1938 Bocnal Proverbs Up-To-Date Set and Checklist
‘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
- It’s no use crying over spilt milk
- Fine feathers make fine birds
- A rolling stone gathers no moss
- Every dog has its day
- Look before you leap
- Where there’s life, there’s hope
- You can lead a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink
- More haste, less speed
- A miss is as good as a mile
- Time and tide wait for no man
- Too many cooks spoil the broth
- Silence is golden
- A still tongue makes a wise head
- Many hands make light work
- Never look a gift horse in the mouth
- A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
- Let sleeping dogs lie
- Make hay while the sun shines
- The proof of the pudding is in the eating
- There is no smoke without fire
- Half a loaf is better than no bread
- He who hesitates is lost
- You do not miss the water till the well runs dry
- All that glitters is not gold
- A stitch in time saves nine
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