Those are all excellent points.
If T206 is taken as one set, one press run, then the 150 onlys matter more. If it's looked at as a group of related sets with multiple press runs then they probably matter less. I'm leaning that way, except........
Of the 13 only two didn't make the cut in any way - Pattee and Wagner.
One continued almost unchanged - Magie became Magee.
Three continued the same pose - Brown(e) Brown, and Evers. Brown(e) only got a team change, the other two were entirely recolored.
All the rest continued with pose changes. but with different patterns in 350 and beyond. Schulte didn't get back until the 460's
So in a way nearly all of them made the cut.
I have to wonder why they didn't simply continue with the same art?
One of the few ideas that makes sense is that the transfers were done in blocks or strips. From original art done in strips. Strips of 6 would make some sense. So maybe early layout with 6, later with some other plan. Perhaps 6/6/5 with Wagner removed? That doesn't quite cover the imbalance in population figures, but an unbalanced arrangement would.
Powers making the cut for 649op but not for 350 makes sense considering his death and unbalanced distribution. They may have sent more to Philly than other places . More indication that there was a fairly large break between 150 and 350. And another puzzle. If the 649 op sheet was 34 subjects, and was made especially for that group (I think it was, especially if it related to regional distribution) Why an overprint and not a 649 back?
The sheet setup could have varied with the size of the order for cards. Between Piedmont and SC, yes it would have been a matter of 500 sheets of one 400 of the other. (Using your small comfortable numbers
) And small orders like BL, Drum, Uzit, etc they probably did only use what was on hand, so only one sheet. Those brands I simply haven't found enough images to draw any conclusions about whether they came from one set of plates or two.
But for the middle size brands It would have been a matter of balancing the setup time vs the running time. So If I have an order for lets say 100,000 Piedmonts, 1000 BL, and 50,000 Sovereign I might free up a larger press by running the sovereigns on a smaller one So I'd do the Piedmonts as (Obviously not real numbers) 1000 sheets of 100. Then swap back plates and run 10 sheets of BL. Which would take a ton of labor compared to the run time. Then I might do the Sovs as 1000 sheets of 50. That spreads the setup time across more sheets reducing the labor cost/sheet.
I'm sure there's a formula for press size/quantity/labor cost But that was one of the few areas of printing they didn't involve me in. I do know that we had a small press that ran stuff in the 8 1/2x11 range a medium size one that did roughly 24" wide sheets and two 35 inch presses. And eventually a 35 inch two color press. The big ones were used for larger orders. Like a million or so bank deposit slips. The tiny one did stuff like a couple thousand business cards and a few hundred ads for a cheese business. The business cards were only 4 to a sheet.
Steve B