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Northampton

10th July 2016 by Stuart Chandler

NORTHAMPTON & DISTRICT CIGARETTE CARD CLUB

We formerly met at Weston Favell Parish Hall, Booth Lane South. You can find a map at
https://www.northampton.gov.uk/directory-record/2235/weston-favell-parish-hall

and see the hall at : https://wfph.co.uk/

Before that, we met every third Thursday of the month, from 6.30, at Spencer Dallington Community Centre in Tintern Avenue. http://www.spencerdallington.org.uk/

Our featured card is by local manufacturer J. Lees, it dates from 1912, was issued in their hand-filled cigarettes, and the cards all show footballers from the Northampton Town Football Club. This was a series of 21 cards, but for some reason each of the card numbers are prefixed by the number 3, which makes it look as if there were over 300 cards in the set. A list of all the cards may be found at https://cartophilic-info-exch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/j-lees-son-northampton-town-football.html

Do note card 3-01 shows W.D. Tull. Read more about him, as a footballer and war hero, at : https://claptonfootballclub.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/walter-tull/comment-page-1/

We also love the back images of these cards, with their patriotic exhortations – “Smoke Northampton Made Cigarettes” – and “Support Local Industry”, so the back is also reproduced on this page; in fact, we were the first Society Branch ever to show the back of a cigarette card on our webpage..

By the way… it was very exciting to see one of these cards reproduced on the back cover of a “Card World” Magazine as part of the selection from Society Postal Auction 558, especially as the first thing we noticed was our card has more equality to the borders, whilst the card on the magazine favours the left side. Does this mean they were hand-cut as well as hand-filled?

And to close, a warning….. if you come across a card, or cards, from this set being sold cheaply do check it carefully, because this sought-after set has been reproduced as “The Nostalgia Classic Limited Edition Collection”. The makers have clearly marked their cards as being reprints on the bottom under the framelines, but this can be removed by cutting it very close to the picture.