[Jobu]

I have been looking for F stamps for a while now, and almost all of them are on T206. I have managed to find two additional Obaks, making three total, compared to 29 T206.

There is evidence that some T206 brands were pretty regional and I have seen stamps on EPDG, Sweet Cap, Old Mill, and Piedmont. Not sure where those were distributed. I know Obaks were distributed on the West Coast but I have no idea whether or not they may have been distributed nationally.

The possibilities I see for these belonging to F Scott are:

1) these brands were all distributed in Minnesota, which certainly could be possible if one is willing to assume that Obak was a specialty/novelty brand only stocked in small quantities, something which would be backed up by the 29:3 ratio I have found

2) F Scott collected T206 as a kid and picked up a handful of Obaks when he was in California in the 1920s and 1930s

3) He had a pen pal (not too likely)

4) I have never seen this one suggested (though I see it was suggested while I typed this novella -- talk about being beaten to the punch, SHEESH!!!) but I think it has some legs. After reading the Wikipedia link that Cozumeleno posted, it says that F Scott was sent to a prestigious boarding school, the Newman School in NJ, in 1911, when he was 15. If his parents sent him from halfway across the country, I would image that there were students there from the West Coast. These 14- and 15-year-old kids probably brought their cards with them and I am sure trades happened. This would also explain the 29:3 ratio as I would assume the kids from the West Coast were in the minority. It is also possible that he started collecting here if he took up smoking with his new classmates. The stamp makes sense too - living in a boarding school dorm with a bunch of kids would not be the safest place to keep a pile of unmarked cards.

I have never seen this stamp on anything but a T206 or Obak, which suggests that this was a kid's collection around 1909-1911. If a later collector acquired cards from across the country I would think that this stamp would be on a lot more issues than it is. Really, the boarding school theory perfectly explains the patterns that we have been trying to figure out for so long and not much else clearly works for the patterns outlined above. Of course, it still takes a leap of faith, but boy is it fun to think about.

Maybe tomorrow, if I am up to another novella, I will give a quick summary of the rest of the story...