SCOUTS ON TRADING CARDS
In the late 1800’s and early to mid 1900’s cigarette manufactures, chocolates, sweet & tea manufactures released collectible cards that were included in with their products that included subjects that ranged from sports stars of the time to birds & wildlife and transport, there were also Scout themed cards released, the subjects of these cards included Scout badges & Scouting activities. These were avidly collected by both Leaders & Boys and would be swapped in an attempt to get the whole set.
The producers of these sets included Odgens, Anstie’s, Copes, WA & AC Churchman, Gallaher, John Players & Sons & CWS, Fry’s Chocolate, Pascals and Priory Tea also produced albums so you could keep your collection in good condition
The Cards comprised of an image on the front and on the rear was a description giving facts and other information relevant to the image on the front. Pascal’s seems to be an exception to this from images I have seen and they used the back of the card to advertise their products
Scout themed cards also popped up as individual cards that were part of other themed sets a couple of examples are shown below:
– Priory Tea Ltd of People in Uniform released in 1956 as part of their “I Spy” series, that included an image of a Boy S out in uniform
– A set of 50 cards issued by Brooke Bond Tea of Famous People that included a card with Baden Powell on it as Chief Scout with Scouts in the background
– A set of 48 cards released by Lyons Maid Ice Cream of Famous People had Baden Powell again in is role as Chief Scout with Scouts in the background
Other Countries
A number of countries outside the UK also released collectors cards, below are ones I have come across while researching this page mainly through the listings on e-bay.
Asia:
The Siam Tobacco Company from Thailand who released sets of Cards with text in both English & Thai,
South Africa
The United Tobacco Company from South Africa released sets that included a set depicting Scout Badges with the rear of the Card having the Badge requirements.
France
In France in 1951 Chocolat Suchard released a set of 200 made up of 20 subsets of 10, Scout & Guide Cards along with an Album titled “La Vie Fiere Et Joyeuse Des Scouts” or “The Proud and joyful Life of the Scouts”,
Belgium
In 1960 Jacques of Belgium release a set of 24 Scouting themed cards that were included in their chocolate bars, the rear of the cards contained a description in both French & Flemish
Spain
In 1913 Spanish Pharmaceutical company released a set of 50 Scouting themed cards on the back on the packaging for one of their Piperazina drug, each card depicted a different Scouting activity or event and the rear gave a description in Spanish
In the 1920’s Spanish Chocolate Company Chocolate Pi Barcelona released a set of 30 cards titled “Boy – Scouts, Exploradores Españoles – Telégrafos y Banderas” the set depicted Scouts holding semaphore flags with each card representing a different letter of the alphabet, on the rear of each card there was a history/ description in Spanish with the lower portion assigned to the chocolate advertising, in this case: “Chocolate Pi, Barcelona”.
America
American Chewing Gum Company Goudey who were well known for the Baseball themed Collectors Cards also released cards on various other themes which in 1933 included a set of 48 Scout themed Cards
For anyone interested in starting a collection of these cards, a search of E-bay will come up with a large number of sellers selling individual, part sets or whole sets of these cards as both originals and reproductions.
Below is a selection of cards that were available at the time
For further images take a look at New York Public Library Digital Collections Website where you will find over 600 images of Scouts on Cigarette Cards covering a wide range of Scouting subjects