Newsletter - 2026-06-27

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KENT Police [trade : giveaways : UK - Kent] "Olympic Athletes" (1988) 26/30

Today we think of a trip to the cash machine as part of everyday life, or maybe not so much, since covid, which made cash fall out of favour. But until the late 1960s you still had to queue up and go to the counter at the bank to get money out of your account. At least until today, in 1967, when the world`s first Automated Teller Machine (or A.T.M.) was unveiled at Barclays Bank, in Enfield today in 1967.

In charge of the unveiling was local celebrity, comedian Reg Varney. I`m really not sure why a comedian was chosen for such an event, save that he was very popular at the time, but comedy and banking, at that time, especially, seems an odd combination.

As for why the Enfield branch was selected, apparently it was because the area had a good cross section of customers, the pavements were not too cluttered, the bank itself had high windows to make fitting the machine easy, and, probably the major reason, that one of those windows was to an empty room large enough to take the bit of the dispensing machine that is not seen by the customer. 

As to how it worked, you had to buy a special slip from the counter in advance and insert it into the machine. The slip was a bit like a cheque, with the added bonus of a little radiation, because it was impregnated with Carbon-14. Then the machine would issue you with a ten pound note. It must have been quite magical, but of course the reality was that when the staff came in the next morning they opened the other side of the machine, took out the slips, got their bit of radiation, and then went through every slip debiting ten pounds from the relevant accounts by hand.

Sadly the machine has long gone, swept away by ever increasing technology and the need for anti-fraud measures. We know that it was not too long before the slips had to be dotted with a secret code to represent the customer`s own four digit personal identification number and that customer had to input the same number into the machine before they would receive the ten pound note, and that definitely points to someone finding out a way to get money for nothing. 

In 2017, on the fiftieth anniversary of the unveiling, a plaque was placed on the wall and one of the modern machines was painted gold, which still remains. However, and sadly, the cash machine is no longer important, or relevant, to today`s lives, made redundant, just like cheques, by the arrival of the banking app which allows you to pay anyone simply by tapping on your mobile phone.   

I could not find a card of an A.T.M., but maybe you know of one? Until then we have this, which I at first thought was a set issued by Barclays in conjunction with the Kent Police, but it turns out that there were many companies involved, as you can see from the following list : 

1. Said Aouita - Girobank Visa
2. Jackie Joyner-Kersee - Coca Cola
3. Sergey Bubka - Orion Insurance
4. Petra Felke - Girobank Visa
5. Ben Johnson - British Telecom
6. Liz McColgan - Tesco
7. Carl Lewis - Kent Reliance Building Society
8. Natalya Lisovskaya - Brake Bros (Frozen Foods) Ltd
9. Butch Reynolds - Stoneborough Centre, Maidstone Shopping Centre
10. Rosa Mota - Girobank Visa
11. Thomas Schonlebe - Geerings of Ashford Limited
12. Silke Moller  - Coca Cola
13. John Regis - Dairy Crest Foods
14. Heike Drechsler - Coca Cola
15. Abdi Bile - Giro bank Visa
16. Stefla Kostadinova - Stoneborough Centre, Maidstone Shopping Centre
17. Ed Moses - Coca Cola
18. Ingrid Kristiansen - British Telecom
19. Greg Foster -  Girobank Visa
20. Fatima Whitbread - HFC Bank
21. Patrick Sjoberg - Coca Cola
22. Peter Elliott - HFC Bank
23. Jack Buckner - Pearl Assurance
24. Roger Black - Dairy Crest Foods
25. Linford Christie - Milk for Sport for All
26. Sebastian Coe - Barclays Bank
27. Steve Cram - Nat West Bank
28. Daley Thompson - Lucozade
29. John Ridgeon - Dairy Crest Foods
30. Kent County Constabulary badge. 

Now it is said that the cards were given out by policemen on patrol and that you had to approach them and ask for a card, but I wonder if some of the cards were not also given away by, or at, the businesses on them?

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Tapioca de L`ETOILE [trade : tapioca : O/S - France] "L`Exposition Universelle 1889" (1900) Un/? 

Moving on I wonder how many of you knew that it is #TapiocaDay today? Or even what tapioca really is?

We have touched on it a few times already in our newsletters, but it is basically a starch which comes from the tubers of the Cassava plant. Now at one time that only grew in Brazil, but it is now successfully grown in Africa and Asia, where it has adapted very well to their hot climate and sometimes nutrient poor soils. 

As for Tapioca, it is a kind of carbohydrate which is low in proteins, vitamins and minerals, but it is still one of the chief foods for lots of tropical regions.In other places it is used primarily as a thickener because its lack of nutriments and taste, which means it does not affect the flavour of what you are trying to thicken. 

Our card looks like it was issued at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1899, but the line almost at the top seems to refer to last year`s medal, because on the reverse it mentions a follow up gold medal in 1900.  It is part of a series showing the wonders of the Exposition, and so far we know of : 

• Entree Principale
• Esplanade des Invalides (Cote Gauche)
• Grand Salle des ???
• Le Grand Palais
• Le Mareorama
• La Pagode de Vischnou
• Le Palais Fabert (Esplanade des Invalides)
• Le Palais Ponsin
• La Plats Forme Mobile dans sur Mer
• Les Tours de Berne
• Nouvelle Gare des Invalides
• Nouvelle Gare d`Orleans
• Palais de Droite, Esplanade des Invalides
• Palais de la Ceramique
• Palais de l`Education et de L`Enseignement
• Palais des Bonshommes Guillaume
• Palais des Fils et Tissus
• Palais du Genie Civil
• Palais des Industries diverses
• Palais des Mines et de la Metallurgie
• Palais Espagnole
• Palais Japonais
• Panorama du Tour de Monde
• Pavillon de l`Horticulture
• Pavillon des Puissances Etrangeres
• Pavillon de Commissaire General
• Pont Alexandre III

Now the curious thing is that when I started going back through the newsletters I found this card, with a very similar back, in the copy dated for the 6th of January, 2024, as the first card up on Saturday, 6th January. It was issued by Monsieur A. Chapu of Paris, France, with "Perles du Japon", which is tapioca, but made into small spherical balls, like pearls. And it shares the exact same star, flanked by "Marque" and "Deposee" - which means Registered Trademark. So that must mean our card was issued by Monsieur Chapu either before he used his own name, or as a subsidiary company. More importantly, though, we also know that some cards issued to promote "perles du Japon" mention the company winning a gold medal at L`Exposition Universelle in 1889, and that links directly to our card, proving the connection. 

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SCANLEN`S [trade : bubble gum : O/S -Australia] "Cricket" (1965) 30/40

Now this card may actually tell us that our man was born today, June 29th, 1939, but it somehow manages to get two "L""s in his forename on both the front and back. 

His name was actually Alan Norman Connolly, with one "L" in his forename, and he was born in Skipton, Victoria, a small town south west of Ballarat. 

He was almost certainly included in this set because he had been on the Australian team that toured England in 1964, though it did not go well for him, he was injured several times and did not play at his best. That fact is also mentioned on our card, which describes him as a "Victorian fast-medium bowler upset by injuries during the 1964 tour of England."

He actually took part in twenty-nine tests between 1963 and 1971.

He also played for Victoria, from 1959, taking 330 wickets out of eighty-three matches, which at that time was a state record  

In 1969 he joined Middlesex, but in 1971 he was was dropped from the squad and decided to return to Australia, retiring officially at the end of the season, citing back trouble.

Our set was sold in wax packets with the name of "Scanlen`s Cricket Bubble Gum" and that makes them true trade. The packet also mentions "with new quiz", and that relates to the fact that every card has a question at the bottom of the reverse, with the answer upside down below it on the same card. Our question is :  "Which State cricket captain is known to fellow players as "The Phantom" - and the answer is "Victorian Captain Bill Lawry". As to why, it is because when he was sixteen he was on a train with the rest of his teammates and he spent most of the journey reading that comic rather than socialising with his older team mates.

Going back to our man, he appears on very few cards, and this is the only one, as far we have been able to discover, that was issued during his playing career, his next appearance coming in 1992, as part of County Print`s "1960s Test Cricketers"

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CORNERSTONE "Doctor Who" - series 1 (1994) 110/110

Today, in 1937, a new emergency telephone line was unveiled in London, after a tragic fire in Wimpole Street, in November 1935, which resulted in the deaths of five women. The recommendations after that case was that there had to be a telephone number which would immediately alert the authorities that there was an emergency, so they would respond quickly. And it was also agreed that it must be accessible to all, even to people who saw an incident but were not carrying any money to use a standard telephone box. 

Initially the "999" scheme only covered twelve miles in all directions from Oxford Circus, but spread across London shortly after. As it had proved successful it was introduced in Glasgow a year later. Then the Second World War came along, and so it did not reach Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester or Newcastle until after hostilities had ceased. And all other places had to wait, right until 1976. 

Before and in between that we had the police call box, first seen in the early 1920s. These had a phone on the outside with an emergency line that got you through to the police, but the inside was only reachable by a policeman with a key. Inside you imagine all sorts of wonders, but there was simply a small desk, a stool, and another phone, which was primarily for use if there was a problem in that area, when the orange light on top would flash and a bell would ring. However they were also used for a brief sit down if the policeman got a bit weary of an afternoon, and wants somewhere secret to read the papers. What younger readers may not realise is that in those days there were no mobile phones, so this was the only way of contacting a bobby on the beat. And they also performed another function or two that you may not realise, because they were almost impossible to get in or out of without a key, so they could be pressed into service both as refuges for the policeman in case of riot or attack, or as jails for captured wrongdoers.beat.

However with the rise of portable radios and home telephones they were no longer needed, and by the 1970s they had almost all disappeared. But in the 1960s, when "Doctor Who" arrived on television, they were part of the scenery, so the back story made perfect sense. And that back story was that wherever and whenever the TARDIS landed, it would assume the shape of a commonly seen item as a disguise. However in the very first adventure, in 1963, the circuit that enabled it to change shape and blend in worked to turn it to a police call box, but not to turn it back again. And it was stuck in that shape ever after. Though the back of this card also says that the sixth doctor [who was Colin Baker] got the circuit working again but only briefly, and hints that by then he rather liked the police box shape, so never attempted to change it back again. 

This set starts with three checklists, then goes on to tell of some of the best loved adventures over the next fifty five cards, starting with Marco Polo and ending with "Survival", part of season twenty-six. Cards 59 to 73 show all the Doctors, from the first, William Hartnell, to the Seventh, Sylvester McCoy. Then cards 74 to 84 are some of the companions, starting with Ian Chesterton, but strangely not Barbara Wright, and ending with Ace. Cards 85 to 99 are villains, including Daleks and Cybermen. And cards 100 to 110 tell of the legends created by the show, ending up with the TARDIS. as seen here today. 

There were also special cards, seven "Prism" cards showing the first seven doctors, and autograph cards signed by Anthony Ainley (the Master), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Colin Baker (the Sixth Doctor), Peter Davison (the Fifth Doctor) John Leeson (who was the voice of K9),    John Levene (Sergeant Benton), and William Russell (Ian Chesterton - who is the scarcest autograph to get). Strangely John Leeson signed his cards in either blue or black, either at two separate signings or perhaps the pen ran out half way through, but this has led to lots of collectors and fans wanting both.

There is also a separate autograph of John Levene, which was a limited edition on 150 cards but is signed in gold ink, and this was only inserted with a special issue called the John Levene Signature Set.

Then there was another one off card, a "Dalek Prism" card, which was only available if you bought a "factory set", something which started out with baseball cards and means that rather than a selection of random packets sold as a "retail" or "hobby" box, a complete set is packaged up and sold in one box.

Lastly, promo cards for the set were given away with "Doctor Who Monthly" magazine These say "PROMOTIONAL" where our card says "THE LEGEND" and are cards A1, A2 and A3. Three were available, showing the Doctor Who Logo (A1), five doctors in a vintage car (A2 - the five being Tom Baker, Peter Davison, William Hartnell, John Pertwee, and Patrick Troughton) and K9 with Sarah Jane Smith, Tom Baker`s travelling companion (A3)

And now tell me why I picked Doctor Who to write of when I am already out of time....? 

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Today, for some reason, probably to rub it in that I am very late, it is #EarlyBirdDay. Now this refers to the old adage, "The early bird gets the worm", or in some versions "The early bird Catches the worm", and it means if a bird gets up and out early it stands more chance of catching worms for its family before other birds come along and get them all. It is usually used as an encouragement for humans, telling them that if there is something they want to do or buy it is best to do so as soon as you can, like if you see a concert coming up and you know lots of people will be clamouring for tickets, you need to get them early.

And apologies for this being the first thought I had.

Another connected thought is that we should all make an effort to be awake and watch the sunrise, or go to market, and get the bargains before any other collector. And if you live in London, why not try to take in Bermondsey Antiques Market, in its seventy-fifty year of operation - which opens every Friday at 6 a.m....

The first birds to wake up vary in different parts of Britain, but the most likely in all are the robin and the blackbird, both of whom are partial to a spot of early morning worming. And we know that they start to sing before the rest of the birds either, sometimes two hours before sunrise.

However we have spoken of both these birds, and several times, before.

Then I got sent this scan, which is a tree creeper. Now research proves that this is a bird that does not particularly like earthworms, but, luckily for me, it is extraordinarily partial to mealworms. There is also another connection with "the early bird" here because you needed to collect twenty-five cards in order to exchange them for a full set, which carries with it, rightly or wrongly, a bit of panic, as the collector does not know how popular the offer will be, he may have only twenty cards before all the free sets are gone. And I do like these "Collectors Shop" cards, though one day I must feature, as a Card of the Day, the card which comes first of all in our listing in both our original British Trade Index part two and our updated British Trade Index to cards issued before 1970 - that being the black backed Bonus Card A, undated, from "Bandsmen of the British Army". Then that will be a home page for all the gen on all the bonus cards. 

(tbc after dinner)

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WIZARDS of the Coast [trade/commercial : cards : O/S - USA] "The Simpsons (2003) 20/156

Today, hands up, in every way, for #NationalDiscoDay.

And if you didn`t already know, "Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart)" was a 1981 song, by the French pop music duo, Ottawan - and their second-biggest international hit single, their first being the 1979 release "D.I.S.C.O."

Now I have been unable to find a card of Ottawan, but if you have one I will gladly remove the above, which shows "Disco Stu", a character from "The Simpsons", who is the son of Doo-Wop Steve and Public Domain Debbie (who I always felt a rather unlikely pairing).

He was not always "Disco Stu", at one time he was "Nautical Stu", a sailor and budding sea captain, but when Marge Simpson is called in to photograph him so he can actually apply for his Captain`s license she puts on some disco as background music and he was hooked, so much so that he once carved a devotion into a tree that read "Disco Stu [loves] Disco"

This set also has four checklists, but each devoted to a single character, Bart Simpson (number 1001), Mr. Burns (1002), Homer Simpson (1003) and Lisa Simpson (1004). On each of these the check list gives only the cards that this person, or things associated with them, appear on. 

This leads me to a request. Does anyone know if there are any cards showing the Simpsons which feature "The Springfield Files" -  episode ten of season eight, being a cross over with the "X-Files"? Because I don`t know of any....

This might seem like a strange card but bear with me.

Let`s start with the simple bit, because today is a day you have probably never heard of, and that`s #InternationalDropARockDay: Briefly that starts with you finding a reasonably sized rock in your garden, or on your travels, legally, of course, then getting out your paints. The idea is to think of an uplifting word or two, and paint it on the rock. Then, once painted, you take them out and leave them where they are easily found by someone in need of a bit of a smile. Now every year there is a theme word and this year it is "LOVE" - so the idea is that the word is surrounded by things that make you feel love, flowers, hearts, etc. 

The idea started in 2015, by a group of people called the World Rocks Project with the hope of bringing a little joy into people`s lives. And it has spread a long way around the world, but it needs everyone`s help to make it a total success. So why not join in? 

Now for the card above.

On the 19th of July 1873, William Christie Gosse, a surveyor, saw this rock, away in the distance and named it Ayers Rock in honour of Sir Henry Ayers, the Chief Secretary of South Australia at that time. Then, in 1993, a policy came into force that allowed for two official names to be applied, and so in December 1993 the rock became "Ayers Rock / Uluru" - not just that, but it was the first official dual-named feature in the entire Northern Territory. Then, on the 6th of November 2002, the order of these names were dramatically reversed, giving priority to the native name of Uluru.

More than anything else, this decision prioritised the fact that this was a sacred site to the Native Australians, and the rock was painted by generations of inhabitants, one picture over the other, for perhaps thirty thousand years. We don`t know who painted them, and we never will, but we know they existed, because they left these drawings, messages from the past about things that were important to them at the time. 

More importantly than that, they could not just go to a shop and buy paints, so they found a way to make their own. They created it from minerals and ash from their fires, then they crushed them on flat stones and mixed them with water and animal fats. Incredibly, some of those minerals, and also the trees that they must have burned to make the ash, were not even native to that area, so we know that painting was so important to their lives to go out and trade for wood and minerals with other peoples from neighbouring, and sometimes far distant lands. 

I`m not saying your rock will last for even a year, but just like those original painters, it sends a message to show what is important to you, in the hope that someone else may find it inspiring, and maybe keep it for a while. It might even become passed down to one of their family. You will never know that, much as the painters at Uluru never imagined that today we would still be standing and wondering at their work.