1931
Football Team Photos
Amalgamated Press / The Bullseye
8 cards
Apparently The Bullseye gave away football team photos from issue no. 3. Issue 1 included a bar of Sharp's Kreemy Toffee, while no. 2 included a large bar of Delicious Nougat. Issue 2 includes a panel that informs the reader that there's a free football card in the following week's issue but doesn't give a clue to which team or what the card looks like. Nos. 3 to 8 don't provide any additional information other than the announcement at the top of each cover that a photo is included. Issue 9 doesn't make any reference to a free gift so I am presuming that just 6 photos were given away. I can't find any reference to this magazine in any Cartophilic Society handbook. Amalgamated Press' main magazines at the time were The Champion and Vanguard and I first wondered whether these cards were incorrectly credited to one of these magazines but I can't find anything that would fit the bill.
UPDATE (01-22-2023 16:24): Carl Wilkes has confirmed that the cards issued with The Bullseye are the same as the ones credited to Boy's Cinema. See his explanation in the comments section. The numbers in the checklist refer to the issue number of the magazine. As with the cards given away with Boy's Cinema, the backs of the cards are blank.
UPDATE (08-11-2023 14:50): Carl Wilkes has provided details of two more cards.
1. 31-01-1931.
2. 06-02-1931. Liverpool - added 08-11-2023
3. 13-02-1931. Nottingham Forest
4. 20-02-1931. Manchester City
5. 27-02-1931. Leeds United - added 08-11-2023
6. 06-03-1931.
7. 13-03-1931.
8. 20-03-1931.
Hi Alan, yes these are mind benders! For years I had wondered about them, too. You did well to get so many images of the magazine covers. They are not easy to track down. The cards are, I believe, those which were also issued with Boys Cinema magazine. I don't know how many came with Bullseye but some of those I have do in fact have "Bullseye" hand stencilled on the back, along with issue number and date, and owner's name; some in an ink and a form of handwriting redolent of the 1930's; others in pencil with "The Bullseye" drawn in the style of the header on the magazine covers. I presume the original owners annotated these cards thus. So, I am pretty much sure they came with Bullseye. The only difference is in their tone. All the cards with the Bullseye notes on the rear are sepia; most other cards I have, presumably Boys Cinema cards, are blacker in print. Of my Bullseye cards, of those annotated, I see Manchester City came with issue 4, dated 20 Feb 1931; and Nottingham Forest came with issue 3, 13th Feb 1921. Best wishes as ever, Carl
ReplyDeleteHi Carl,
DeleteIt's always a pleasure to hear from you. That's an amazing bit of research!! I rushed to my collection to see if my Cardiff City card had any reference to 'Bullseye' on the back, but sadly, no. Boys Cinema has managed to defeat me completely after more than 30 years of research. For most cards issued with magazine I have been able to track down the issue date but I have yet to find any issue of Boys Cinema that mentions these football cards. Why, oh why, did they have to produce them without printing any information on the reverse. I still hold a slight suspicion that they don't even come from Boys Cinema.
Take care and stay safe,
Alan
Hi again Alan, as promised, as seen today on my FB page, I can give you 2 more numbers and dates, from those cards hand annotated presumably by the original owner, in ink, and in pencil, in similar scripts, thus: #5 Leeds United 27 February 1931; #2 Liverpool 6 February 1931. Best wishes as ever, Carl
ReplyDeleteThank you for providing the information, I'll add those to the list. I bought a complete copy of issue no. 5 (but without the card) and except for the notice above the masthead there's no other mention of a card being included with the magazine.
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