What's an Order Form?

Some people are not satisfied to just collect the cards and albums. Some people just have to have more. What else is there to collect? Completion cards for one, Free Album Coupons for another, and Paid Album Coupons after that and Order Forms to boot. They were issued in some of the early albums and were sent out from Red Rose with requests for cards or albums. They offered complete sets of cards, sometimes just the cards and other times the cards and albums. It was always .50¢ a set of cards and .75¢ for a card set with an album. 

Are there different kinds of Order Forms?

Yes, there are a few different kinds of Order Forms. They all say the same thing at the top, though. "Order Form" and some other verbiage. Of course, the reverse side was in French and said "Formule De Commande".

Some order forms offer complete sets and/or complete sets and matching albums. Sometimes the albums were offered separately. They could also offer single cards (like completion cards and forms) for the last series run. Also, some of the older albums had them as inserts and when Red Rose mailed you back your cards and albums, frequently a factory version was sent back for you to order more.  The list of forms is:

These images have been reduced to thumbnails to save you time in loading the page. Click each one to see the actual images. Once the large one has been viewed, click "Back" on your browser to return to this page.
	Version "H"	Version "I"

What do the Different Versions Mean?

What is the difference between an "H" and an "I"? I know they look a lot alike but there are some differences. Read on.

• "H"   -  The "H" is any order form that comes from an album insert. To the best of my knowledge this includes series 2 to series 7. They are all album page size and as far as I know there are no variations, only the six different kinds (one for each series).

• "I"   - The "I" coupon came from Red Rose to generate repeat business. I thank Willy Groombridge for pointing out this type of form to me. In his image below, the type "H" album form (in the background) was mailed in for a complete set and album of each series,  one through three. As was typical, when they mailed back the order they enclosed the original form. Note that they also enclosed a fresh order form from them. So the "H" form is   in the background of this image whilst the "I" form is in the foreground. The difference of the two forms is not in the words but the color (or lack of color in the "I" form.) Other than color, the forms seem identical although one could argue that the type "H"s would have perforations or scissor cuts whilst the "I"s would not.

How do you know which series the order form is from? Well, each of the type "H"s are clear. Whatever album each came from was the same one as was displayed last on the list. In other words, the order form from the series 6 album offered the Tropical Birds (series 6) album for .25¢ as the last item on its list. Since the early "I"s are pretty much identical to the "H"s, we can assume the same thing with them. If you click the 17 on the "I" row above, you will note that the form lists the 17th series last. It makes sense that this is the order form for the 17th series.  While we are on the subject of the 17th series form, did you notice that they ran out of albums for series 12 Space Age after they printed the form and had to manually adjust the forms (both  sides).

Thanks to Dave Huebert for some patience and the image for the 9th series "I" form. Three years ago Dave tried to get me to explain why this form looked slightly different from the one in the album. What can I say? I must have been focused on something else. Either that or the email got lost in the ether. Either way, it proves that you have to be persistent. Dave's got the right point of view, he's just happy it is out there now for everyone to discuss.   

What do you think the chances are that there are some undiscovered type "I"s? I would say pretty damn good! Start scouring your stuff and get an image or two off to me.

Last modified: April 4, 2020 

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