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What did Red Rose
Issue for Tea Cards?
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Brooke Bond was Red Rose's parent company back when the tea
cards were issued. Brooke Bond sold tea and issued cards in Great Britain,
Ireland, Canada, the US, South Africa and Rhodesia. The only two Red Rose
/ Brooke Bond holdings were in Canada and the US. Every set listed below
contains 48 cards. Lipton bought Red Rose of Canada while Salada has the US
Red Rose label. Lipton re-issued one set in 1990 and almost issued another in
1991. I am aware of at least two sets and a half dozen spares of the 1991
dinosaurs even though as far as I know, they were never issued via the tea.
17 Canadian and 10 American series were issued from Red Rose / Brooke Bond.
Three of the American releases were identical in every way to their Canadian counterpart so many say there are only seven
"true" American series.
Both the American and Canadian issues used the same numbering scheme. Additionally, if the Canadian Series 5 was Dinosaurs then the American Series 5 (if there was one) was also Dinosaurs.
Comparison of Black Backs to Blue
Backs
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Canadian Card
#23 (Iguanodon) Compared to US Version |
For the most part, the two major differences between Canadian and American cards are the address at the bottom and the back color of the card. Blue backing is only found on most American cards. All of the Canadian Series are Black backed and one American Series can be found in Black and Blue.
There are other "specialty cards" discussed in two related sections named
Variations and Errors. I
am sure you could argue that something I call a "variation" might be
an "error" to you. Just to be safe, you better look at both pages!
Here's a list of all of the series and when they were issued.
There are album and card pictures elsewhere on this site. Find them at your
leisure or click the word "Album" or "Cards" to go to the
pictures. Some pics aren't available just yet but hang in there.
Red Rose Tea Card Issues of Canada ('59-'74) and the US ('60-'69)
|
| Series |
Series
Name |
Canadian
Issued |
US
Issued |
Cards
/ Album |
| 1 |
Songbirds of
North America |
July 1959 |
Not Issued! |
Cards
Album |
| 2 |
Animals of North
America |
August 1960 |
August 1960 |
Album |
| 3 |
Wild Flowers of
North America |
July 1961 |
July 1961 |
Album |
| 4 |
Birds of North
America |
July 1962 |
July 1962 |
Album |
| 5 |
Dinosaurs |
June 1963 |
June 1963 |
Cards
Album |
| 6 |
Tropical Birds |
February 1964 |
February 1964 |
Album |
| 7 |
African Animals |
October 1964 |
Not Issued! |
|
| 8 |
Butterflies of
North America |
June 1965 |
September 1965 |
|
| 9 |
Canadian /
American Songbirds |
August 1966 |
August 1966 |
Cards |
| 10 |
Transportation
Through the Ages |
September 1967 |
Identical to
Canadian* |
Cards |
| 11 |
Trees of North
America |
July 1968 |
Identical to
Canadian* |
Cards |
| 12 |
The Space Age |
July 1969 |
Identical to
Canadian* |
Cards |
| 13 |
North American
Wildlife In Danger |
August 1970 |
Not Issued! |
Cards |
| 14 |
Exploring the
Oceans |
August 1971 |
Not Issued! |
Cards |
| 15 |
Animals and Their
Young |
July 1972 |
Not Issued! |
Album |
| 16 |
The Arctic |
July 1973 |
Not Issued! |
Album |
| 17 |
Indians of Canada |
July 1974 |
Not Issued! |
Cards |
* - Proof of Issue
I made a change to the list above based on a question from another
collector. I had originally said that series 11 and 12 had never been issued in
the US. Shame on me. Of course they were issued. My grandmother used to save the
series 12 Space Age cards for me and she lived in Maine. Thanks to Robert Skurda for asking a question that started me
thinking.
As stated above, Red Rose was bought by Lipton and they made the wise choice
of re-issuing the cards. Unfortunately, only one series made it to the boxes
before they stopped. Here is Lipton's list of Red Rose Tea cards.
Lipton's Red Rose Tea Card Issues of Canada
|
| Series |
Series
Name |
Canadian
Issued |
Comments |
| 1 |
Animals and Their
Young |
1990 |
Re-Issue
of RR Series 15 |
|
2 ? |
Dinosaurs |
1991 |
Never
released Re-Issue of RR Series 5. A few sets exist. |
Are you curious if there are any differences in the Animals and Their
Young series? You can check out the
comparison here. | 
