Museum ID: WNDRB : 2014.21
A Players Cigarette Card showing the Life Guards uniform at the time of the Battle of Waterloo - 1815, and Peninsula Wars. No. 47 in a series of 50 cards. This is the only one of the set in the museum collection. Cigarette cards began 1875 in the US by Allen and Ginter tobacco company. their function was as a hard back in the cigarette packets. Cards depicted actresses, baseball players, Indian chiefs, and boxers. Other companies copied them. Players cigarette company or John Player & Sons, first started in March 1820 as a small factory, then owned by William Wright in West Lothian. This business expanded and John Player bought the business and renamed it in 1877. In 1901, John Player & Sons, merged with American company, Imperial Tobacco Group, who's largest constituent in Britain was W. D. & H. O. Wills, based in Bristol, who ran Players from then on, though Players still kept their brand name and ranges such as 'Navy Cut', No 9' and 'Gold Leaf'. In the UK, W. D. & H. O. Wills were the first to produce Cigarette cards in 1887 but it was John Player & Sons in 1893 that produced one of the first series ‘Castles and Abbeys’ that became so popular for collecting. Other companies followed and Wills produced their first set ‘Ships and Sailors’ in 1895 and ‘Cricketers' in 1896. In 1906, Ogden’s produced the first full-colour series showing footballers in their club colours.Each series of cards typically consisted of 25 or 50, but there were over 100 cards in some series. Popular themes were film stars and models,sportsmen in baseball, football and cricket, nature, military uniforms and heroes, heraldry and city views. Early cigarette cards were printed on silk and then attached to a paper backing but during World War II they were discontinued in order to save paper and were not made that way after the war ended. We think this card is early 20th Century, about 1930.Measurements: 67 x 36
Materials: Card
Categorised under: Home Life and Leisure