Posted By:
robert aI don't assume that E98 is connected to E97 or any other caramel set for that matter. We all know that many issues borrowed similar styles from each other like T206, T213, T215 etc. Candy companies must've been a bit cheaper though.
Since both E94 and E98 don't have a company name printed on the back, there has to be a good reason for it. Based on the plausible success or buzz of the E97 set, perhaps anonymous sets of popular players were issued so that small businesses throughout the region were able to use the cards as advertising. The anonymous nature of the cards created more fleixibility for whomever manufactured them.
E94 is commonly known as George Close because of the overprints, but we've already found on this board that Blome's is not a Close product. I think everyone agrees that Blome's (Baltimore) is the most common overprint for E94. So why do we refer to E94 as Close? E94, like E98 was probably intended for different candy companies. Close, and Blome's invested enough of their time and cash to prepare an actual overprint for the cards and perhaps smaller retailers (like retailers who sold Old Put) went a bit cheaper with a stamper.
I also think it's possible that E94 overprints were part of a promotion.
At the beginning, E94's with overprints were included to advertise the product and later on the regular cards were included which explains why there are so many more E94s without the overprints.
Were the cards actually inserted into the box or bag? With Old Puts I think no. It's possible that a stack of Old Puts were stamped and given out at the time of purchase. And what about the E94 overprints? E94s with overprints do exhibit chocolate staining on the backs.
The common E98s show candy stains which, in a sense, connect the issue to an alternate company which is not Old Put Cigars. We just don't know who it is.
Rob