When I was little I loved looking through my father’s collection of cigarette and trade cards and I collected the cards out of tea packets. Recently I came across an old box containing these cards and have now spent a nostalgic time looking through them again. There are all sorts of sets including those produced by W D & H O Wills, John Player and Brooke Bond Tea to name but a few.
Here are a few examples:
- Stanley Matthews
Stanley Matthews, who was born in 1915, played for Stoke City, was a schoolboy international and also played for England. I’m not sure of the date of this card but it only refers to him playing in the 1934-35 season against both Wales and Italy and the photograph is obviously of him as a very young man. He went on to become one of the greatest English footballers, playing until he was 50! He was knighted in 1965.
The card is no.28 out of 50 in the W D & H O Wills (cigarette manufacturers) series of Association Footballers. You could get an album to stick them in from tobacconists at one penny each.
- A Simple Weather-Vane
I think this Weather-Vane is fantastic and would love to have one. Another old W D & H O Wills card, in the Household Hints series the instructions for making it are on the reverse and you need a T-piece and three pieces of iron gas-piping , a steel rod, stout wire to make the letters and sheet metal for making the cat and mouse.
- Hector – The Rat
Hector the Rat is in a series of
Space Exploration cards issued by Lyons Maid. The information on the reverse tells that Hector, the hero of French scientists was shot into space on February 222 1961 at Hammaguir in the Sahara, in the nose cone of a 23 ft long Veronique rocket. For the trip he wore a specially designed space suit. Hector was recovered safely and four weeks later became the father of four!
The Brooke Bond Tea cards issued many sets such as British Butterflies, British Wild Animals, and British Wild Flowers. The picture card album for the cards were available from your grocer – price 6d. I particularly like the Famous People series, such as this one of Charles Dickens depicting characters from his books:
- Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
I don’t have many cards in this series – the others are George Bernard Shaw, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Augustus John, John Logie Baird, David Livingstone, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Pat Smythe, General George Gordon, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Sir Edward Elgar.
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