Harry Fecitt

This is from a set of 50 cards issued by W.D. & H.O. Wills Ltd in 1910 and titled Arms of the British Empire.

The text on the rear reads:

The arms of this colony date from the 17th Century, and shew the Cross of Saint George charged with five pine-apples. The supporters are two Indians, each wearing an apron of feathers, the female holding a basket of fruit and the male a bow. The crest is a crocodile on a log. This is the only instance of a colony using a sovereign's helmet with its arms.

You should be able to buy a decent full set for 30 pounds sterling or less.

Somaliland (a former British protectorate see map at: http://www.kaiserscr...001/257522.html ) wants to dissasociate itself from Somalia (mainly a former Italian administered territory) and be independent.

As it looks like Southern Sudan will soon be independent, why not?

An independent Somaliland would allow us to re-build broken bridges into the Horn of Africa and counter problems that we presently face there.

Harry

Some cigarette manufacturers inserted cloth pictures into cigarette packets instead of cards. These became known as "silks".

They could have a practical use in that some ladies sewed them on to cushion covers.

If an issuer wished to put text onto the rear of a silk then he had to paste a thin card backing onto it.

During the Great War silk issues of military badges and crests were hugely popular. Some collectors specialise in silk issues, and they store them very carefully.

This is from a very hard to find set of 40 medium sized silks issued by Major Drapkin & Co Ltd in 1915 and titled Regimental Colours and Badges of the Indian Army.

Expect to pay up to five pounds sterling for one of these - if you ever see them.

If any member is interested in the operations of 'Z' Force in Somaliland in 1920 then the National Archives has laid on a wonderful exhibition for you at:

http://www.flickr.co...57625827328771/

then click on Somalia.

(You can dig out some interesting military pictures on the other countries' links also.)

Harry

As mentioned in the previous post, some sets of cards issued in the 1930s had adhesive backs, and special albums could be bought for them from tobacconists' shops.

Cards are only catalogued when loose and clean, but the albumed adhesive sets are worth collecting in their own right. They look good and the albums can contain other interesting sketches.

This is a page from the set of 50 Uniforms of the Territorial Army issued byJohn Player & Sons in 1939.

Expect to pay up to 50 pounds sterling for a set in VG condition - but be aware that loose adhesive-backed cards can be ruined if damp gets at them

Medals, a set of 50 issued in 1906 by W.D. & H.O. Wills Ltd.

Expect to pay four or five pounds sterling per card, when you can find them.

The text on the rear reads:

JAVA 1811. This expedition from India, composed of British and Indian troops, under Lt-Gen Sir C. Auchmuty, defeated the Dutch forces in the island of Java. This brilliant victory gained for us the last and most important of the Dutch possessions east of the Cape of Good Hope.

You have read your Kipling - you may even remember the 1939 Cary Grant film (available now on dvd) - here's a postcard.

The Museum is located in a large room in a mill.

Over the next few days I will show you some of the items that are displayed.

What tickled the ladies' fancies the most - the medals or the moustache?

One of a set of 14 cards issued in 1901 with the Tab Cigarettes of Ogdens Ltd and titled Photograph of International Interest or a Prominent British Officer.

You should be able to buy the complete set for around 10 pounds sterling, but cards in VG condition are hard to find.

The text on the rear reads:

Major Sir Claude M. MacDonald, KCB, KCMG, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, at the Court of Pekin, China.

For Sir Claude's role during the Boxer Rebellion refer to: http://www.kaiserscr...501/306501.html