Enamel Sign For Palyer's Cigarettes

An early enamel sign advertizing Player's cigarettes made between 1905 and 1916.
38 ins x 58 ins.
In 1885 the company of John Player and Sons Ltd bought the portrait of a sailor by Wright of Clapham. At this date the image was being used by the company Parkins of Chester to promote their product, Jack’s Glory, principally a pipe tobacco product.
Having bought the portrait, John Player took the sailor’s head and used it as the logo for his prosperous company producing cigarettes and rolling tobacco. By 1891 this original painting was effectively no more, Player having added a life belt in 1888 and two ships in 1891; H.M.S Britannia and H.M.S. Hero. The resulting image retained as the REGd. TRADE MARK in this enamel sign.
There followed several similar portraits of sailors promoting Player’s cigarettes and from 1905 the sailor’s portrait showed the cap tally H.M.S. Invincible. At the Battle of the Falklands Islands in 1914, battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible destroyed the whole of the German Squadron, sinking the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau. Throughout the battle, Invincible fired 515 12 inch shells and sustained damage needing dockyard repairs in Gibraltar, yet not one crew member sustained injury. However, on returning to battle at Jutland in 1915, Invincible was blown into two parts when coming under simultaneous fire from two German ships, sinking with the loss of 1026 men. Out of respect for these lost souls and their families, by 1st of June, the last day of the Battle of Jutland, the cap tally of H.M.S. Invincible was no longer used.
In 1927 A.D. McCormick was commissioned to produce the final version of his sailor logo, using the cap tally HERO, HMS being omitted in error and irretrievable after registration.