Title
Cigarette Card depicting a photograph of 'Miss Charmion'
Dimensions
height: 8cm
width: 5.5cm
Inscription/signature
'Ogden's Guinea Gold Cigarettes'
Provenance
Donated by a member in September 2018
Other number
E0045
Bromide photographic cigarette card published by Ogedens for Ogden's Guinea Gold Tobbacco. Published between c.1899-1907. These belong to a set of 47 (24 of the larger size and 23 of the smaller size cards) depicting contemporary singers, dancers and actresses.
This card depicts the American Vauderville trapeeze artist and strong woman, Miss Charmion (1875-1949). Her act consisted of mounting the trapeze in full Edwardian clothing and disrobing on the trapeze to reveal an acrobat’s leotard and flesh coloured tights.
Cigarette cards began life as a simple card used as a "stiffener" to help keep the cigarettes from damage. Tobacco companies soon realised that these could be used for advertising and promoting brand loyalty and so began printing collectable pictures onto the "Stiffeners". Cigarette cards were produced in series of 25, 50, or 100 and the themes ranged from sport, entertainment, geography to personalities of the day.