Nursery Land series

Exhibitor : Ad Jansen

The “Nursery Land” labels were registered in Great Britain by Fredrik Emil Kreuger on 21-10-1902.

The sets of Nursery Land consist of 60 labels : 30 front and 30 back labels. In his catalogue Arne Tejder says that all 60 labels have side panels, but this is not true – only the back labels are three panel labels.

Packet labels also exist, and a collectors’ album was issued to hold them.

The Nursery Land series was so popular that fake labels or forgeries were created by unscrupulous merchants, labels which have found their way into many Phillumenists’ collections.

Seven sets

Seven different sets of Nursery Land labels were issued, between 1902 and about 1910.

Set 1 : Blue on white paper

29 front panels, 30 back three panel and 60 packet labels, so number 19 exists in packet size only.

Set 2 : Blue on white paper

29 fronts (?) and there may be also packet labels. The size of the letters of “Nursery Land” is bigger and also the shape of the letters of “Safety Matches” is slightly different. There is only one packet label known with the bigger lettering of “Nursery Land” and that is the back label 52, so a big question does it belong to this set.

Set 3 : Black on yellow paper

30 fronts, 30 backs and 60 packet labels. From the three panels labels 3 varieties are known.

Set 4 : Black on yellow paper and “Paraffin Matches” instead of “Safety Matches”

All 60 packet labels are known, but only one box label pops up from time to time.

The width of the box label is smaller than the labels in the other sets. The label number 34 has the same text but with another picture as in the other sets.

The layout of the box label gives the idea that it has not been used as a back label. It might well be that the boxes had other backs like those shown in set 7.

Set 5 : Odd box and packet labels

Arne Tejder lists under 3b a “set” of 4 box and 4 packet labels. Compared to the set labels these four labels show a different type of letters. If you look at the letter type of “Nursery Land” one sees also that they are different, so it is questionable the labels belong to a set. They might well be odd labels. This idea is also strengthened by the fact that 18 has printing number 832 and 30 number 1073.

Set 5 # 17

Set 5 # 18

Set 5 # 30

Set 5 # 34

Set 5 Type 3 #34a

Set 5 Type 1h like #30

Set 5 Type 1h like #30

Set 6 : Misprints

At the bottom of label number 32 the up side down wording : “A Cherry” is missing.

Set 7 : Closure labels, which may be also used as back labels

Closure label #1

Closure label #2

Closure label #3

Closure label #4

Closure label #5

Closure label #6

As one can see in the text on these labels a collectors’ book with the 60 packet labels could be obtained if you sent a complete set of these to the mentioned address in London. These books can be found regularly with respect to the blue on white labels. The book with the yellow on black labels is rather rare and of the “Paraffin” one only one book is known.

These labels were used as so called “Closure Labels”. As one can see on the envelope below it says 1583 F. The F means that the labels were used on the sides of the packets to collate the ends of the packing paper together. 

The sequential order of the printing numbers, which may be also stock numbers, also gives an idea of the period when the labels were used. The fact that the label was in the stock of Jönköpings Tändsticksfabrik gives the idea that it is issued after the birth of S.T.A.B. in 1917.

Forgeries

One can find many forgeries of the Nursery Land set. The forgeries however are always in one colour print and only the front panel labels – if backs occur mint they should then have the side panels. In some cases the prints look very genuine with respect to blue on white paper, and it is only for specialists to see if you are dealing with the original labels. My advice is to collect only labels that have been on the box. Even that is sometimes difficult given the fact that “collectors” have tried to imitate the blue colour which can be left when soaking off the labels. A good example of this practice is label 19 in the blue on white set. If you have this label I can tell that this is not genuine. There is one uncut printing sheet of this set known of the 30 front panel labels and on this sheet 19 has been superseded by another label. This counts only for the blue on white set, 19 does exist in the black on yellow variety (set 4).

The scans on the right show front and back of number 19 and you can see that it is very confusing. The blue is almost like the genuine set. The paper is not correct, but you have to feel it to know that. The blue colour on the back gives the idea that the label is genuine. The person who tried to fake the label made however a major mistake. The blue paper on the wooden boxes was dented and not straight. The reason people wanted to fake the labels is simply because they wanted to make lots of money.

No forgeries of the packet labels have been found.

Cornish Match “Nursery Rhyme” series, 1970s

In 1970 the Cornish Match Company issued a set of 60 box-size labels and 60 packet labels called “Nursery Rhyme” which used the same design as the Nursery Land sets.

They also issued a collector’s album for the packet labels, and in 1975 issued a second set of 60 box-size labels for NSS Newsagents.

Nursery Rhymes collectors' album, cover page

Nursery Rhymes collectors' album, inside page

Nursery Rhymes collectors' album, inside page

Nursery Rhymes packet and two box labels