Science Cigarette Cards Guide (Collectables)

Science Cigarette Cards (Collectables)

I've been collecting and selling early trade cards, cigarette cards and related collectablesfor over twenty years. Before you read this guide please subscribe to my card collecting newsletters for updates on rare cards and tips on buying by Clicking Here, thank you.

Cigarette cards were issued during a significant time in the history of mankind, 1870s-1930s. These encyclopaedic cards captured the Precambrian explosion in 20th century inventions and discoveries that propelled us into our modern age. Even the cigarette card was the creation of rapid improvements in colour printing technology and competitive pressures ofan expanding free market. It's possible that they even helped to accelerate information democracy itself at a time when books were still quite expensive to the average person.

I've included a small selection of science related cigarette card sets below. For those interested in the history of the computer, the card set "Modern Wonders", issued in 1938 by Churchman, includes cards on "The Super Calculating Machine" and the "Slot Machine Which Plays Bridge". I particularly like the predictions made in "The World of Tomorrow, issued in 1936 by Stephen Mitchell.

Name Of Set: Inventions And Discoveries S273
Manufacturer: Liebig Extract of Meat Co
Issue Year: 1890
Card Number: 6
Card Titles: -

Name Of Set: Electricity
Manufacturer: Liebig Extract of Meat Co
Issue Year: 1907
Card Number: 6
Card Titles: -

Name Of Set: Famous Inventions
Manufacturer: WD and HO Wills
Issue Year: 1915
Card Number: 50
Card Titles: Spectroscope, Edison and Phonography, Rock Drill, Syphon Barometer, Steam Navvy, Vacuum Brake, Arkwright and the Spinning Machine, Vacuum Flask, Marconi Transmitting Apparatus, Cugnot and the Traction Engine, Camera and Photography, Five Needle Telegraph Instrument, Floating Dock, Wilde and the Dynamo, Tita Crane, Safety Lamp, Stevens and the Screw Propeller, Microscope, Watt and the Steam Engine, Hobby - Horse, Bicycle, Cycling, Transporter Bridge, Early Reflecting Telescope, The Croton Dam at New York, Pratt and the Typewriter, Howe and the Sewing Machine, Cash Register, Lifeboat, Auto Piano, X-Ray Apparatus, Grand Piano, Modern Lighthouse Lantern, Edison and Kinetoscope, Steam Hammer, Santos Dumont and the Aeroplane Motor, Steel Frame Buildings, Modern Submarine, Parachute Descent by Garnerin, Levassor and the Automoblie or Motor Car, Electric Light, Renard and Kreb and the Dirigible, Diving Bell, Sun Motor, Electric Tram, Acminster Carpet Loom, Steam Turbine, Oil Engine, Electric Locomotive, Jacquard Loom, Incandescent Light, and Hydraulic Press.

Name Of Set: Engineering Wonders
Manufacturer: WD and HO Wills
Issue Year: 1927
Card Number: 50
Card Titles: Steel Caisson, Lethbridge Viaduct, Rolling Lift Bridge, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Zambesi Bridge, Bucket Dredger, Giant Excavator, Hydraulic Lift Lock, Lock Panama Canal, Electric Shovel, Slab Charger for Reheating Furnace, Conveyor Bridge, Blast Furnace, Electric Furnace, Electric Lifting Magnet, Hydraulic Press, Electric Unloader, Electric Coal cutter and Loader, Electric Dumper, Gold Dredger, Escalator, Building a Skyscraper, Strong Room Door, Reflecting Telescope, Generating Station, Electric Motor Driving a Reversing Mill, Automatic Substation, Steam Turbo Generator, Electric Winding Engine, Modern Aqueduct, Great Dam, Block Setting Crane, Croton Dam and Spillway, Vaal River Barrage, Great Dam Lake Vyrnwy, Aircraft Carrier, Revolving Floating Crane, Floating Dock, Framing a Liner, Train Ferry, Wetterhorn Aerial Railway, Wrecking Crane, Electric Locomotive, Hedjaz Railway, Ice Locomotive, Road Making Motor, Rotary Snow Plough, Track Layer, Tunnel Construction by Means of a Shield, and Lidgerwood Unloader.

Name Of Set: Clocks - Old and New
Manufacturer: John Player and Sons
Issue Year: 1928
Card Number: 20
Card Titles: An Egyptian Water Clock about 1400BC, A Water-Clock of Clepsydra about 300 BC, Hour-Glasses, The Glastonbury Clock Wells Cathedral, An Astronomical Clock Wimborne Minster, Early 17th Century Clock St Mark's Square in Venice, A Ship Clock about 1581, A Small Astronomical Clock 1587, A Clock by Isaac Hebrecht 1589, A Clock by Bartholomew Newsam 1590, A Table Clock With Alarium, A 16th Century Clock-Watch, A Globe or Falling-Ball Clock about 1650, A Lantern Clock by Thomas Tompton, A Bracket Clock by Thomas Tompion 1690, An Act of Parliament Clock 1797, A Long Case Clock by Thomas Tompion 1709, A Table Alarum Clock With Strike-A-Light late 17th Century, The Westminster Clock 1858, and Modern Clocks Greenwich Observatory.

Name Of Set: Scientific Inventions and Discoveries (Large) (Coloured)
Manufacturer: R and J Hill
Issue Year: 1929
Card Number: 35
Card Titles: Professor Charles and the Hydrogen Gas Baloon, Robert Stephenson and the Britannia Tubular Bridge, Hans Lippershey and the Telescope, Professor Niels Finsen and the Finsen Lamp, Mr Louis Brennan and Mono Rail, Sir WG Armstrong and the 110 Ton Gun, Sir W. Siemens and the Finishing Armature, Guglielmo Marconi and Wireless Telegraphy, George Stephenson and the First Locomotive Engine, Sir Hiram Maxim and the Maxim Gun, Evang Torricelli and the Barometer, Lord Kelvin and the Patent Standard Compass, Thomas A Edison and the Phonograph / Gramaphone, Benjamin Franklin and the Lightning Conductor, Sir H. Davy and the Safety Lamp, Mc Cormick and the Reaping Machin, M. Santos Dumont and the Air Ship, SFB Morse and the Electric Telegraph, Sir James Dewar and Liquid Air, M. Curie and Extracting Radium From Pitchblend, Mergenthaler and the Linotype Machine, Orville and Wilbur Wright and the Aeroplane, A. Volta and the Pile Battery, JL Baird and Television, AG Bell and the Telephone, Professor Rontgen and X-Ray Photography, LJM Daguerre and the Photographic Camera, Galileo and the Pendulum, Ja\mes Nasmyth and the Steam Hammer, G Constantinesco and the Aeroplane Gun, Elias Howe and the Sewing Machine, Caxton and the Printing Press, Sir Charles Parsons and the Steam Turbine, JH Greathead and the Tunneling Shield, and F Handley Page and the Slotted Aeroplane Wing

Name Of Set: Interesting Experiments
Manufacturer: WA

A Guide to planners which to buy. A Planner for the job

Planners and calendars are pretty straight forward but there are a few types out there I've written this so you can make sure you get the right one for the job. Please use the text in the title of my listings to pick the correct one for the job. Click here to jump straight to our listings:All our PlannersAll our Diaries, Planners and Calendars

How to choose the correct calendar for your needs:

Day Planner:

Excellent quality, value for money calendars in a range to suit all requirements.
Laminated planner showing a 7 day week.
Space for planning 36 staff or projects.
supplied complete with non permanent marker pen and sticker kit.
W854mm x H610mm
Calendars often sell out so buy early to get the best prices and avoid disappointment.
All our Planners

Year Planners:

Excellent quality, value for money calendars in a range to suit all requirements.
Solvent write on wipe off laminated surface.
Supplied complete with non permanent marker pen and sticker kit.
Incorporates EU, US and Japanese holidays plus week numbers.
W854mm x H610mm
Calendars often sell out so buy early to get the best prices and avoid disappointment.
All our Planners

Holiday Planners:

Excellent quality, value for money calendars in a range to suit all requirements.
Solvent write on wipe off laminated surface.
Supplied complete with non permanent marker pen and sticker kit.
Week by week guide to the year with space for up to 31 staff
W754mm x H410mm
Calendars often sell out so buy early to get the best prices and avoid disappointment.
All our Planners

Compact Year Planners:

Excellent quality, value for money calendars in a range to suit all requirements.
Year planner in a space saving compact size.
Solvent write on wipe off laminated surface.
Supplied complete with non permanent marker pen and sticker kit.
Incorporates EU, US and Japanese holidays plus week numbers.
W420mm x H590mm
Calendars often sell out so buy early to get the best prices and avoid disappointment.
All our Planners

Staff Planners:

Excellent quality, value for money calendars in a range to suit all requirements.
Showing 5 day week Monday to Friday.
Solvent write on wipe off laminated surface.
Supplied complete with non permanent marker pen and sticker kit.
Space for planning 36 staff or projects.
Calendars often sell out so buy early to get the best prices and avoid disappointment.
All our Planners

Fiscal / Academic Year Planners:

Excellent quality, value for money calendars in a range to suit all requirements.
Solvent write on wipe off laminated surface.
Unmounted is double sided with fiscal year (April - March) on one side and academic (August - July) on the reverse.
Mounted is single sided as title suggests.
Features UK and Eire holidays and PAYE week numbers on the fiscal planner.
Supplied complete with non permanent marker pen and sticker kit.
W854mm x H610mm
Calendars often sell out so buy early to get the best prices and avoid disappointment.
All our Planners

Click here to jump straight to our listings:All our PlannersAll our Diaries, Planners and Calendars

These descriptions are all based on my calendar listings so please bid with confidence and stay organized next year!!

Please show your support by buying my diaries, planners and calendars from my shop.

Flag Cigarette Cards Guide (Collectables) 1900s-1930s

Flag Cigarette Cards (Collectables)

I've been collecting and selling early trade cards, cigarette cards and related collectablesfor over twenty years. Before you read this guide please subscribe to my card collecting newsletters for updates on rare cards and tips on buying by Clicking Here, thank you.

Flags started out as a military tool, used in battlefield co-ordination. It is unclear when flags were first used to symbolize nationalities. National Flags are an effective tool in nurturing the identity and loyalty of a country's citizens. However, flags do have darker undertones and have been abused by dictators and still have strong associations with their military origins. We will always be haunted by Hitler's blood red, Nazi Flag, which appears in the cigarette card set "National Flags and Arms", issued in 1936 by John Player

Seiko watches - Beware shill bidders

If you are looking for the latest Seiko watches, you will find them on offer from sellers in Thailand and Singapore. If you examine the bidding patterns, you'll also find that these are carefully constructed shill bids - that is, where a seller has friends or alternative IDs bidding up on items to ensure they reach the desired price. The pattern is for a bidder of low feedback to place several consecutive bids on the item, then drop off to allow the real bidders to outbid each other. If the prices doesn't rise fast enough they go back with a later higher bid - but they never win an auction!

The watches appear genuine (but are they?), but the sellers are not!. I could name at least four, who have huge feedback ratings. Some shill bidders can be seen on items from more than one of these sellers - all v.dodgy, and I have reported all this to Ebay, and I encourage you do to the same, in the interests of fair trading.

Postcript: Can you believe that Ebay have decided to take no action against four of these sellers, on the grounds that there is no shill bidding evident? Without actually naming them, have a carefull look at goods from P******uin Singapore, T***p******e in Singapore, L****1008 in Spain, B******77 in Thailand. You'll find them if you search for Seiko. Be warned, don't bid over the odds.

What are Real, Lab Created, and Simulated Gemstones?

What is the difference between Real, Lab Created, and Simulated Gemstones?

Real or Natural Gemstones: Real gemstones are just that, real and natural, as they were created in nature. Often natural gemstones must be treated by various methods to make the color appear as we would expect them to look. Some treatments are permanent and some are not. For an example of gemstone treatment, Tanzanite in its natural state is a brownish color, but when heat treated, Tanzanite becomes the beautiful blue-purple gemstone that we admire. Tanzanite was first discovered after a lightning strike hit a surface deposit of Tanzanite, in Tanzania, Africa.

Lab Created Gemstones: Lab created gemstones are made of the same mineral composition as natural gemstones, and are created in laboratories with equipment that simulates the high pressures and heat that nature used to created the real gemstones far beneath the surface of the earth. A lab created gemstone is identical to the natural gemstone it replicates in every way; color, hardness, composition, luster, looks etc.

The only difference between a lab created gemstone and a natural gemstone is that the natural gemstone most likely has flaws called inclusions, and lab created gemstones have no inclusions, as the mineral composition, heat, and pressure are controlled in the laboratory. Having no inclusions in a perfect lab created gemstone sounds favorable, however too perfect can sometimes look unnatural or phony.

The flaws or inclusions in natural gemstones are caused by minute traces of minerals that are trapped within the gemstone during the gemstone's crystallization process, and are the result of certain extraneous gases and other minerals being mixed in the molten mass prior to its cooling and crystallization. Natural gemstones with fewer inclusions are given a higher clarity rating, and thus a higher value when being appraised.

It seems odd that when comparing the price of a lab created gemstone which is flawless, against a natural gemstone which has inclusions, that we would knowingly pay for a natural gemstone, many multiples of the price of an identical flawless lab created gemstone, but this is a result of our culture, and the the jewelry industries marketing efforts. Remember a lab created gemstone is identical to a natural gemstone, except that the lab created gemstone is flawless. Because of the high price of natural gemstones many gemstones sold today are lab created.

Sapphires and Rubies are in the Corundum family of gemstones, and are fairly easily created in the laboratory, therefore lab created Rubies and Sapphires are very common. Emeralds and Aquamarines in the Beryl family of gemstones, and Emeralds and Aquamarines are not easily made in the laboratory. Lab created Emeralds are very expensive to make, and not commonly found in jewelry, however lab created Aquamarines are not as expensive to make as Emeralds, and it is not uncommon to find them being made into jewelry.

Simulated Gemstones: Simulated gemstones are created in a laboratory environment, but they differ from natural gemstones and lab created gemstone in many significant ways, and are only made to look like a natural gemstone. Simulated gemstones in most cases do not have the same mineral composition, color, hardness, luster, or looks of a natural gemstone or lab created gemstone.

Most low cost jewelry is made with simulated gemstones due to the fact that simulated gemstones cost less than lab created gemstones.

Selling to Northern Ireland

We have been about on eBay for a while now, we sell some, but buy ALOT, we are a motocrossing family, that sells to run our 5 motocross bikes (not a cheap sport in these quantities!! lol)

We live in Northern Ireland, when we need things, ie equipment, parts, etc, eBay is always our first port of call to look for that elusive bargain! We enjoy our shopping experience on eBay and have met some pretty cool sellers along the way! There is just one thing that turns us off.......

Any seller charging extra to post to Northern Ireland!

We sell goods that need posted, 99% of those buyers are on the mainland. Do we add extra onto the postage price to post those goods to the mainland? NO! We look up the royal mail website, where UK postage prices according to size and weight are there for all to see, we find out how much it is for UK postage on the size and weight of the item then state it in the auction! Why oh why does it cost mainland sellers extra to send items to Northern Ireland, but we can send the same item to the mainland for Royal Mail's standard postage charge?? Hmmm......

We agree there are certain exceptions to this rule, ie. items sent by a courier, who would for sure charge you extra as the item would have to be placed on a boat/plane, but this is usually heavier or larger items that wouldn't be sent using standard mail methods.

It will cost you more to send to Ireland / Eire, but this is NORTHERN Ireland, part of the UK :-)

There are other places too, such as Isle of Man, Northern Scotland, etc, but I can't comment on them as I really don't know if it does cost extra? I wouldn't imagine so as they are also part of the UK? I would be interested to hear about that!

This is merely a tip for those sellers who do add on extra postage, it's the biggest turn off ever, we personally click back on the browser and look for similar items sold by others, even if it means paying slightly more!

So think twice, please! There are loads of us Northern Irish about on eBay, how many sales are you losing??

We are interested in what anyone thinks of this issue, feedback to this post would be appreciated!

How to use Folding Crimps (also known as Cord Ends)

How to use Folding Crimps

We get asked how to use our Folding and Spring Crimps more often than any other question so thought we'd create this simple step by step guide to walk you through it.

First ensure that the material you are using fits snugly into the crimp.

Here you can see 3mm wide real suede being used. If using 5mm suede just trim the edges of the cord into a blunt arrow shape so that it fits within the confines of the crimp.

Now using a pair of pliers (we are using long nosed pliers here as it will enable you to see the crimp better) 'fold' over one side of the crimp onto the cord.

Turn the crimp around and fold over the other side. You don't need to flatten the crimp completely as there is an integral barb within the crimp that will stop the suede pulling free.

Here is another example of another folding crimp used with round braided BOLO. As you can see the crimp takes on a more circular shape in keeping with the cord.

All that needs to be done now in attach a jump/split ring and clasp of your choice.

Enjoy your craft!

Shelley