Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

1924 Gallaher The Reason Why Overview

The 1924 Gallaher The Reason Why set is a 50-card set that was distributed in the UK by Gallaher, a popular tobacco company that created numerous sets.

As mentioned in the title of the set, this was an educational type of tobacco card set that explained certain traditions or how/why products were made. It is largely a non-sports sets, but does include two sports-related cards.

One card is related to the sport of golf and answers the question why the golf ball has an uneven surface. The back details the story of how golf balls were originally smooth and it was discovered that balls with dents in them actually traveled farther. Thus, the balls were then created with the dimples.

The same question with the regard to the golf balls was also addressed in a separate tobacco card set as a Wills tobacco set named ‘Do You Know’ includes a similar card.

The other sports-related card is one for horse racing as the card answers the question of why a horse wears blinkers (blinders), which is to keep the horse focused and not distracted by things it may see to its sides.

Cards feature color images on the front inside of a thin red border line while the backs with the descriptions are printed entirely in brown ink.

Near Parallel Set

It should also be noted that a smaller, similar set was issued in 1924 by the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada in that country. However, that set includes only 50 cards from this set and the two sets can easily be confused since they have the same design.

The cards, however, can be distinguished without much trouble. The Imperial Tobacco cards have that name printed on the backs while the Gallaher cards have that name. In addition, the Imperial cards have ‘Series of 50’ on theirs while Gallaher’s state they are part of a ‘Series of 100.’ Gallaher cards also have brown ink on the back as opposed to blue in the Imperial offering.

Not much difference in price, if any, is known.

1924 Gallaher The Reason Why Checklist

While I have developed a checklist for the 50-card Imperial set, I have not yet confirmed the checklist for this larger issue.