Sweetule Natural History cards
Small cards featuring natural history subjects, given away with packets of sweet cigarettes.
These delightful little cards were given away – one at a time – with packets of sweet cigarettes. The unnamed subjects are birds (S), fish (H), butterflies (C), and flowers (D). The cards have square corners. This set has no jokers. The pattern on the reverse is made up of 98 small stars in 14 rows of 7.
Sweetule issued about 40 sets of trade/insert cards between 1954 and 1963. This was the only one to include playing-card symbols; most of the others came in sets of 25, 30 or 50 cards. A monogram CM (or MC) can be seen on several cards in this set, eg 7 & 10 of diamonds.
Above: Natural History cards produced by Sweetule Products Ltd (Confectionery), Radcliffe, Manchester, England, 1961. 52 cards. Size: 36 x 67 mm.
By Roddy Somerville
Member since May 31, 2022
Roddy started collecting stamps on his 8th birthday. In 1977 he joined the newly formed playing-card department at Stanley Gibbons in London before setting up his own business in Edinburgh four years later. His collecting interests include playing cards, postcards, stamps (especially playing cards on stamps) and sugar wrappers. He is a Past President of the Scottish Philatelic Society, a former Chairman of the IPCS, a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Makers of Playing Cards and Curator of the WCMPC’s collection of playing cards. He lives near Toulouse in France.
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