This post will attempt to interest the reader regarding the intricacies of the rare, unusual and complex tobacco insert playing card sets issued by the Canadian tobacco firm of D. Ritchie & Co. of Montreal in the late 19th century. All of these sets are referenced as C154 in the World Tobacco Index and are referred to as "Beauties" as the women depicted are unnamed.
The two listings in the Dawson/Hochman encyclopedia should actually be switched if we are to concern ourselves with their actual chronology. The ICA 10a listing is, I believe, the first back design issued circa 1888 with their trademark jockey cap emblematic of their well-known brand "Derby Cigarettes". This back design came in 3 different versions (1st photo). The back on the left comes in claret. The next back design has an ornamental line added under the company name and this came in both claret and blue. There can be differences in the thickness of these cards.
The IC10 listing, I believe, came afterwards. This back design (2nd photo) only came in blue but the one on the left was issued by D. Ritchie & Co. and had to be issued prior to 1894 whereas the one on the right is the later edition issued by their successor, The American Tobacco Co. of Canada, Ltd. who had acquired them in 1895.
Now we come to the images on the front of these cards which only serve to make this set even more confusing. First, there can be differences in the nature of these images where the size can vary and the background may be either stippled or solid. Second, a given card value may come with as many as 3 different images (3rd photo). Third, a particular image may be seen on as many as 3 different card values (4th photo). There are a total of 54 different known images which may appear on the card fronts. Despite these multiple possibilities, this set does have some highly interesting novelties that are not found in other tobacco insert sets. In the 5th photo, we see a couple of examples of some of these. As evidenced by the 2 cards on the left, several of these images incorporate the actual card itself into the overall artwork so that the Two of Hearts is being held by the seated woman as a back view and the Ace of Clubs is being used for target practice by the woman aiming the gun at it. Another example would be the middle image of the 4 of Hearts in the 3rd photo where the actual card is being held by the woman in her lap. These touches add an amusing dimension to the otherwise standard practice of placing the playing card insert in the corner apart from the image. The card on the right shows one of the quirks that can be found in this set, namely, the unusual 4x4 alignment of the diamond pips in two columns instead of the customary 3x2x3 arrangement. There are also 2 cards (QH & KH) which have an inverted pip under each index (not shown).
Those readers who would like to see a larger selection of these cards may visit the following website:
forum.vintagenonsports.com/latest
Click on the "Gallery" tab on the top right,
Click on the "Canadian" tab at the bottom center,
Click on the "C154 - Playing Cards" line under the "D. Ritchie" heading.
Trying to assemble a "complete" set of 52 of these cards, regardless of which front and back combinations are involved, amounts to a close-to-impossible task given the rarity involved, not to mention condition issues but, should it be accomplished, would be quite a feather in any playing card or tobacco card collector's cap.
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