John Player & Sons Cigarette Cards War Decorations and Medals Series

John Player & Sons煙草公司 香煙卡 勳章與獎章系列

Item number: C1(1-90)

Year: AD 1927

Size: 35 x 67 mm

Provenance: Private Collector in the UK 2023

The origins of the cigarette and trade card can be traced back to the eighteenth century when it became common for tradesmen to produce cards which contained their business details, with perhaps a logo or pictorial representation of their work. During the twentieth century, the development of recognizable national brands, and advances in colour printing technology, led to a rapid increase in the production of trade cards and they became a popular promotional tool throughout Europe and North America. The Au Bon Marché store in Paris was one of the first shops to develop the idea of a series of cards, aimed at keeping the customer returning to the store in order to complete the set₁.

The progression from the general trade card into a cigarette card occurred due to the fragility of early cigarette packets. In the 1880s a plain piece of cardboard, known as a “stiffener,” was designed to protect early American cigarettes from being crushed in their fragile paper packets. The stiffener evolved into a cigarette card. It was with the mass production of cigarettes taken off the production of cigarette trade cards by the 1890s₂.

The coming of WWI in 1914 produced a plethora of military-related sets since there was no television or even wireless to give families at home an idea of what the war looked like, so cards such as these played an important role in public information. Although after the end of the war, there was a general dearth of military-related cards as the British public sought reconciliation, the issuing of military cards began to gather pace again in the 1920s to 1930s when preceding the Second World War.

This collection set was issued in 1927 and showcases the medals awarded to war heroes, accompanied by a description of each one.

Reference:

1. John Broom, A HISTORY OF cigarette AND TradeCards (UK:Pen and Sword Books Ltd, 2018), p.21

2. John Broom, A HISTORY OF cigarette AND TradeCards, p.22

More information:

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O551504/john-player-and-sons-cigarette-cigarette-card-album-john-player/

物件編號: C1(1-90)

年代: 西元 1927年

尺寸: 35 x 67 mm

來源: 英國私人收藏 2023

香煙卡和貿易卡的起源可以追溯至18世紀，當時商人製作含他們業務細節的卡片時亦會附上標誌或圖像代表他們的工作。到了20世紀，知名國家品牌的發展和彩色印刷技術的進步，導致貿易卡的生產迅速增加，它們成為歐洲和北美的熱門促銷工具。巴黎的Au Bon Marché商店是最早開發一系列卡片概念的商店，旨在讓顧客回到商店購買整套卡片。

由於早期香煙包裝的脆弱性。在1880年代，一塊稱為”硬板”的白色卡片被放在包裝中，以保護早期的香煙不被壓壞在脆弱的紙包中。這塊硬板之後成為了香煙卡。到了19世紀90年代，隨著香煙的大規模生產，香煙卡開始大量生產。

1914年第一次世界大戰的爆發帶來了大量與軍事相關的香煙卡系列產品，因為當時沒有電視甚至無線電，無法讓家中的家庭了解戰爭的情況，因此像這樣的卡片在公眾資訊傳達中扮演了重要的角色。儘管在戰爭結束後，由於英國政府及民眾希望和解以避免更多的戰爭，軍事相關的香煙卡卡片普遍短缺，但自1920年代到1930年代末，在第二次世界大戰爆發前，軍事煙卡的發行再次開始加速。

這套收藏於1927年發行，展示了授予戰爭英雄的勳章，並附有每個勳章的描述。

更多相關訊息請參考:

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-59e1-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O551504/john-player-and-sons-cigarette-cigarette-card-album-john-player/