[Exhibitman]

Not really. What the photo would do is pin down the earliest possible date. Like the Jim Thorpe in Native American headdress. A copy of the photo that was used to make that card was discovered with the original news caption intact and therefore dated the card to no earlier than the date of the photo.

As for work flow, my research indicates that the company released cards continually; they advertised new issues released on average every 60 days. They also undoubtedly replaced cards on sheets over the course of an issue. This is best determined from the 1920s boxing sets because they have bio/stats and copyright dates on the backs, and some of them actually have stats that post-date the copyright dates (e.g., a 1928 card with 1929 bouts reported). There are also odd set counts relative to sheet size, which means there were replacements.

I don't think we are ever going to get clarity on this unless there is a lucky find of company archival material or uncut sheets. That is how I proved that the Salutations were issued long after the supposed 1947 cut-off: I had a Ted Williams on the same sheet as a Rocky Colavito Detroit card (he was traded to Detroit after the 1959 season).