living Daylights" (1987) and "Licence to Kill" (1989).
This is actually a very tangled tale, for when Roger Moore left, Timothy Dalton was the preferred replacement for the next James Bond film in line, "The Living Daylights" (1987), however he was not available when the time came.
His replacement was Pierce Brosnan, who signed the contract to play James Bond in 1986. The timing was perfect, because his long running television show, "Remington Steele", had just been cancelled. Then there was a change of heart, and it was decided to continue with the fifth season after all. And though the network were quite amenable to shoot round their star so that he could be James Bond too, the producers of James Bond were adamant in protesting. They also tried to get the show permanently cancelled, and, when this did not happen, Pierce Brosnan was ousted as James Bond.
The role of James Bond was then given to Timothy Dalton after all, who had suddenly become available.
Now Timothy Dalton was already a very well known actor on stage and television. He had joined The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1961 at the age of sixteen, but left in 1966 when he had the chance to join the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. From there he moved into television, and film.
His first film part was in the epic "The Lion In Winter" in 1968. After that had been in the cinemas for a little while he received an amazing offer from the makers of James Bond; they wanted him to replace Sean Connery in "On Her Majesty`s Secret Service". He considered it, but decided against it, reportedly because he felt he was too young and inexperienced to play a grizzled secret agent. The role would go to George Lazenby instead.
There is also some confusion about his first cartophilic appearance. This was definitely not as James Bond, and it is generally quoted to be card 6 of Topps "The Rocketeer", issued in 1991, on which he is shown as the dastardly Neville Sinclair.
This is incorrect.
His true "Rookie" cards show him in the film "Flash Gordon", released in 1980, in which he played Prince Barin, a kind of Robin Hood, who was King of Arboria, and one of Flash Gordon`s best friends, though the two are both in love with the same woman, Princess Aura - also known as the daughter of Ming the Merciless. However in the end, once Ming the Merciless is overthrown, Prince Barin becomes king and wins her hand.
We also know that he was on several of the FKS Stickers of the film, starting with No.8. These were released in January 1981, and were also available in French, Belgian, and Spanish versions. Each packet contained six stickers, but I am unsure if they included gum too. The set was of 280 stickers.
He is also on card 4 of the Weetabix 1981 set of eighteen "Flash Gordon Movie Cards" - right behind Flash Gordon as they walk through the crowds. He also appears on card 5. However the one that is most sought after is card 11 which shows him in an action scene on the front and has his portrait and a movie quote on the back.
Lastly there was a Panini set, of 240 stickers which was also issued in 1981.
This set is the first by Upper Deck to feature James Bond. As is usual, these days, there are many sub-sets and oddities to collect.
Even the base set is unusual as the second 100 cards, half the set, were only printed as short runs. As for the parallel cards, the first 100 can be found in silver foil, the next 50 in rainbow coloured foil, and the last 50 in gold acetate.
Then there is an archive, or legacy set, of 40 cards, a "Bond vs the Villains" set of 20 cards, a "Q" set showing some (15) of the gadgets that made Bond such fun, at least in the early days, and a set of 10 showing some of the places that James Bond regularly jets into.
There are also autographs, autographs with inscriptions as well in the same hand, but these were only available if you bought a whole box of cards at once.
And lastly there are also six cards which are made in real silver. Now in other sets these were given to employees for services rendered, but here they were available to collectors. However it seems that they were not blase enough to issue these in the packets, instead you got a redemption card which you sent up with your details on it - and it is true to say that in years to come these may well end up rarer than the cards for which they were exchanged, as they were not returned to the collector.
Thursday, 29th May 2025
Moving on, now to Pierce Brendan Brosnan. who at last got his chance to be James Bond in 1995, with "Goldeneye".
He would make four James Bond films in all, the others being "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997 - as seen on this card), "The World is Not Enough" (1999) and "Die Another Day" (2002).
This time, he was allowed to work on other movies at the same time as being Bond. Possibly he had insisted that this be so, due to the ramifications over "Remington Steele".
This film is not from an Ian Fleming Story, it was adapted from a screenplay by Bruce Fierstein, and it revolved round a media-mogul with an eye on starting World War Three.
Today we think this could be possible, but at the time of release it was a bit too far fetched. After all, there were still seven years before the invention of Facebook, our computers were still running Windows 95, and Sky TV was celebrating its eighth birthday.
Now this card is a "promo", in other words, it was given away in order to promote the forthcoming set of cards. There are three of these in all.
The earliest is the rarest, as you could only get that by sending away for it, following the instructions in "Starlog" magazine. It is referred to as the "O" card, from the large letter on it. It shows James Bond running.
The second one was given away at fan conventions and card shows, and it shows James Bond in a suit. That is lettered "P1"
Our card is the third, lettered "P3". It advertises the film, which "releases this Christmas" and also "Look for Premium Movie Photo Cards...." There seems to be lots of opinions as to where this was given away, but the mention of the film leads many to think that they were available in cinemas. Maybe someone out there knows for sure?
Friday, 30th May 2025
Here we have Daniel Wroughton Craig, who was born in March 1968 in Chester.
He did not go to RADA, instead he joined the National Youth Theatre in London, and from there he stepped to the stage. However it was television that made his name, specifically the very popular drama "Our Friends in the North".
From that, he was offered several film roles, but mostly not the lead. He was happy to take them though, and every one taught him something new.
He took over the role of James Bond in 2006, with yet another version of "Casino Royale". He then followed that with "Quantum of Solace" (2008) "Skyfall" (2012) "Spectre "(2015) and "No Time to Die" (2020).
This film, "Skyfall", revolves around a disastrous assignment that leads to agents right across the world being located. Even M16 is attacked. Though he is disgraced, M knows that only James Bond can help, so she goes to him and they work together, off the record. It turns out in the end that the assignment was not a failure but a sabotage, by a shady figure from M`s own past, nothing to do with James Bond.
This set is huge, so tonight I will only tackle the autograph cards. Even these come in two sorts, cards like ours, with an inset photo and a white background, and cards which are a picture right to the edge of the card at the top and then a blank space at the bottom where the signature goes.
The checklist of our version shows that to make life even easier the numbers are not consecutive. They are :
- A99 Joe Don Baker (*)
- A111 Teri Hatcher (*)
- A159 Michelle Arthur
- A188 Chichinou Kaeppler
- A206 Caron Gardner
- A227 Berenice Marlohe
- A228 Daniel Craig (*)
- A229 Judi Dench (*)
- A230 Jane Seymour (*)
- A231 Bruce Glover (*)
- A232 Daryl Kwan
- A233 Catherine Serre
- A234 Oliver Skeete
- A235 Jennifer Castle
- A237 Caroline Hallett
- A240 Tonia Sotropoulou
- A242 Glyn Baker
- A243 Naomie Harris (*)
Some are much rarer than others and these are shown by (*) after the name.
Now over the weekend I will add the card details from the reference books and also change any cards that still rankle with me. As I complete them I will add them to the front page, with a link back to here.
Have a great weekend, wherever you are planning to go and whatever you wish to do. I may even go to a boot sale on Sunday, weather permitting.
See you all next week!