Military

Having been trading in Cigarette silks (Mainly with a Military Theme) for over 5 years and particularly the last 3 on ebay, I get asked the same questions from buyers and interested partys regularly. So i will attempt to put the answers here as the information is neither readily available or accurate...

I often get asked "What is a Cigarette Silk?" and for those who dont already know, It is a small peice of Printed (or woven) Satin (Almost never Silk) given away free inside Yester-years cigarette packets in the same manner as cigarette cards. Sometimes they came on a backing card or in a paper packet and more often than not with nothing at all. With the passing of years they have become increasingly collectable and valueable.......

One of the most common misconceptions I hear(And have read in print) goes as follows"Silks came about during WW1 due to the paper shortage making cigarette cards impossible or to expensive"..While this may be a possible contributing factor to the rise in popularity of Silks, It is most definatley not thesole factor.....

There were silk issues in the USA from the lateVictorian period and the UKs ownGodfrey Phillipshad issued over 20 different seriesbetween 1910 and the outbreak of war...Also a fair few series were issued with card or paper backs making the paper shortage theory incredulous..

Although there were many different subject matters with the Outbreak of WW1 the Military Badges and Regimental Colours, Uniforms, Medals,Regimental Crests, Warshipsand War Heroes became the order of the day, especially for the male smokers...

Although during the war there were lots of companys issuing silks, By far the most prolific Issuer in the UK was Godfrey Phillips, they issued more silks than all the other Uk makers combined...Their B.D.V. Brand was very popular at the time and many examples can still be easily found cheaply today...They also issued as many unbranded or anonymous silks in thier other brands of tobacco and Cigarettes and many silks were isssued by other tobacco companys after they amalgamated with Phillips.....

Other UK Tobacco Companys who issued silks were: E