Newsletter - 2026-09-26

Greetings to you all, as we bid farewell to September, for our next edition will be dated October the third. 

Now last week we discussed the first set to be listed in our original British Trade Index, issued in 1969. This week we have moved on a few years, but we are still continuing with our themes of firsts. You see, our magazine has had several incarnations, starting in January 1939 with a few pages in "Cigarette Card News" courtesy of the London Cigarette Card Company, then to a magazine of our own, "Bulletin", which first appeared on the 3rd of July, 1939. That was duplicated, and in larger format than the magazines you are almost certainly thinking of. Then, in March, 1940, the eighth edition of "Bulletin" suddenly became a smaller size, and it was a proper printed magazine. Three years later, to the month, the title of "Bulletin" was replaced, by "The Cartophilic World", and that lasted until January 1965. The reason for that change was purely that the Cameric Cigarette Card Club and the Cartophilic Society had merged, and the new magazine used half of the title of each of their publications, hence it became "Cartophilic Notes and News". 

By the way of you want to take a deep dive into the story of all our magazines we do have the beginnings of an archive, showing some of the covers. Maybe, one day, all of them will be there, plus details of the contents, though there are getting on for seven hundred copies, over almost a hundred years ...

349

Anyway, in all of this thirty odd years, our magazine had never shown a card on its cover.

That would remain the case right until the edition we show here, which was dated for May/June 1983, and which carries the numbering of Volume 11, No.119.

Now before I gallop on, there is something we need to note about the numbering system, as almost every time we changed the title of our magazine we made the decision to return again to Volume 1 No.1 - the exception being much later, in the twenty-first century, when we changed from "Cartophilic Notes and News" to our current "Card World", at which time we continued with the numbering, giving it the number of Volume 38, No.4.

Now on that first edition of "Card World" magazine, dated for July/August 2014, we also quoted a whole number, which was supposed to show the number of magazines we had issued unto that date. Unfortunately the whole number given thereupon was No.306, which was incorrect, and by quite a large margin, as I have sat and worked them all out, including the co-productions with the London Cigarette Company. In fact, that first edition of "Card World" ought to have quoted whole number 536.

To put that in perspective, the magazine we show here, dating from May/June 1983, was actually whole number 349, already some forty-odd more editions than the whole number quoted on "Card World"s inaugural issue. And still with thirty odd years of magazines to issue between the two.

Now though the card takes pride of place on the cover, it sadly only shows the front, with not a word of the issuer or set title. That is left in abeyance until the very first page proper, when, in a small box, appears the following : 

  • Cover :  
    - A superb card! W. Duke Sons & Co. (USA) Stars of the Stage (series 1) 1891. The caption printed at the base of the reverse says it all: - "Through the kindness of Messrs W. Duke Sons & Co. we are permitted to state that we believe this series to be one of the handsomest ever lithographed. The variety and harmony of colour, the beautiful flesh tints, the perfect printing - all stamp the work as unequalled."
    Knapp & Company
    Lithographers, N.Y. 
    Modern cards (originals and reproductions) will never be like these.!

 

Duke Stars of the Stage series 1

I am not sure why we chose to only show the card in black and white - but I am delighted that now I can have the pleasure of being able to show it in full colour, and also bring you its reverse. I can also reveal that the lady is actually wearing one, and probably two, long, dangling, gold earrings, which is not visible on the magazine cover.

As for the set itself, well it has siblings, which were all first catalogued by Jefferson Burdick, in his American Card Catalog, as follows : 

  • 129. Stars  of the Stage, 1st Series (25) bust poses.
                (a) Duke issue
                (b) Gail & Ax issue
          Many are found inscribed "Third Series" in error
     
  • 130 Stars  of the Stage, 2nd Series (25) full length poses.
                (a) Duke issue
                (b) Gail & Ax issue
      
  • 131. Stars  of the Stage, 3rd Series (25) black borders, busts
            Often confused with No.95 [Duke`s "Actresses"] which are full length views. 
     
  • 132. Stars  of the Stage, 4th Series (25) die cut to shape

As for values, he cites our set as twenty cents a card, and the second series as thirty-five cents a card, irrespective of issuer. The third series is in between the two at twenty-five cents a card, and the fourth series at thirty cents a card. 

This information was used for our original World Tobacco Issues Index, in which we record the sets as follows : 

  • STARS OF THE STAGE. Lg. Subjects unnamed. Unnd. ... D76-42

         1. First 25 subjects (25). Bust poses, white edge. See X2/129.A. Ref USA/129.a
              (a) Back with Duke`s name only
              (b) Back inscribed "Third Series" with Duke and A.T.C. names. 
      
         2. "Second Series" (25). Full length poses. A.T.C. back. See X2/130. Ref. USA.130.a.

         3. "Third Series" (25). Bust poses, black edge. A.T.C. back. See X2/131. Ref. USA.131.

         4. "4th Series" (25). Die cut to shape. "Honest Long Cut" brand issues. See X2/132. Ref. USA.132.

Now today I will only tell of the X-reference for our set, which is found in the accompanying handbook, and which reads : 

  • X2/129. STARS OF THE STAGE. Large size. Bust poses with white border. Unnumbered series of 25, illustrated at Fig. X2/129 

         A. Duke - 

              (a) Back with Duke`s name

              (b) Back inscribed "Third Series" with Duke and A.T.C. names. For series inscribed "Third Series" with black borders see X2/131.

         B. Gail & Ax.
     

Now I am not adding the picture because it is way too dark, in fact several of the cards are rendered into complete blackness. But some time in the future I will probably come across the original block in a magazine, from which this was copied. and then I can scan that and add it here. 

By the time of our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, published in the year 2000, the entry for the group reads as follows ; 

  • STARS OF THE STAGE. Lg. Subjects unnamed. Unnd. ... D900-400

         1. First 25 subjects (25). Bust poses, white edge. See RB.118-146. Ref USA/129

                (a) Back with Duke`s name only

                (b) Back inscribed "Third Series" with Duke and A.T.C. names. 

         2. "Second Series" (25). Full length poses. A.T.C. back. Ref. USA.130.

         3. "Third Series" (25). Bust poses, black edge. A.T.C. back, as 1(b) with printer`s credit. Ref. USA.131.

         4. "4th Series" (25). Die cut to shape. "Honest Long Cut" brand issue. Ref. USA.132.

You will also find this set in our reference book RB.151, published in 2014, which is devoted to North American Tobacco Issues.  The sets are catalogued therein, with additional, newly discovered information, as : 

  • N.129. STARS OF THE STAGE. Large size. Bust poses with white border, no captions. Series of 25

          Duke - (a) Back with Duke`s name

                     (b) Back inscribed "Third Series" with Duke and A.T.C. names. For series inscribed "Third Series" with black border see N.131. 

          Gail & Ax

          There is also a reprint by American Tobacco Company. See RB.118/46. 

          The design at No.15 was used as the centrepiece of a larger card by Woolson Spice Co. 

           The designs at Nos. 16 and 24 were used as a label by O. L. Schweneke, New York.
     
  • N.130. STARS OF THE STAGE SECOND SERIES. Issued by Duke. Series of 25, no captions. The ACC ascribes this also to Gail & Ax, now believed to be in error.
     
  • N.131. STARS OF THE STAGE THIRD SERIES. Issued by Duke. Series of 25 with dark borders, no captions. (N.B. for series inscribed "Third Series" with white borders, se N.129).

           Trade issues, probably in U.S.A.

           There is a group of seemingly inter-connected medical products that isued this series. The cards seen are in Spanish and advertise various products by Barry`s or Reuter. 
     
  • N.132. STARS OF THE STAGE "4th SERIES". Issued by Duke, "Honest" brand issue. Die cut series of 25, no captions,

To Newsletters Past :

So another twenty-one more diary cards have now been added to the card index, and we are moving rapidly through June 2022. 

Potin animaux de mer

The earliest edition done was dated for the 8th of July, 2022, and that was the one which I was still fettling with at close of play last week. It was a bit of a stinker, as it was originally written over the period when a laptop I used to use decided that enough was enough, with good reason, as it was twelve years old, almost unheard of in today`s modern, throwaway society. But as it failed for the final time it sucked what I had written into the ether of no return. And that left me with a tablet on which I could not redo the pictures. Now I said at the time that I would go back and add them in but somehow I never did so I gaily opened it up to index it to find no pictures. So thanks to everyone who came up with a whole week`s worth of entirely new ones, and yes, I did break the golden rule and slightly amend the wording. This newsletter actually contains one of the cards and themes I was most pleased with, both on its writing and on its re-reading, namely the udder-ly ridiculous saga of Clarabelle Cow. I was going to use her as the picture, but instead I went for Thursday`s card, which is showing here, that being Felix Potin`s "Animaux" cut-outs, or maybe fold-downs, because we are still missing a lot of the names. So if you can add any identities to the list please do.

Zeenut Art Series

The next newsletter was for the 2nd of July, 2022  and that was a much easier task to tackle because only one day, albeit both the subject and the card, had to be changed. What actually happened there was that the South African Rugby card, now in the Friday slot, was originally in the Thursday one, but on further investigation that date was wrong, so I moved it down and then that left a gap in which I slotted this one, of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, from the modern version of the Zee-Nut series. I`m not sure why I went for Senor Guevara, except that it appeased my rebellious soul, but the story of Zeenut is a fascinating one. And perhaps I am being doubly rebellious, as a lot of collectors abhor these modern Zeenut cards so much so that they throw them away if they get them. However there are very few cards of Senor Guevara, they only start in 1973 with Panini`s "OK VIP", which is technically a sticker. Then, if we discount cards produced for game pieces and as playing cards it takes until 2005 when he resurfaces on an actual card, which is Topps` "World Treasures Cut Signatures". But they are exceptionally rare. 

 

Player "Everyday Phrases"

As for the final, newest newsletter to be sorted out that was the edition for the 25th of June, 2022, and that was fairly straightforward as well.The only card that gave me trouble was this one, which I used on Thursday the 30th of June and which I found was already in the index. So I asked about for something to do with National Thank You Day and was supplied with a perfect Brooke Bond card, however when I deleted this card, added the Brooke Bond and added the description along the bottom I suddenly realised that the beginning of the text was all about Social Media Day, and that I was looking at the wrong date, I needed the Brooke Bond to replace the version already in the index, which was for the newsletter of the 24th of December, 2022. But once that was sorted out, and this card tracked down in the gallery so it could be restored, all was okay, because, quite amazingly, Friday`s card, of Wills` "Overseas Dominions (Canada)" was not already in the index. 

As for newsletters past which were published around this week, they are as follows : 

And if you have any updates, comments, or suggestions for any of these, do please let us know, by emailing webmaster@card-world.co.uk

Next Week`s Happenings : 

Almost forgot this. But next week why not take advantage of the following meetings and events : 

Sunday the 27th of September - 

  • LEA VALLEY - from 9 a.m. until 2.00 p.m. - with an auction at 1 p.m., atThe Village Hall, North Weald High Street, CM16 6DH. Admission £2 per person.

 Thursday the 1st of October - two meetings - 

 

  • KENT CARD CLUB - from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. at St. Nicholas Church Hall, Leamington Avenue, Orpington, BR6 9QB. Admission £1.00 per person

  • NORTH EAST - from 6.30 p.m. at Dunston U.T.S., Wellington Road, Dunston, Gateshead, NE11 9JL

 

Saturday the 3rd of October 

  • LINCOLNSHIRE - from 10.30 a.m. at Kirton Leisure, 31a Willington Road, Kirton, Boston PE21 1EP. 

 

Anyway thanks for popping by, and I hope you enjoyed this week`s interim edition. And I will see you all next week....