Newsletter - 2025-07-12

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SANDERS Bros. [trade : food : UK - London E.14] "Dogs" - untitled (1926) 5/20 - SBJ-2 : H.211 

 This  is another quick change because the card I had in here was for a debatable date and I tracked it down to find the right one was not today. So, with dogged determination, I have found a new set to take its place here. 

As to why we have this set, July the 12th is "Eat Your Jello Day", and Jello is the American word for what the British call jelly. And so here we have a card which advertises jelly crystals, something which is making a comeback, as it is not only easier to make in that way than the jelly squares, but it is also vegetarian and vegan which the gelatine used in the older format definitely was not. 

There are different kinds of foxhounds, in case you did not know, these being the English, the Welsh, the American, the French, and the Anglo-French. As their name suggests, they were bred to chase foxes, for long distances over often rough terrain. This breeding served to enhance their already keen sense of smell, give them more energy and speed and enlarge their chest capacity for better breathing. 

They have a very long history, and we know that George Washington has a fine pack, some of which he had personally bred. This is why the State Dog for Virginia, since 1966, has been the foxhound. And we also know that the English foxhound is recorded in the sixteenth century, when they were used to hunt deer. They were then superseded by the larger dogs, the deerhounds and staghounds. It was Henry VIII who started to hunt the fox with them instead.

You may find it strange then that it was not until 2012 that The International Foxhound Association began, possibly as a result of the Hunting Act 2004, which came into effect in February 18, 2005, and banned the hunting of foxes with dogs. The net result of this was a glut of unwanted foxhounds, and the closure of many kennels. So there were indeed concerns that the breed may disappear. And to this day, it is classed as a "Vulnerable Breed". 

So there I am, strapped for time, and delighted that this set is only listed in our original British trade Index as : 

• DOGS. (A). Sm. 70 x 40. Nd. (20) . See H.211 ... SBJ-2

The "H" code is the handbook - but when I nipped over to there I found the following very lengthy description - 

• H.211.  BREEDS OF DOGS or DOGS or TYPES OF DOGS (titled series except Stevens and trade issues). Front in colour. Numbered series of 20 (three different arrangements).
  
  Pre 1919 : 
  
  Hill - Titled "Breeds of Dogs" - 
    A. "Archer`s M.F.H." back
    B. "Hill`s Badminton" back
    C. "Hill`s Verbena Mixture" back
    D. "Spinet Tobacco" back
  
  Post 1920 : 
  
  * Miranda - Titled "Dogs". Numbering differs from Hill
  * Murray - Titled "Types of Dogs". Numbering as Hill.
  * Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society - Titled "Dogs". Numbering as Hill.
  * Stevens - Untitled series. Numbering differs from both Hill and Miranda. 
  
  Trade : 
  
  * Sanders Bros. (Jellies, etc). Untitled series. Numbering as HIll
  * Sword & Co. (Biscuits). Untitled series. Numbering as HIll
  
  Note : Anonymous plained backed cards have been seen, emanating from South Africa. 

Now I was convinced I must have used one of these before - so that I could copy and paste the list from there - but sadly not. However this many other issuers do mean that one of them merits being used as a Card of the Day in the very near future, so that we can make a home page. 

I am also not so sure this card will not be replaced, as "Archer`s M.F.H." brand is actually named using the abbreviation for "Master of Foxhounds", and it would be rather fitting to use the foxhound for them. But for now it will stay. 

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Au Bon Marche [trade : department store : O/S - France] "Advertisement Card - Circus" (1877?) 1/??

This diary date started out as the birth of Julius Caesar, though nobody seems quite sure if that was on the 12th or the 13th. In any event we have spoken of him before, and even shown him on a card, Player`s "Dandies", as part of our newsletter for the 12th of March 2022, scroll down to Tuesday the 15th of March. 

However a new search found that today, in 1871, saw the first ever cat show, at Crystal Palace. This proved to be incorrect too, as there is a record of a cat show at the St. Giles` Fair in Winchester, in 1598. Admittedly, it may not have followed the current breed standards though. There was also one in Dublin in 1859, and one in London, in 1861, which is said to have been at a private house, so maybe this is discounted through it not being an open show. Yet, during the same decade, we know that quite a few regional cat shows were held across America. 

Anyway, the cat show at the Crystal Palace was organised by a Mr. F. Wilson, who was the superintendent of the natural history department at that building. There are claims that the idea of the show came from Harrison Weir, who judged some of the classes and was also responsible for setting many of the standards by which cats are still judged today. He was also one of the judges at the show, which could well have been behind Mr. Wilson being given the task of organising it, leaving Mr. Weir to just be seen as the impartial judge. 

Reports of how many cats were entered varies, a lot, between sixty-five and a hundred and seventy. It seems to have been more of an exhibition, of cats belonging to famous and wealthy people, of rare species, or of ones which were unusual genetically, including a cat with twenty six claws. It is said that the first two Siamese cats in England were shown there, but this cannot be right as the first one of those ever to leave Siam is said to have been given, by a local diplomat, to President Rutherford`s wife - and not until 1879. However, as P.T. Barnum knew, what was on the label was always better than the truth. 

Despite this, the event was so popular that cat shows started to appear elsewhere in England. And there was another one at Crystal Palace, in December 1871. This second show encouraged entries from the general public, and they seem to have been sorted into categories and breeds, making this, in effect, perhaps the first true "Crystal Palace Cat Show". The number of entries vary here too, but it was a lot more, between three and four hundred. 

As to our card, whilst I am not too happy with a whip being used on a cat, the cat is enormous, his mouth being almost at neck level of the ringmastering child, just if things were not to become to his liking. 

The date of this card is a guesstimate. Aristide Boucicault, the founder of Au Bon Marche, had one child only, a son, who is the "fils" mentioned in the name on the card. He was born in 1839. However Aristide Boucicault died in 1877 and by that time his son was already dead, so the business was inherited by his wife, who took it over and revolutionised not just that shop but many of the ways that shops continue to operate today. There is another problem too, as the shop shown on this card was not completely finished and built until 1887. So was the "fils" a mark of remembrance? 

Anyway if anyone has any other similar cards showing small children and other animals, do let us know, as we can turn it from an advertising card into a set. And make a list! 

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WHITBREAD & Co Ltd. [trade : brewing : UK] "Inn Signs - A Special Series of Four" (1951) WHI-200 : WHI-1.6

This one started out as tomorrow`s subject but the date was reported incorrectly, so I moved that down to tomorrow and hunted for something for today. 

What I discovered is that it was #International Town Crier`s Day, on every second Monday of July. This led me to another discovery, that being that I actually had no card for Saturday, my week had started on Sunday the 13th of July, but that is all sorted now - and I have even discovered how to add a new day right at the very start. 

Now there are not that many cards of town criers, at least ones from sets I have not already used. But I did find a pub called "The Town Crier", in Hastings, and that, dare I say such a dreadful pun "rang a bell".

It turns out that this was the new name for "The G.I.", which was featured on a Whitbread "Inn Sign", specifically one from the first series, which I was waiting to use as a home page. Sadly, this is a newsletter card, but then I had a stroke of luck, as it is also one of the "Special Issue of Four", just slightly altered to back and front. So I can still use the first series card I laboured over, and you can see both versions of this sign. And I can use either this, or another one from the first series when I eventually use it as a Card of the Day.

Now originally "The G.I." was part of Queen`s Buildings, built in the 1850s. By 1866 it had become the very grandly named "London Stores and Oyster Luncheon Bar", which was raided by the police several times and had rather a rep for attracting not just unsavoury characters but known criminals. Eventually, nine years after its fanfare opening, it was closed down and its history hopefully hidden beneath the guise of "The Central Hotel". In the 1880s a society involved with the promotion of grand bonfires started having their annual dinners there - but we will speak of them later.

The Central Hotel seems to have fallen slowly behind the times, into shabbiness and disrepair, and been overtaken by more modern bars where people could mingle more freely. What saved it was the arrival of American troops, in 1942, who started to go there when they were on leave or furlough. They seem to have found ways of supplementing the beer ration, and I am not entirely sure that the men would have been happy with tea, as has been suggested. Plus, this were rationed too. But coffee was never rationed, strangely, so maybe they went for that. 

In December 1945, as the former punters started to go home to their families, the pub paid them the tribute of renaming itself to "The G.I." There was even a ceremony, during which Sergeant William Hastings unveiled the sign on this card. On our card it tells that there was another connection, too, for his wife was born in Hastings, perhaps they even met not that long before. And he was given a silver tankard, which I hope either remains within his family, or is on view at a museum, somewhere, so the tale, and the pub, is never forgotten. 

Anyway, earlier that year, with the V.E. Day celebrations, our friends at the bonfire society had started to meet again. Probably not the same people, but you know what I mean. They seemed to fade out in the 1960s, but came back with a fire burning bright inside them in the 1970s, and started to organise parades as well as bonfires. Along the route of these parades the Town Crier would halt, and summon the townsfolk, and read a grand declaration. 

In the mean time, in 1962, the pub had received another name change, to "The New Central". This was not very popular, and in 1979 it became "The Town Crier", having a portrait on the sign of an actual Town Crier, who was also the beach inspector, for Hastings Ray Goode. 

When the name changed in 1996, to "Pitchers", and it became a sports bar and diner,  I am not sure whether the sign was kept up for old times sake or put into storage, but in 2006, when the pub became "Moda", the sign was given to Mr. Goode. I do not know whether this is still in his family, or in a museum, and I also do not know if it appears on a Whitbread card, but if you do, please tell us. 

So, back to our card. This comes from what was called the "Special Issue of Four", something which, when sold online, sees all manner of permutations being grouped together.  Just look at the back though, because the four cards that ought to be together all have "A Special Issue of Four" on their backs. .

The most common substitution involves one of the cards being missing and "The Britannia Inn" being there instead. This is a special issue, but it was a one off, only available at the Britannia Inn, which was over at the Brussels Exhibition, in Belgium, in 1958.  The cards which did form the actual "Special Issue of Four" were :

1. William Caxton, Tenterden, Kent.  
2. The Ordinary Fellow, Chatham, Kent.
3. The G.I., Hastings, Sussex.
4. Queen`s Head, Maidstone, Kent.

The first three cards were all designed by Violet Rutter, whilst the fourth was designed by Harvey James.

Now, confusingly, two of these cards had already appeared  on a Whitbread issue, in the first series. These were our card "The G.I., Hastings, Sussex" (as card no.1) and "Queen`s Head, Maidstone, Kent" (as card no.23) . These are easy enough to tell apart in person for that first series was on metal not card.

There is also a colour change to the front, which is showing here, along with a scan of the different back design: 

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In our original British Trade Index part two, several Whitbread sets are catalogued together. You can read more about those on our home page for the early issues, which, until we feature a Series One card as a Card of the Day is housed with the second series Card of the Day, on the 1st of April, 2025.  These are the first three series on aluminium, and the third, fourth and fifth series on cardboard. Our set comes after the fifth series and is catalogued as  : 

• INN SIGNS. Md. 76 x 51 ... WHI-1
  
  6. Special issue of Four. Nd. (4). On board

That is followed by "The Britannia Inn" from the Brussels Exhibition of 1958, as item seven. 

In our updated British Trade Index, our set is catalogued in a slightly different way, and also has seen a discovery, for the entry now reads : 

• WHITBREAD`S INN SIGNS. 1951. Special issue of Four. Nd. (4). No.2 found with red overprint on back "1937 - 1958" Coming of Age re-issue"  ... WHI-200

Card No.2 is "The Ordinary Fellow, Chatham, Kent", so the question is was this the only card with the red overprint, or the only one which has yet been reported? So if you have the same overprint on cards 1, 3, or 4, please let us know. 

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Space Ventures Inc. [trade/commercial : O/S : USA - Texas] "Space Shots" - series two (1991) card 135 

Now I may have had to move this event down a day, but I remain stunned that today marks fifty years since the Apollo Soyuz test project. And it was a major event, giving rise to the Mir programme, and to the International Space Station. 

What happened was that on July the 15th, 1975, an Apollo spacecraft, and three astronauts, launched from America and, two days later, on July 17, it linked up with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and its two man crew.

Nobody knew that the mission would work, especially not the mechanism which was to link the two ships together and then release them back into separation. This was because there was a lot at stake, and there was more than a little distrust on both sides. Both countries had spent many years and much money, and lost good men, to try and become the first country to blast off into space. And they had been deadly rivals throughout the so called Cold War.

However, it did work, and the cosmonauts from Russia and the astronauts from America were able to come together and carry out a range of scientific experiments as a team. They even swapped souvenirs, and the Americans handed over samples of lunar soil and rock, for it had only been the Americans to send a man down to that bleak surface, the Russians had never managed.

However, the commander of the Soyuz capsule, shown on this card, was due to have done just that. His name was Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov, and he was the first ever space-walker, leaving the Vokshod 2 capsule on the 18th of March 1965, for just over twelve minutes, And he was intended to be the owner of the first two Russian feet to stand on the surface of the moon, but the project was cancelled, after several failures of the boosters, and explosions on the launchpad.

He also appears on another card in this group, number 228, of the third series - but, as far as I know, no others. His partner here, Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton, appears on eighteen cards, according to the Trading Card Database, but this is mainly thanks to the fact that he was an American Air Force pilot, who went on to become one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts, and from there rose still further, to be NASA's first Chief of the Astronaut Office and Director of Flight Crew Operations.

As far as the Apollo Soyuz link up, millions of people, around the world, watched the event, almost live on television - there was actually a delay in case something went drastically wrong, and other programmes were waiting, ready to replace the "live" broadcast at a moment`s notice. 

Despite the success of this mission, it was the last time men would go to space for six years, and, when they did, they used the space shuttle.This set, one of several, is often said to have been produced by NASA but it was actually produced by a company called Space Ventures Inc. of Texas.

There seems to be some confusion as to whether the idea of the cards was sparked by the son of astronaut Edward Higgins White II - who had died on January the 27th, 1967, at Cape Canaveral, in a pre-launch fire that suddenly consumed the Apollo 1 spacecraft - or whether he was just signed up by the company to promote it. Several other astronauts were also involved with the project, and some of them donated funds to make it happen. 

The first three sets, each of 110 cards, were issued between 1990 and 1992. There were also uncut promo sheets each of six cards, and signed. There was a bit of a disappointment with these, as the first promo sheet turned out to not be personally signed, but to have pre-printed signatures. I am not sure whether this was also the case for the second set, but the third did have actual signatures, including of Buzz Aldrin, and it commands a very high price today. 

The cards were printed, and were incredibly popular, selling out long before the end of their intended run. You could get them by mail order, or at stores, but only as complete sets. There was also an added draw, a contest, offering a scholarship to the first hundred entrants to correctly answer a range of questions based on the facts on the cards. 

The fourth set, a 3-D special effects series, came along in 1993. This was called "Moon-Mars" and it was not so popular, as it was almost twice the cost of the earlier sets.

Perhaps this was why the promised fifth set never came along.

And by that time there were also grumblings, about finances, and moneys that was promised and never delivered. Even the scholarships never came about.

Which is a great shame, as, from a collectors point of view, they are very well made, and well researched cards.

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KENTUCKY Tobaccos (Pty.) Ltd. [tobacco : O/S - Johannesburg, South Africa] "The March of Mankind" / "Die Mens Deur die Eeue" (1940) No.78 - K266-500.ii : K17-1.ii 

Joshua Reynolds was born today, in 1723, in Plympton, Devon. His father was a reverend, but also the master of the local free grammar school, and he had also been a fellow of Balliol College in Oxford. Strangely, he never seems to have even considered sending his children there, but perhaps his time there was not so fondly remembered. 

When he was born, there were already children in the family. One of these was his sister Mary, who had been born in 1716, and they were very close, she much enjoyed art, and eventually the two would draw and paint together. In fact, it was her who paid a goodly sum towards his apprenticeship with Thomas Hudson, another ex-Devonian, who was a portrait painter of some esteem. She also later advanced him money to tour Italy, and see the grand masters in situ. 

His apprenticeship was to last for four years, but it was cut short, we do not know why. We next hear of Joshua Reynolds as being back in Devon, plying his trade as a portrait painter down at the docks in Plymouth. I have been unable to find out whether this was painting the sailors as they left the ship, or whether he was renting premises. He was there about a year, and then his father died. Again there is confusion about what happened next; it is often said he went to live with his sisters, but it seems more likely that they went to live with him, at Plymouth Dock, which also points to his having premises, either with rooms above, or that a studio which he sold in order to afford such a thing. 

His fame was such that he was considered the best portrait painter in the whole of the British Isles, who pretty much invented a whole genre, a mix of the old masters and of historical subtexts.

No wonder, then, that he was elected the first President of the Royal Academy in 1768, though critics say that he was rather a show off, using his fame to meet ever more famous people, and not averse to more than a bit of name dropping, some of which he only met after the fact. However, his Presidency was based more on truth, for he was one of the first members of the Royal Society of Arts, and a founder of the Society of Artists of Great Britain.

Then, in 1769, he received a knighthood by George III - only the second artist to be so honoured. (The first was the now almost forgotten Sir James Thornhill, who had been knighted in 1720). This almost certainly led to him receiving an offer, in 1784, to become the King`s official painter, or, as it was known then, the Principal Painter in Ordinary, replacing the newly deceased Allan Ramsay. The position was actually to be awarded to Thomas Gainsborough, but Joshua Reynolds seems to have had a bit of a hissy fit, and threatened to resign from the Royal Academy if he was not given the job. And so he was elected. However, as often happens, his underhandedness was rewarded, and he neither enjoyed the job, nor his employer and the money was much less than he had imagined. The only thing he did get out of it was being able to say that he worked for the King, which it seems he was fond of dropping in to most conversations.

As for his personal life, little is known. He never married and seems to have had no friendships, save his sister, and Frances "Fanny" Burney, who was a renowned writer, and playwright, whose first novel was published in 1778 when she was twenty-six. Today, few know her, but at the time, and posthumously, she was quite famous, especially after Jane Austen said she enjoyed reading them. She also ended up working for royalty, and was Second Keeper of the Robes to Queen Charlotte, which is how her paths crossed with Joshua Reynolds`.

She stayed with him until his death, despite his ill health, failing eyesight, and, it seems, more than a touch of irascibility. Then, in 1793, a year after Reynolds` death, she suddenly married a Frenchman, who had been exiled to London, and they had a son.  

As for cards of Joshua Reynolds, this is seldom quoted amongst them. Usually you get just the 1923 Sarony "Celebrities and their Autographs", card 68, in small and in large formats, and/or the 1935 Carreras "Celebrities of British History". card 28. In fact when I was sent this scan, I believed this card to be a brand of United Tobacco, so little did I know but it is not, it is a stand alone maker, about whom hardly anything is known.

Its entry in the World Tobacco Issues index reads, in its entirety, as follows - 

KENTUCKY Tobaccos (Pty.) Ltd., Johannesburg South Africa. 
Cards issued about 1940. Special album issued. 

• THE MARCH OF MANKIND. Lg. Back in Afrikaans and English. Nd. (120) ... K17-1
  
  ( i) Half of set. Size 78 x 61, coloured, "Electric" at base of back. 
  (ii) Balance of set. Size 78 x 60, sepia, back without "Electric"

The word "ELECTRIC", just to save you wondering, appears below the bottom frameline on the reverse. 

And this wording is repeated exactly in our updated volume of the World Tobacco Issues Index, just adding a new card code of K266-500

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Gebr. STOLLWERKE [trade : chocolate : O/S - Germany] "Komponisten" (1902) Gruppe 227, No.1

17-07-1717 has a nice ring to it. And it was today that sweet music, actually Handel`s "Water Music", accompanied George I as he sailed down the Thames.

The tune, originally called "Wassermusik", was especially written for the occasion by George Frideric Handel, and, it is said, as he did not really know how long the trip would be, he arranged the work into three distinct parts. However there is proof that some of these parts were played in another order at least two years earlier, as a continuous work. 

However, in the new form, it was indeed played for the first time as the boat sailed gently along. 

The proceedings began at 8 p.m., when King George, and several other prominent personages, boarded the Royal Barge at Whitehall, near the Palace. The time was chosen because the tide had turned, and any boat would be taken gently along the three miles to Chelsea without needing to be rowed, adding to the air of mystery about the King, for few of his subjects would have known much about the tides unless they were sailors.  The music was played both on the riverside and on a barge of musicians which accompanied the King at a small distance. 

It was incredibly popular, and the river was thronged with bystanders.

When he got to Chelsea, he left the Royal Barge, and then came back to it later, and made a similar trip downstream.  king left his barge, then returned to it at about 11 p.m. for the return trip. The musicians played continuously, apart from the time the King was not in attendance. 

As far as Handel on cards, we know of few. They appear to start with Ogden`s "Guinea Gold - General Interest", in which he is card 60, but this was not issued until 1901, and there are certainly earlier European Chromos.

Our card arrived in 1902, and I cannot believe it took ten years before he appeared on another cigarette card, which was Wills` "Musical Celebrities", card number 2. But in fact it did not, as he is also in Godfrey Phillips` "Busts of Famous People" (1907 - card 14).

After that he seems to have only appeared on four more, Godfrey Phillips "Famous Boys" (1924 - card 16). Carreras "Old Staffordshire Figures" (1926 - card 10), Garbaty "Deutsche Heimat" (1928 - serie 15, card 1), and Godfrey Phillips "Famous Minors" (1936  - card 28).

"Komponisten", or Composers, was a popular subject for Stollwerck, and we know of several different sets including Gruppe 33 and 349.

The rest of the cards in our set, which, as usual, all advertise different products, hence the suffix, are : 

• I - Handel - Tafel Chocoladen
• II - Gluck
• III - Schubert 
• IV - Meyerbeer - Extra Zart
• V - Mendelssohn - Chocolade Desserte  Chocolade Figuren
• VI - Schumann

And if anyone can supply the names of the products on the back of cards two, three, and six we would be most grateful

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C.H.L. GARTMANN [trade : chocolate : O/S - Altona, Germany] "Beruhmte Brucken" (19??) Gruppe 25, bild 1

This was a bit of a last minute scramble, as I was hunting for Thackeray, on his birth day, just to show the set of John Player "Characters from Thackeray", which was also born in July. But we have featured him before, and I could not find anyone who had the set. 

So we shifted our attention to Florence, in Italy, where, on this day in 1334, the Bishop blessed the foundation stone of the Cathedral. This was already forty years after the idea of replacing the earlier Cathedral, for though work had started fairly quickly in 1296, under Arnolfo di Cambio, he died during the construction. This unwanted and unexpected hiatus gave them a chance to reflect, during which a decision was taken to make it larger and more impressive.

This led to a very interesting discovery, namely relics of the first Bishop of Florence, and also its first Patron Saint, St. Zenobius. However, in 1334, with the foundation stone, in place, and newly blessed by the current Bishop, work again ground to a halt, mainly so that the area could be enlarged and strengthened in order to accommodate a new modification, the bell tower.  There was also a gap whilst a new Master of Works was engaged. So work did not begin again until 1355, though, very curiously, there was no actual model of the building constructed until 1368. And it was not until 1418 that Brunelleschi won a contest to design and construct the dome, which was not actually completed until 1436 - or 1461, if you add in the building of the lantern on the top.

Now I am not entirely sure that you can see the Cathedral on this card, but maybe I will turn up a card from the Thackeray set whilst I am searching for my binoculars.

However, the only other card I know of this Cathedral is "one that got away", the unissued set of Wills` "Gems of Italian Architecture", which was only ever issued in a monochrome form, rather than the intended colours, and without the original descriptive back. You can see that card courtesy of the New York Public Library 

The other bridges in this Gartmann set are : 

1.  Ponte Vecchio, Florenz
2.  
3.  Neuyorke und Brooklyn Brucke
4.  Rialtobrucke, Venedig
5.  Brucke vor Pekin
6.  

By the way, do be aware that this set was also issued later, with another number, "Serie 301". I think they are the same bridges on each of the sets, but if anyone can confirm this, please do. And also if you can supply the names of the bridges that we have so far failed to find.