T206 American Beauty backs, and trim

[Ericc22]

Hey Chris, nice snag. That was the one I noticed. Congrats on the card. Glad you got a good price on it. I'd be curious to know if that is a typical AB card. I assume it is, but just a bit off center.

Thanks and enjoy the card!

Eric

[atx840]

Thanks,

I am no expert on these, the 5 I own are all short side to side like this one. Most I see are slightly OC, possibly due to the original cut being off then the second cut even more so. No clue why they were double cut as the packaging does not look narrower.

[frohme]

There was a Net54 thread on this not so long ago, but search is not my friend tonight. The gist of it, IIRC, was that there are a number of cards in the AB realm that have relatively normal borders. I have no clue whether this was a general statement or if it only applied to certain instances of those cards.

My exposure was only to Pirates - the Leifield (350NF) and Miller (350F) seem about normal - the others were all much narrower.





--
Mike

[steve B]

There are also a few regular cards that are nearly AB narrow but aren't trimmed.

Like this one. I didn't notice how narrow it is till I got it back.

Steve B

[canjond]

The size of AB cards may be as simple as sheet configuration. Although the long standing rumor was the packs are narrower, resulting in a small width tot he cards, that is completely not the case. I have AB packs from 1905, 1908 and 1910. All are the exact same size, and all match the same dimensions as other T206 packs (ala Old Mill, SC, Piedmont, Sovereign, etc).

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by canjond

The size of AB cards may be as simple as sheet configuration. Although the long standing rumor was the packs are narrower, resulting in a small width tot he cards, that is completely not the case. I have AB packs from 1905, 1908 and 1910. All are the exact same size, and all match the same dimensions as other T206 packs (ala Old Mill, SC, Piedmont, Sovereign, etc).

Thanks, and apologies for keeping the rumor alive!

[Abravefan11]

Originally Posted by canjond

The size of AB cards may be as simple as sheet configuration.

Hi Jon - Based on the distribution and printing information I don't believe the sheet configuration for American Beauties were any different than other backs. Sheets were printed first with the front images and then had the backs added later. In the case of at least two, and possibly all three, of the AB backs, they were applied to a standard sheet that another back was as well, Broad Leaf, Cycle and Drum for example.

American Beauties were cut from a standard sheet and received at least one if not two more cuts to vertically thin the cards.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by canjond

The size of AB cards may be as simple as sheet configuration. Although the long standing rumor was the packs are narrower, resulting in a small width tot he cards, that is completely not the case. I have AB packs from 1905, 1908 and 1910. All are the exact same size, and all match the same dimensions as other T206 packs (ala Old Mill, SC, Piedmont, Sovereign, etc).

Jon

Is it possible that ATC was planning (circa 1910-1911) to market the American Beauty brand with a slimmer cigarette, which would have resulted in a narrower
(10-cigarette) pack ?

Therefore, American Lithographic, in anticipation of this, trimmed down all their American Beauty cards.







A full 10-pack of 100-year old cigarettes....and gee, am I tempted to light up one of these American Beauty's


TED Z

[canjond]

Ted- I guess anything is possible, but given the expense that would most likely have been involved in changing pack size, it's probably unlikely. Maybe ABs weren't printed by the ALC and whatever printer printed them, cut them a bit thinner?