1904 Cohen Weenen Naval & Military Phrases Set and Checklist

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Cohen Weenen Naval & Military Phrases
Year	1904
Size	1 1/2″ x 2 5/8″
Images	Color
Type	Tobacco
Number in Set	40

1904 Cohen Weenen Naval & Military Phrases Set Overview

1904 Cohen Weenen Military Phrases These cards were issued by Cohen, Weenen & Company for their cigarette packages. The firm was based in London and, as a result, the cards are not seen too often here in the U.S. compared to other sets.

One of Cohen Weenen’s most popular sets is a 25-card set of boxers issued in 1912. But the company created numerous card sets — and often they are rare.

This is one of their rarer sets. It can be considered almost entirely a non-sports set. However, at least one sports card of sorts is included in it – a boxing card. The set includes various phrases commonly heard in a military setting. Each card includes a color cartoon loosely related to a particular phrase. They are mostly humorous in nature since they don’t really depict the true meaning of the phrases.

The boxing card, for example, is called Boxing the Compass. Boxing the compass is a mariner’s exercise where all all 32 points of a compass are named in clockwise order. This card instead pictures a boxer with gloves on actually preparing to fight a compass.

A final note is that these cards are found with two different backs. One back is printed in red ink and calls the cards Series No. 1, stating that the company would have other series’ soon. A second, rarer back is in blue ink and is called the Sweet Crop back as it advertises the company’s Sweet Crop Smoking Mixture. Cohen Weenen called it ‘A most delicious smoke’ that was ‘always reliable.’ The blue ink backs say the cards are part of a series of 400 subjects but only 30 cards are known in this specific set.

The cards are pretty rare to find and not seen all that often. Commons typically sell in the $5-$10 range while the boxing card may cost a little more due to its sports nature.