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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Hey Lee,

I think most of what is in that link is correct. But not all.

I agree that the American Lithograph Co. produced the cards. I think they were contracted to do so by James B. Duke's American Tobacco Trust, to produce the cards. May well have been that Piedmont sought that first, and when it boosted sales then all of the other ATT companies followed along.

I do NOT think that American Litho was part of the Trust. Here's a link to a current eBay item produced by American Litho in 1895, which ante dates our dear white border cards by 14 years, which is before the Trust, I think.

http://tinyurl.com/2m8bc3

So I think the Trust, or Piedmont, contacted American Litho about doing cards. American Litho did them, front AND back, probably cut them, and shipped them to the various companies as inserts in the packages.

Now, to find me one of those unused packages of cards... maybe a huge package of various series 460 cards that went unused.