[tedzan]

Originally Posted by toppcat

Interesting comment and something that illustrates just how strange the AB sizing issue is. I have long thought the cards where shipped in uncut sheets along with the cigarette box flats and cut at the factory but if so why would another cut be made, presumably at the AB factory? Crazy monster.....

Sorry to differ with you ole buddy....but, I can't imagine that uncut sheets of T206's were shipped to the Tobacco factories and cut at those facilities. The workers
at these factories were low-wage laborers who essentially sorted and packaged cigarettes (and other related tobacco products) as they rolled off the machinery.

In my opinion, the cutting of the cards was done professionally at American Litho. (ALC) in NYC. Actually, I wish your scenario was true. Because, then there would
be a higher probability of finding some uncut sheets of T206's out there in the hinterlands.


Regarding the narrower American Beauty cards, sometime back I posted an idea that ALC possibly printed this series with an additional card across a given sheet.
So that, in the cutting process, each card was narrower by approx. 1/16th of an inch.

Or, perhaps the factory producing the American Beauty cigarettes originally told ALC that they were intending to market a narrower pack containing 8 cigarettes.
Therefore, ALC anticipated this change by cutting the cards narrower.

However, we know that this was not so........here is a standard 10-cigarette pack.




TED Z