For the past few years I've been looking for the promos for various Victoria Gallery sets from the 90's. Victoria Gallery, based in England, published a variety of entertainment, nature, and history (including sports history) sets. They were sold as sets and feature artwork rather than photos. It's nice work with subjects not often (or never) approached in American sets so they're interesting to anyone who's at least a little bored with the reslicing of Star Wars, James Bond, and other franchises. The promos are usually identical to one of the cards in the set except for a diagonal red stripe on the front which says "Promotional Card" on it. These cards are not often seen for sale but they tend to sell for only around $5 - not always a "need" even for those who collected the set.

It seems like the same ones appear when any are for sale and they represent rather few of the many sets made by the company. I was wondering if all the sets had an associated promo or if the company didn't make one for some of the sets. A couple of the sets have two promos even with the regular sets being rather small (25 cards or less).

Here are the ones I've seen or have:

Ashes Winning Captains: 2 cards (W.G. Grace and D.G Bradman)
Boxing Champions (Randolph Turpin)
Caricatures of the British Army - Officer 42nd (The Royal Highland) Foot"
Endangered Wild Animals (tiger)
Famous Indianapolis Drivers (Mario Andretti)
A Gathering of Spirits (Apache Medicine Man Raven)
Hollywood Moviemen (Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Legends (the title was later changed to Legends of Hollywood) (John Wayne)
Olympic Greats (Jesse Owens)
Uniforms of the Civil War - "Captain, Louisiana Zouaves (Pelicans)"
Wild West Indians (Chief Joseph)
Wild West Lawmen (Wyatt Earp)

the following were made by Victoria Gallery for Cecil Court Collectors Centre
Famous Film Directors (Alfred Hitchcock)
Christopher Columbus

I've also seen two cards with front art from Victoria Gallery sets but are dealer business cards on the back:
n.n. (art from "Wild West Outlaws" - Billy the Kid)
n.n. (art from "Spirit of a Nation" - Sitting Bull

If anyone has promos for sets other than these, please let me know. I'm especially curious if there are promos for "Spirit of a Nation," "Wild West Outlaws," Wild West Frontiersmen," and "British Birds of Prey" (or basically any history or nature set). It appears the company stopped making promos in the mid-90's and stopped producing sets in the late 90's but I don't know for sure. Maybe someone here can tell us more about the company too.

Jess

Edit: Listing corrected as per John Levitt and David R.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,

On Legends of Hollywood, there is also an Arnold Schwarzeneggar one

Jess

Firstly there are errors in your listing as follows:-

Boxing Champions - Randolph Turpin
Boxing Greats - Jack Jackson
Legends - John Wayne
Hollywood Moviemen - Jack Nicholson and Arnold Schwarzenegger (see below)

It is not Cecil Sports Collectors but Cecil Court Collectors Centre (Cecil Court is a pedestrian thoroughfare between Charing Cross Rd and St Martin's Lane in London)

And as David R mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger - Hollywood Moviemen

Also note that the Ashes Winning Captains promo cards were issued on cream card and white card.

In addition CCC Ltd issued a set of 20 Doctor Who cards, 7 of which were issued as promotional cards affixed to issued 208 of Dr Who Magazine (unfortunately these cards were affixed using a very strong glue making it difficult to remove without damaging the back.

Also note that Rob Larson was the artist of many of these cards and he was responsible for the artwork on the Atlanticard set of 8 cards depicting famous UK sportsmen which was issued to promote some UK card fairs in the UK in 1992. These card fairs were sponsored by Direct Access (LA travel Company), Topps (Ireland),Anglo American Sports (magazine), Murray Cards Intl (card dealer), Card Times (magazine) and Victoria Gallery of South Woodford, Essex. These shows were designed to bring together American and UK card dealers.

I have the following sample images:-

[IMG:left] [/IMG]

[IMG:left] [/IMG]

[IMG:left] [/IMG]

[IMG:left] [/IMG]

[IMG:left] [/IMG]



regards

John

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JOHN LEVITT,

Thanks for the corrections and extra information (that's what I get for not checking as I put the post together). However, the name is Jack Johnson.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Thanks for the corrections and extra information (that's what I get for not checking as I put the post together). However, the name is Jack Johnson.

Touche and thanks

John

John,

How was the Atlanticard set originally issued?

I checked my Ashes Winning Captains promos. They're all the same color and apparently the cream color variation.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
Jess

Firstly there are errors in your listing as follows:-

Boxing Champions - Randolph Turpin
Boxing Greats - Jack Jackson
Legends - John Wayne
Hollywood Moviemen - Jack Nicholson and Arnold Schwarzenegger (see below)

It is not Cecil Sports Collectors but Cecil Court Collectors Centre (Cecil Court is a pedestrian thoroughfare between Charing Cross Rd and St Martin's Lane in London)

And as David R mentioned Arnold Schwarzenegger - Hollywood Moviemen

Also note that the Ashes Winning Captains promo cards were issued on cream card and white card.

In addition CCC Ltd issued a set of 20 Doctor Who cards, 7 of which were issued as promotional cards affixed to issued 208 of Dr Who Magazine (unfortunately these cards were affixed using a very strong glue making it difficult to remove without damaging the back.

Also note that Rob Larson was the artist of many of these cards and he was responsible for the artwork on the Atlanticard set of 8 cards depicting famous UK sportsmen which was issued to promote some UK card fairs in the UK in 1992. These card fairs were sponsored by Direct Access (LA travel Company), Topps (Ireland),Anglo American Sports (magazine), Murray Cards Intl (card dealer), Card Times (magazine) and Victoria Gallery of South Woodford, Essex. These shows were designed to bring together American and UK card dealers.


regards

John

Jess

I bought mine at one of their conventions, this one being held at the Royal National Hotel, London in 1992, alas I cannot remember the other venues but I do believe one was in the Birmingham area. Also UK card dealers had them for sale

My set is numbered 15/1500 and was autographed by Rob Larson. The cards featured a drawing of 7 sportsmen - Peter Shilton, Rory Underwood, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Peter Beardsley and David Gower. Some of those depicted also appeared on the convention to autograph their respective card. I saw Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters but I did not bother getting a card signed. (There were no queues or payment required). I also got to meet and talk with Topps (Ireland) sales reps.

See some of the images as below:-

[IMG:left] [/IMG] [IMG:right] [/IMG]

[IMG:left] [/IMG] [IMG:right] [/IMG]

[IMG:left] [/IMG] [IMG:right] [/IMG]

regards

John

Thanks for the info and images.

David once showed me a scan of a "Nursery Rhymes" promo card in the same style as the Victoria Gallery cards but by Cofton Collections.

Cardlynx also released promotional cards in the 90's. I have one with an image from the #1 card in the "Golfers" series (but also says "Stroke of Genius" on the front while the regular card does not) and company info on the back. Years ago, I saw one that promoted an "Owls" and a "Parrots" set. I'm kicking myself for not buying it when I saw it.

Thanks again, John

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
Jess

I bought mine at one of their conventions, this one being held at the Royal National Hotel, London in 1992, alas I cannot remember the other venues but I do believe one was in the Birmingham area. Also UK card dealers had them for sale

My set is numbered 15/1500 and was autographed by Rob Larson. The cards featured a drawing of 7 sportsmen - Peter Shilton, Rory Underwood, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Peter Beardsley and David Gower. Some of those depicted also appeared on the convention to autograph their respective card. I saw Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters but I did not bother getting a card signed. (There were no queues or payment required). I also got to meet and talk with Topps (Ireland) sales reps.

regards

John

Jess

I have that Nursery Rhymes card as well as 10 from Cardlynx, about 20 from David J Hunter and 3 from Golden Era. Most of them were free with a magazine issued way back in 2005-2008 if I remember correctly.

regards

John

Here are images for two promotional cards (the front of "A Gathering of Spirits"; front and back of "Caricatures of the British Army"):

G'day Jess, I have just purchased a bunch of the promos you've mentioned from a local seller here in Oz. I'll send a list when they arrive, should be this week. a few unusual ones in there from memory...

Don't know much about the company other than they made promos. Todd Jordan might chime in with a stack of info..?

Hi Cardscout,

Yes, I'd like to hear about what you found and haven't seen any other ones than what I've listed since starting the thread. I was lucky to find a nice lot of them as well a few years ago. The "Olympic Greats" (Jesse Owens) promo appears for sale only occasionally. For some reason the Jack Nicholson promo was harder for me to find than the Schwarzenegger of the Hollywood Moviemen promos.

I've seen many of the regular sets for sale online and at shows.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by cardscout182:
G'day Jess, I have just purchased a bunch of the promos you've mentioned from a local seller here in Oz. I'll send a list when they arrive, should be this week. a few unusual ones in there from memory...

Don't know much about the company other than they made promos. Todd Jordan might chime in with a stack of info..?

catskilleagle and Cardscout

I have a bunch of these cards also and I am in the middle of preparing a listing of them for PCE so it should be interesting to see what we can come up with.

regards

John

G'day Jess and John...Ok, the promo cards I have already are :

Hollywood Moviemen Jack Nicholson #24

Christopher Columbus No. 1/100 from 1991

The ones I received this week are

Wild West Lawmen, Wyatt Earp No. 7 in a series of 12, published by Victoria Gallery London

Caricatures of British Army, Officer 42nd (royal Highland) foot, No. 1 in series of 20, again by Vic Gallery London

Nursery Rhymes, A Series of 25 (it lists all 25 diff. cards on the back) published by Cofton Collections in Birmingham UK. My card is No. 6 Cat and the Fiddle

Apache Medicine man-Raven , No.1 in series of 6, also Victoria Gallery London

Wild West American Indian, Chief Joseph from Victoria Gallery London 1991

So, overall question, if you take the Nursery Rhymes promos as an example, does this mean there are 24 other different promos out there for the rest of that particular series or is the Cat and the Fiddle card, just issued as a promotional card for the rest of the series? Also, the same could be asked of the other known sets?

quote:

Please, a little respect, for I am Costanza, lord of the idiots...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cardscout182,

cardscout182

It is most unlikely that Cofton would have released multiple promo cards for the Nursery Rhymes set. As far as I know they did not release promo cards for any of their other sets.

To my knowledge he only known series that did have multiple cards was the CCC Dr Who set as promo cards were issued of the various Doctors because the cards were stuck on the front of a Dr Who magazine. These cards are difficult to find not stuck to the magazine and if found stuck they are difficult to remove without damaging the card.

Is it possible for you to scan images front and back of the Wyatt Earp and Christopher Columbus cards. If cannot post them here email them to me and I will do it for you.

regards

John

I can try to scan the Wyatt Earp and Columbus cards tomorrow. I was planning on scanning a few other cards anyway.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:
cardscout182

It is most unlikely that Cofton would have released multiple promo cards for the Nursery Rhymes set. As far as I know they did not release promo cards for any of their other sets.

To my knowledge he only known series that did have multiple cards was the CCC Dr Who set as promo cards were issued of the various Doctors because the cards were stuck on the front of a Dr Who magazine. These cards are difficult to find not stuck to the magazine and if found stuck they are difficult to remove without damaging the card.

Is it possible for you to scan images front and back of the Wyatt Earp and Christopher Columbus cards. If cannot post them here email them to me and I will do it for you.

regards

John

email sent John

I'm sorry for the delay. Here's the Wyatt Earp card:

And here's the Christopher Columbus card.

Jess

Thank you

regards

John