The N29 and N43 Allen & Ginter Sets

[Steve D]

According to the American Tobacco Cards Price Guide & Checklist by Robert Forbes and Terence Mitchell, the ten Allen & Ginter sets from N35 - N44 are all large format sets, that reuse the same artwork as found in the following sets:

N35 American Editors = N1
N36 The American Indian = N2
N37 Birds of America = N4
N38 Birds of the Tropics = N5
N39 Fish from American Waters = N8
N40 Game Birds = N13
N41 Quadrupeds = N21
N42 Song Birds of the World = N23
N43 The World's Champions = N29
N44 The World's Decorations = N30

The back of each card says that a card is packed in each box of 20 cigarettes. The book's writeup for the N35 set says that each card was packed in a "tin".

It also indicates that the sets were all issued in the 1887-1890 period, so it appears that it's just a simple case of A&G expanding the artwork from the smaller cards, to fit a larger card in a larger cigarette package.

I haven't found any indication that other companies did this.

Steve