Newsletter - 2026-10-24

Welcome to everyone out there who is trying to batten down the hatches under Storm Austen and Storm Boelo.

Storm Austen is the first major storm of this year, and has already caused havoc, with road and school closures, transport chaos, and damage to Brighton`s West Pier, which had already been mauled by storms and fires several times since it closed in the mid 1970s. In its heyday, it featured on many cigarette cards, including card 60 of Pattreiouex`s "Animals & Scenes", issued in 1925, where it is actually named as "West Pier".

Anyway today we are going to investigate a set which at one time held the honour of being the first to be listed in the original World Tobacco Issues Index. This was listed as :

                                    A.C.T. (Monogram) Trade Mark

Chinese issue, about the 1930s. Backs with word "Trade Mark" and A.C.T. monogram in English, see X25/11.1, other wording in Chinese only. 

  • CHINESE ANCIENT PERSONALITIES (A). Sm. 64 x 45. Framelines, Chinese caption and Chinese number in black, white borders. Back in red. (? 6).  ... A1-1

There are several things to discuss there.

The first is the (A) behind the title, which simply means that the set has no title, and so one was given it by whomsoever catalogued it so that it could be listed, and that collectors would be able to find it. And it actually stands not for anonymous, which many people believe to be the truth, but for adopted. 

The second question is the (? 6) at the end of the description. Now this means one of two things, either that at that time of writing the description the rough description of six different cards had been sent in by one or more collectors, or that the set was known to be issued by another manufacturer and their set consisted of six cards, so it was to be presumed that this version did as well.

The third thing is the "X" code, namely X25/11.1, which sends us off to the handbook to the original World Tobacco Issues Index, in which more information is recorded, including, sometimes other issuers. But in this case, there is a bit of a surprise, because what you find is just this : 

X25/11 CHINESE TRADE MARK MONOGRAMS. The illustration at Fig X25-11 covers enlargements of six monograms, which appear on Chinese series which are anonymous to non-Chinese, together with the word " Trade Mark" in English. The monograms are the only indication by which a non-Chinese reader can recognise the issuing firm. Cross references are given to the World Index. 

Fig. X25-11

                                                Fig. X25/11

  • X25-11-1. See monogram No.1 in Fig  X25/11.. Initials "A.C.T." - see Set A1-1 in the World Index
     
  • X25-11-2. See monogram No.2 in Fig  X25/11.. Initials "S.M" - see Sun Man Tobacco Co., Set S144-1.b in the World Index
     
  • X25-11-3. See monogram No.3 in Fig  X25/11.. Initials "F.S." - see Fooh Sing Tobacco Co., Set F42-1 in the World Index
     
  • X25-11-4. See monogram No.4 in Fig  X25/11.. Initials "C.H." - see Chung Ho, Set C80.21 in the World Index
     
  • X25-11-5. See monogram No.5 in Fig  X25/11.. Initials ""H.S." - see Hwa Sung Tobacco Co., Sets H94-10 and H94-11 in the World Index
     
  • X25-11-6. See monogram No.6 in Fig  X25/11.. Initials "H.T." - see Hwa Tong Tobacco Co., Set H96-31 in the World Index

Now before I speed ahead, you may have noticed this is a very sharp reproduction of the picture of the trade marks concerned, and this is because it comes from the original block, published to a larger scale than in the World Index, in the Christmas number of "The Cartophilic World", Volume 11, No.126, dated for November-December 1956.

In that magazine it is on page 1709, part of the "Research Items" section, and it has a text above it to say : "Chinese Trade Mark Monograms - Some of the local Chinese issues can be recognised from the little monogram trade marks which usually occur on the top centre of backs, enlargements of six of which are illustrated at (621). The Handbook to World Index will show where cards inscribed with these monograms can be found in the World Index itself - For instance, No.2 in the illustration is a monogram of the initials "S.M." which stands for "Sun Man Tobacco Co"

China Merchants

I actually worked all through those monograms, hoping to find another company that issued our set but I could not. 

However it was not a total waste of time as what I did get from that was a chance to look at the other issuers both in the World Tobacco Issues Index, and online, and from that I realised that I might have been missing the cards I wanted simply because I was only looking for a blank back with a circular monogram with the entwined A, C, and T initials, without any other printing.

Yet several of these other issuers had a back like the ones we show here, where there is a symbol, flanked on one side by the word "TRADE" and on the other by the word "MARK", plus a large design of a building and many Chinese symbols. 

Most of these seem to be based in Shanghai, for good reason, as that was the centre of the Chinese cigarette and tobacco industries, not just in the companies that were controlled by British American Tobacco, but home grown companies too, especially after the anti-imperialist riots and their aftermath in the mid 1920s. 

 

Returning to our card, if we move on to the later, updated edition of the World Tobacco Issues Index, the first thing we discover is that our company has been ousted from the top slot, by four others, though all of those are but links. These are "7-20-24 - See R. G. Sullivan", "46" - See Jose Lopez LUIZ", "A & Co. - See ADLER & Co." and ""AA (in 8 pointed star) - See ZEN ZEN Tobacco Factory".  

Our set follows these, described, with an additional set, as : 

                                    A.C.T. (Monogram) Trade Mark

Chinese issues, about the 1930s. Backs with word "Trade Mark" and A.C.T. monogram in English, other wording in Chinese only. 

  • CHINESE ANCIENT PERSONALITIES (A). Sm. 64 x 45. Framelines, Chinese caption and number in black, white borders. Back in red. (? 6).  ... A020-150
     
  • CHINESE SERIES  (A). Md. 65 x 51. Framelines & Chinese caption in black, white borders. Back in red. Unnd. (1 seen) ... A020-170

 

Now after this book was published, the amendments were kept as files on disc, and by the update of the 31st of December, 2019, the story had moved along quite speedily. 

The first discovery was that the A.C.T. monogram had been identified, and it stood for Asia Tobacco Company. And under that name is the following listing :

                         ASIA Tobacco Co. (China) - A. T. C. (A. C. T.) monogram

  • ANIMAL DICTIONARY CARDS (A). Md. 69 x 50. Black frameline, white border.Chinese character in black. Red back with overlapping "ATC" trade mark. Unnd. (3 seen). ... A810-070
     
  • ANIMALS & BIRDS (A). Sm., 60 x 36. Framelines, no caption, white border. Back in red.Unnd. (6 seen). ... A810-075
     
  • CHINESE BEAUTIES (A). Md., 61 x 46. Black, black frameline, no caption. Back in red with "Full Moon". Unnd., 1 seen. "CETLO". A810-160
     
  • CHINESE SERIES (A) ... A810-170..

         1. Md. 67-68 x 47-48. Chinese text on back in 3 columns. Front with (i) double framelines (6 seen) (ii) single frameline (3 seen). "Chi Kung".

         2. Sm. 67-69 x 49-50. Chinese text on back in 1 column. (2 seen). "Chi Kung".

         3. Sm. 66 x50. Chinese text on back in 1 column (2 seen). "Feng Shen Bang".

A bit of research into the "Chinese Series" seems to suggest that the first two sub sections are related to what we call Qi Gong, a series of gentle, rhythmic exercises, and the second to a sixteenth century Chinese work of literature, known in English as Investiture of the Gods. And that may well be what was referred to in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as "Chinese Ancient Personalities", especially as it listed six cards, and the updated version added another - and there are indeed seven cards listed on the amendments sheet.

To close, I`m glad I persevered with this, and I await assistance from anyone who wishes to provide it, especially if they are in a position to supply a scan of any of the actual cards....

To newsletters past : 

Actually this week I have indexed two back issues, and am almost half way into a third.

PPG horizontal ad

The earliest of these was for the 4th of June, 2022, the one which I was stumped by last week but I found my disc and so the first card, for Saturday the 4th of June, showing here, is in place - and I have also more or less finished the new blog on these Pictures Portrait Gallery cards.

All the cards for Sunday`s hot air balloon, Monday`s eye glasses, Tuesday`s Robert the Bruce, Wednesday`s World Oceans Day, and Thursday`s trip to Tahiti remain the same, but Friday`s is altered, to a Liebig card from the second set of "Farben", or colours, coded Fada 619 or Sanguinetti 618, rather than one of our early reference books, an extremely tenuous link to the subject featured, Art Nouveau. 

 

Meurisse 5

The next newsletter took us into a new month. for it was dated for the  28th of May, 2022.

There were very few changes there either, Saturday`s whooping crane, Sunday`s Oak Apple Day, Monday`s Bathing Belle, Tuesday`s Capern`s parrot postcard., Thursday`s  C.S. Rolls, and Friday`s Dr. W. G. Grace all remained - though in the future I will change Mr. Rolls from the present cut out version which only shows the picture to the proper uncut `Turf` slide.

In fact, the only change was the card we show here Wednesday`s Julius Caesar, which was once Kinney Leaders, a set which was already in the gallery, and has now become a new set, by Meurisse, called "Conquerants". 

I have not had time to do a list of the other cards in that set though, or rather I have decided that it is best to amend everything once all the cards are indexed and not waste time doing it now. 

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

This Week`s events and meetings : 

Sunday the 1st of November

  • Winchester & Solent - from 10.00 a.m. until 4.00 p.m., with auction at 2.00 p.m. - at Botley Market Hall, High Street, Botley, near Southampton SO30 2EA. Four or five dealers, mixed between local and national names. And it`s free admission to all collectors

Saturday the 7th of November

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

                                                           --------------------

Now we would like to give a mention, and a big thanks, at this point to our Northants Club, who have just sent in their 2027 meeting dates, which are

  • Monday February the 1st
  • Monday April the 5th
  • Monday June the 7th
  • Monday August the 2nd
  • Monday October the 4th
  • Monday December the 6th

                                                             ------------------------

More breaking news is that we have announced the venue and a date for our next Annual Convention - it will be at The Five Rivers Leisure Centre in Salisbury on the 24th and 25th of April 2027. And we look forward to seeing you there....

And so there the book is closed for another week. Hope you enjoyed it, and we look forward to hearing from any Kimball collectors about this week`s featured card. And if anyone wishes to add to Mr. Kimball`s biography, please do. 

See you all next week, same time, same spot in the dial. And thanks, very much, for tuning in tonight.....