painting, ROYAL CANADIAN HORSE ARTILLERY, KINGSTON
Report a Mistake- Object Number 19870003-043
- Event 1914-1919 First World War
- Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer --
- Date Made Circa 1914
- Place of Use Continent - North America, Country - Canada
- Category Communication artifacts
- Sub-category Art
- Department Art and Memorials
- Museum CWM
- Earliest 1909/01/01
- Latest 1919/12/31
- Medium gouachewatercolour
- Support paper on card
- Materials Not applicable
- Branch Royal Canadian Horse Artillery
- Person / Institution Associated institution, Imperial Tobacco Co. of Canada Ltd..
- Measurements Height 13.5 cm, Width 9.4 cm
- Caption Cigarette Cards
- Additional Information As early as the seventeenth century, tradesmen had begun to advertise on the small cards they used as stiffeners in wrapping their wares among them snuff and then tobacco. By the late nineteenth century, pictures were being printed on the protective stiffeners in packs of cigarettes as soon most tobacco companies were producing sets of cards on a variety of subjects. Each pack of cigarettes contained one card of a set, which when completed could be stored in an album obtained from the cigarette company. Card sets depicted many subjects - sports, entertainers, royal and heraldry, to name a few. Very popular were military subjects, such as medals and regimental flags, badges and uniforms. Illustrated here are the original paintings from which such a set was produced by the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada in 1914 under the title Regimental Uniforms of Canada. (This painting) was also printed on silk for inclusion in cigarette packages and became known as Canadian Silks. The heyday of the cigarette card was the 1930s, when hundreds of sets were issued. With the approach of the Second World War, cigarette cards became a casualty of the paper shortage, and by the end of 1940 they were no more.