Title
Cigarette Card depicting a photograph of 'Chavita'
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 Spanish singer and dancer Luz Chavita (b.1880). Chavita’s real name was Luisa Localle, and she danced at the La Scala and the Folies Bergères in Paris. She was part of a troupe of Spanish dancers, hired to dance a Spanish inspired repertoire which showed off their décolletage and legs
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.