Our set of the month for September is an excellent production both pictorially and for its historic descriptive detail, and it is the definitive World War II card series – all the more impressive for having been issued just five years after the war ended, during a period of austerity and rationing. We are referring to “British War Leaders” issued by Joseph Lingford & Son with their baking powder, pudding mixtures, cornflower, jellies and blanc-mange. Each of the thirty-six men in the set played a vital part in securing victory. They include Battle of Britain chief Hugh Dowding, Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris C-in-C of Bomber Command, Leigh-Mallory commander of Allied air operations on D-Day (he died in an air-crash in France in 1944), Louis Mountbatten Supreme Allied Comander S.E. Asia (assassinated by the IRA in 1979), Bernard Montgomery and, of course, Winston Churchill war-time Prime Minister and leader of the opposition when these cards came out. This set is a must for every collection.

This set of 36 British War Leaders issued by Lingford in 1950 in finest collectible condition is catalogued at £50.00.