Costume Gallery

Navy Cut Medium cigarettes, 1924

Player's Navy Cut Medium cigarettes in three, tiered sections. The back section is the tallest and comprises packs of cigarettes and a box of cigarettes which has the Castle trade mark as well as the sailor in a life-buoy trade mark. The mid-section is similarly compose of packs of cigarettes and a box of cigarettes with the Castle trade mark as well as the sailor in a life-buoy trade mark. Above the box is a banner with the text "PLAYER'S". The front section, which is the lowest displays packs of cigarettes, One is open and two others have collecting cards protruding. The three sections are connected by a foot, the left and right sides of which have broken off and the back section has become detached. On the reverse is a hand-written note which reads "C117" and there is a printed note which reads "TO DISPLAY // HOLD BY TOP AND // PRESS DOWN ON TO // COUNTER // N.B. // if this display is // required to be closed // bring two struts into // centre first."

© Produced by the kind permission of Imperial Tobacco Limited, England

Navy Cut mixed brands, 1924=25

Player's Navy Cut tobacco fold-out counter card. The top of the card resembles a hoop which surrounds half-length figures of three navel officers. From their insignia they seem to be an lieutenant, a commander and an admiral. All three are smoking pipes. The base pulls forward and is decorated with packs of White Label, Gold Leaf, Medium and Tawny tobacco. In the bottom right hand corner is a staple. The text reads "PLAYER'S NAVY CUT // WHITE LABEL. GOLD LEAF. MEDIUM. TAWNY." On the reverse, attached to the hoop is a piece of card, suggesting that something hung from it. At the base is a support to allow the card to pull forward and stand upright. There is a rubber stamp which reads "JOHN PLAYER & SONS // STORES ADVERTISING // GARDEN ST.".

© Produced by the kind permission of Imperial Tobacco Limited, England

Celadon and Amelia in a storm, by John Wood

Two figures in a stormy landscape. On the left is a young man dressed in a beret style hat, white ruffed neck collar, jacket, belt and breeches, with stockings and shoes. He looks up toward the cloudy black sky, and holds aloft in his right hand a shepherd's crook. He has his left arm around the waist of a young dark haired woman in a full length dress, with short puffed sleeves and low décolletage, a sash and shoes. She also looks up at the sky, her hands clasped in front of her, as if in supplication. In the background on the left is a break in the clouds, with, below the figures, trees and a town.
Illustrates part of "The Seasons" by James Thomson - "Summer", published in 1727.
"... Young Celedon
And his Amelia were a matchless pair,
With equal virtue formed and equal grace,
The same, distinguished by their sex alone:
Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn,
And his the radiance of the risen day."
Unfortunately, as they wander through the woods, Amelia is struck by lightning and dies: "not always on the guilty head descends the fatal flash".

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