Given that neither the print nor the e-book version of the Dawson/Hochman Encyclopedia, as well as the Cigarette Card Supplement compiled by Alex Clays issued in June 2024 (reference AC77), show a picture of a card from the "Blue Chip" series represented by the Hochman ICA4 listing in the Canadian Insert section of Chapter 19, I thought I would share a photo of this elusive card with my fellow playing card collectors now that I have finally managed to secure a single example for my collection. I do not know if the blue color of this card will appear to viewers of this posting, but it is one of only two known issues by MacDonald that were printed on blue stock, the other being the Hochman ICA6a listing which also lacks a pictured card in the encyclopedia but is here shown below in the 2nd photo.
The Hochman ICA4 example does read "Blue Chip Series" in light printing at approximately the top center of the card and does refer to these cards in the copy below as "Blue Chip" Pictures. The back design is the same as that already shown with the Hochman ICA3 listing in the encyclopedia. This special offer of 3 packs of "British Consols" or "Brier" full size playing cards was short-lived and expired on Aug. 31, 1932, which is the same expiration date as those ICA3 cards with overprinted letters "B" and "C" which offered the customary single pack of full-size playing cards in exchange for the complete 53-card set of these insert cards. It is understandable why cards from this particular set are so hard to come by given the abbreviated duration of the offer and the distinct possibility that anyone who actually did manage to complete this set by the deadline undoubtedly redeemed it for the special 3-pack offer. I do not know what the inspiration behind this concurrent special offer from MacDonald was.
The Hochman ICA6a example has an expiration date of March 31, 1941, and offers the same single-pack redemption as the regular buff-colored cards from this series with different expiration dates represented by the Hochman ICA6 listing. The back design is the same as the 2nd back shown with the Hochman ICA6 listing featuring a picture of an airplane accompanied by the "Daily Mail" banner. Unlike the obvious reason why the ICA4 cards were printed on blue stock, I do not know why these cards with this particular expiration date were printed in this same manner some 9 years later.
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