T-206 Centennial

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Hey Ted,

My thoughts... I can see the cover of Mr. Lipset's Encyclopedia covering 20th century tobacco cards, it has that Sporting Life ad enlarged, and Lew got someone to color in the artwork. The names are at the tops of those cards. Which is where the names are in every ad I've seen.

I wonder if, while looking at the printed but uncut sheets, someone decided the names looked better at the bottom, and cut them that way. Most of us have seen T206s with a bit of name at the top... I have a Ryan (Roanoke, I think) where there is no name. And lots of margin, top and bottom. It is taller than many T206s. I'm wondering now if he was cut from the bottom of the sheet...

I'd like to know the name of the company that actually did the printing. American Tobacco didn't, Sweet Caporal didn't, some lithography company out there printed these cards, just as they'd print cardboard boxes, business cards, business forms, and the like.