[tedzan]

In the late 19th century there were three major Caramel Company's. Milton Hershey founded the Lancaster Caramel Co. in Pennsylvania
in 1886. The Breisch-Hine Co. of Philadelphia and the P. C. Wiest Co. of York, PA merged together to form the American Caramel Co. in
1889. Its founder, Daniel LaFean, acquired the Lancaster Caramel Co. from Hershey in 1900 for $1 Million. This expansion resulted in the
American Caramel Company controlling 90% of the caramel candy market in the country at the beginning of the 20th Century.

LaFean was an avid Philadelphia A's fan and a close friend to Connie Mack. LaFean was a shrewd businessman and in 1908, he started to
include BB card premiums with his Caramel products. The 1st set of cards in 1908 were the E91's (33-card series). Followed up by the 1st
series of E90 cards in late 1908 (and early 1909).

In what form these early E-cards were packaged with caramels, I'm not certain of. There was a great thread on Croft's candies on Net54
by Scott Mosley a few years back that illustrated how candies in the Philadelphia area were packaged.



TED Z