Errors Within a Series

There are several "error" items and cards that make for a more interesting level of collecting. Sometimes numbers on the cards get mixed up or they use a couple of different views on the same card. Sometimes a back color is different. Sometimes they use the wrong die to cut them. Sometimes they make a mistake on the text and have to correct it on the next run. Sometimes they never even correct it. Kinda makes you wonder if they ever even noticed.

• Card Mix Ups are common in many sets of cigarette and tea cards and Red Rose is no exception. Series 10 has issues with cards 9 and 10 as well as a two different views with the London bus image. Some verbiage changes from different runs of the cards. The "Animals of NA" series 2 has a different number of countries listed on a seal card (three and four). 
  
  
• Dies Used to Cut the cards have always been round cornered. There is no exception to this in the Brooke Bond series from 1959 to 1974 but there are cards circulating from the 1990 Lipton reissue of "Animals and Their Young" that are square cornered. For quite a while I have believed these card to be Proof Cards but I am quite convinced that they are errors. For whatever reason, they chose to cut the cards with a square cornered die. Philip Millen wrote and said, "... I have a part set of the Animals and Their Young Lipton's which are square cornered. They came from a guy in Ontario who maintained that some had gone into packets in that area. I was skeptical, but on close examination I can tell that they were die cut. You can tell if the cutters have gone through the board from front to back. It is interesting to note that generally, some sheets were punched from the backside, leaving a frayed front edge on the board (Canadian butterflies is sometimes like this). I can believe that the lady you mention genuinely pulled out some cards from a packet!. It just means the printer used the wrong die cutter by mistake...." and yet another strong opinion in favor of the die cut square cornered cards. All of Brooke Bonds British, South African and Rhodesian cards were square cornered. In a way, it is funny that the Brooke Bond US and Canadian cards were not the same way...



• Printer Errors where just a few cards are effected. It is very hard to get more than a few examples. Normally, when noticed, these get destroyed by the printers without ever getting in the boxes. Although interesting, they are hard to collect and are not worth a lot. Of course, there are other printer errors that just never get caught. Now are there three b's in Ribbon or just two? Click here to find out.
  
  
• Processing Errors occur when the cards or other items are packaged improperly. This could be like receiving two halves of a tea card instead of a whole one or getting something non-standard in a cello. Do you have any processing errors? 
  
  
• Localization Errors occur when you attempt to grab something from somewhere else and try to make it look like it came from here. As an example, Series 10, Transportation Through the Ages, was a direct "borrow" from the British Brooke Bond Series 16, Transport Through the Ages. It was "Americanized" by making it fit the mold of the previous Canadian/American issues. During the process, one of the pictures changed, but not the words. There is no variation to collect as it appears they never corrected the error in the issue. It is an error none-the-less. 
  

Red Rose Tea Card Series Collectable Errors
Series	Series Name	Errors
1	Songbirds of North America	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
2	Animals of North America	The number 36 card has two different titles on the text side. The more common is the "Wapiti (Elk) title. This is found on all US cards, Canadian Rolland cards and the 47 mm Roland cards. The more rare text is "Wapiti" and it is found only on the Canadian Roland 49mm cards.
		The number 46 card, Fur Seal, has two variations, one text refers to four countries whilst the other refers to three countries. Three Countries is found on all US cards and both Canadian Roland cards (47 mm and 49 mm). Only the Rolland cards carry the Four Countries difference.
3	Wildflowers of North America	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
4	Birds of North America	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
5	Dinosaurs	I am not aware of any errors for either version of the series.
	Dinosaurs - 1991 Lipton reissue (almost)
6	Tropical Birds	The Red Topped variation of Tropical Birds has an error on all of the cards. At the bottom on the back it says "Blue Ribbbon" with three b's.
7	African Animals	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
8	Butterflies of North America	The number 31 card has two variations in the Canadian series. The error is about the orientation of the picture. The most common is landscape (NWF along long side) while the rarer is portrait (NWF running along short side).
9	Canadian / American Songbirds	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
10	Transportation Through The Ages	The number 9 card is suppose to be Galley and number 10 is supposed to be Kayak (according to the album). In the red topped series, the cards are always reversed, 9 is Kayak and 10 is Galley. In the black topped series, the majority are correct but a few can be found that are reversed, like the red topped ones.  Card number 29, the London bus has two different views and 3 variations. The bus is turned slightly different. It is easier to notice that the Red Rose sign on the side of the bus has a white background on the majority of the black topped cards while a few rare ones have the other view that has a blue backed Red Rose sign. The final variation is that all red topped buses have the rarer view.  Card number 19, Modern Steam Locomotive, has a red top variation. The sun appears on some red tops while others do not have the sun. The black top series (to date) has only yielded sunless cards. As to which red top is more rare, only time will tell. Card number 47, Nuclear Submarine has a text error across all Red Rose variations.
11	Trees of North America	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
12	The Space Age	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
13	North American Wildlife In Danger	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
14	Exploring the Oceans	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
15	Animals and Their Young	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
	Animals and Their Young - 1990 Lipton reissue	I am not aware of any errors for this series.
16	The Arctic	The number 9 card has two variations. The most common is a white lettered sign and the rarer is a blue lettered sign.   The number 18 card has two variations of the name John A. Macdonald.
17	Indians of Canada	I am not aware of any errors for this series.

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