Title
                            
                            
                                Cigarette Card depicting a photograph of 'Miss Decima Moore'
                            
                        
                            
                            
                                
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 British actress and singer, Miss Decima Moore (1871-1964). Miss Moore made her debut, aged 17 in the lead role in Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘The Gonodliers’. She stayed with the D’Oyly Carte Company for two years before moving on to other west end theatre productions and light opera. 
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.