Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Bocnal Proverbs Up-To-Date
Year	1938
Size	1 3/8″ x 2 1/2″
Images	Color
Type	Tobacco
Number in Set	25

1938 Bocnal Proverbs Up-To-Date Overview

This tobacco card set was distributed by Bocnal Tobacco Company out of England.

The cards feature common American proverbs combined with humorous cartoons. The front gives a slogan while the backs elaborate a bit on its history or meaning. Some of the slogans mentioned on the front vary slightly from the back.

Te set is almost entirely a non-sports issue. However, one boxing card appears in it for the phrase, “Where there’s life, there’s hope.” While there is a boxer on the front, there is no mention of the sport on the back, which reads:

This adage is the hope which sprints eternal in the human heart of the maid who would a-wooing go. As she deplores the fact that once again she has been only a bridesmaid, hope ever urges on as she sighs over the hatched, matched, and despatched columns. Hope is the would-be lover’s staff but nowadays a girl has to work like a horse to get a groom.

Most of the sayings are still in use today, though some have slightly different variants. That these sayings have lasted more than 80 years since this set was created, it is a testament to their staying power in society.

This was also not Bocnal’s only trading card set. They produced several, including a silhouette/glow-in-the-dark set featuring only athletes. That set was issued in the same year as this one.

1938 Bocnal Proverbs Up-To-Date Checklist

1. It’s no use crying over spilt milk
2. Fine feathers make fine birds
3. A rolling stone gathers no moss
4. Every dog has its day
5. Look before you leap
6. Where there’s life, there’s hope
7. You can lead a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink
8. More haste, less speed
9. A miss is as good as a mile
10. Time and tide wait for no man
11. Too many cooks spoil the broth
12. Silence is golden
13. A still tongue makes a wise head
14. Many hands make light work
15. Never look a gift horse in the mouth
16. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
17. Let sleeping dogs lie
18. Make hay while the sun shines
19. The proof of the pudding is in the eating
20. There is no smoke without fire
21. Half a loaf is better than no bread
22. He who hesitates is lost
23. You do not miss the water till the well runs dry
24. All that glitters is not gold
25. A stitch in time saves nine

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