Top Secret Messages and Top Ruggers, c1900

It's not the first time that I'm displaying this fine serie of 1900s top ruggers from Home Countries... but this time, I was happy enough to find a whole serie from the same owner... and it comes with some mysterious secret code !!

Let's first mention that these chromo-litho postcards were first published in 1899 - some of the very first rugby postcards ever ; full story here by Brian Lund @ ovalballs.com - to portray (from top) J.T.Mabon of Jed Forest and Scotland, the legendary A.J.Gould from Newport and Wales, the no-less-legendary Louis Magee of Bective Rangers and Ireland (Hello to the Magee family!) and J.F.Byrne of Moseley and England (Hello to Moseley fans !)



Having said that, what is this intrigating hand-wrtting on the cards ? I guess that two kids had elaborated a secret code to exchange messages... a mix between greek alphabet, hebrew or just algebrical signs (and a lot of "@"... maybe some XIXth century geeks...)... it doesn't seem very difficult to break as it's a basic "one sign" = "one letter" code but I am a bit lazy there... first and last word are always the same and must be the names of these young spies !

Full size pictures @ Flickr : Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England

Enjoy !