Tuesday 1 May 2012

Hidden beauties #1


I have set myself a blogging challenge ...

In our upheaval, various things have come to light, amongst them some sets of cigarette cards I bought from ebay several years ago. My plan had been to do something with them, that plan can now come to fruition.

My challenge is to photograph each card and then post some extra material.


Cigarette cards apparently go back to the 1890s when card was inserted in the then paper packets to protect the contents. Manufacturers realised the potential the card had as an advertising ploy, then, to maintain product loyalty, sets of pictorial sequences began to appear.


Card 1 - Hidden Beauties












I got my first microscope when I was sixteen soon after I decided that biology was the subject I really wanted to study. It was a monocular with no internal light source, light was transmitted by reflection though the mirror at its base.

I remember some of the first things I looked at were bees in various degrees of dissection. To actually see the hook and groove arrangement that enables their wings to beat in synchrony was amazing

2 comments:

  1. Ohhhhh. Exactly my kind of collection, Anne. You can be sure those cards are worth a mint now. Did I ever tell you that I collected several things over time, mainly US stamps...and sold them all on eBay before moving to the Netherlands. Along with everthing else, I sold enough to buy our new car and our flat-screen TV! Seriously.

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    Replies
    1. Wow Ginnie, that is amazing, I've just checked out this set on ebay and it's going to have to increase in value considerably before I could consider having enough to buy even a toy car!!

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