Quote:
Originally Posted by oldjudge
Rhett is exactly right. The decade of the 1890s was the quietest decade of card issuance by far. What must have made it seem even worse to contemporary collectors then was that the second half of the 1880s was probably the greatest time for cigarette card issuance ever. Then, in early 1890, James Duke formed the American Tobacco Company, a monopoly that controlled over 90% of the cigarette market. Overnight, the need to insert cards to differentiate one cigarette brand from another was obviated. Really the only semi-significant card issue of the 1890s was the Mayo set. The only set encompassing most of Major League baseball was the amazing Whitehead and Hoag pins. So, if you love cards, you have good reason to hate James Duke.
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Yes, the practice of insert cards all but stopped when competition ended in January, 1890 when Buck Duke chartered the ATC - forcing his competitors to unite in order to survive. The 1895 N300 Mayo Cut Plug cards and in subsequent years the game and comic sets. Mayo fell at the start of 20th century.
However, during the quiet 1890s, Duke did go through the expense of issuing the 1893 N135 Talk of the Diamond & 1894 N142 Honest Cabinets Sets.