Posted By:
Scott M.Leon,
I have one of those Jolly Rover boxes as well and agree with Barry that I feel they are closer to 1910. They are very similar to the Dockman produced 1910 All Star Baseball cards/boxes that I wrote about in Old Cardboard issue #3
In addition to 1910 All Star Baseball there are plenty of other examples of boxes surviving (without contents) where the card was part of the packaging such as Baseball Bats, Darby Chocolates, J=K, Orange Border and recently the W555 box which came to light.
I've long held the opinion that certain E issues were likely distributed in multiple ways. IMO, the anonymous type issues were likely given to several companies to give away as they saw fit. In some cases they may have been distributed with product while in others, perhaps, you were given a card over the counter with a purchase at your corner candy store.
For boxes where an "E" card may have been included inside there was less incentive to keep the box, obviously, since the card was not part of the packaging itself so I think it is highly unlikely that a box containing an E card and product will ever be found. I won't say impossible because we see some amazing things in this hobby but I do think it is highly unlikely.
One thing I can say for sure from my experience in opening the Jolly Rover box is that anything inside such a box would likely be heavily damaged if the contents included some type of caramelized candy.