Seventy years ago Glasgow hosted the Empire Exhibition Scotland 1938, and, fittingly, the local tobacco firm, Stephen Mitchell & Son, celebrated the event with a series of 25 cigarette cards, our set of the month for August. The exhibition, staged at Moss Park, featured national pavilions, an amusement park, a lake with 100-foot high fountains, and an observation tower 300-feet tall with lifts to whisk visitors to the top. Some idea of the grand scale can be gained from the fact that six 300-foot wide entrances each with sixteen turnstiles were needed “so that the vast crowds which throng the Exhibition daily can be cleared speedily”. The card backs proudly describe the facilities – including the Press Club where newsmen could relax in the exclusive billiard room, card room, lounge and restaurant, and maybe even use one of the many typewriters or the array of telephones. The City of Glasgow pavilion was one of the largest and we are informed that “when the Exhibition is over, the pavilion will be retained as a permanent centre for the sports park which will be laid out there.”

This set of 25 Empire Exhibition Scotland issued by Stephen Mitchell in 1938 in finest collectible condition is catalogued at £25.00.