Interesting Contemporary Accounts of T204s

[jimonym]

It's been a while since there's been a thread on T204s, so I thought I'd post some items of possible interest to T204 collectors.

The journal Tobacco was an industry journal devoted mostly to covering the news and doings of the small, independent companies, distributors, and retailers who were not associated with the tobacco Trust. The Mentor company, manufacturer of Ramly and T.T.T. brand cigarettes, was one of those, and I found three mentions of what we today call T204 cards in the pages of Tobacco. One of the regular features of each issue was a series of reports from major cities discussing the state of the market in that city, and it was in the Boston columns that I found these. The second excerpt indicates the T.T.T. brand was introduced well after the Ramly T204s began distribution, so it seems likely that there's a fairly good explanation for the rarity of T.T.T. T204s.

April 29, 1909:


August 12, 1909:


August 19, 1909:


And here's an image of the display piece (this one was sold by REA in 2006):

[tedzan]

Jamie......re..T204's vs E90's vs T206's ?

While there is a fair amount of Boston NL subjects in the T206 set, there are very few Boston AL subjects in the T206 set (Tris
Speaker, notwithstanding). The RAMLY Co's contractual rights to players must of played a major factor in this ? ?

Furthermore, the 1908 and 1909 series of the E90-1 set contain virtually no Boston AL subjects or Cinci. subjects in them. And,
the RAMLY set is loaded with Boston subjects (for obvious reasons), and a fair amount of Cinci. guys. The E90 set's 1910 series
finally has a bevy of Boston and Cinci. subjects. It's my speculation that in 1909 the RAMLY issue affected the the design of the
E90 set, also.

I look forward to your thoughts on these two factors.


TED Z

[sb1]

Here are a Ramly pack, TTT pack, the other known Ramly window display and the only known Ramly premium which was available for sending in 10 box fronts and 16 cents which I assumed covered the mailing. I also have a newspaper ad from the summer of 1910 advertising the premiums still available, but it's too big to upload and in a PDF which I can't figure out how to convert to jpg for the life of me.

[Leon]

If you send over the pdf to leonl@flash.net I will convert it for you, post it, and send it back to you as a jpg for future reference......LL

[Leon]

here ya go....big on purpose..



..

[barrysloate]

For the prohibitive cost of sixteen cents and ten boxes, you could order any one of six teams...has any team other than the Boston Americans turned up?

Sorry, I was confusing the Ramly display photo with the photogravure. Scott showed a Pittsburg one. Carry on.

[caramelcard]

Very strange.

So the Photogravure doesn't mention "ramly" at all? But the advertisement states that the photogravures will be "without advertisement" so I guess that makes sense.

Also strange that it pictures so many players that weren't included in the set.

You would think that if the Mentor Company had permission to use the image of Wagner, Clarke, etc. that they could've also made Ramly and/or TTT cards with those images right?

Perhaps those players agreed to be included if they weren't associated on paper with a cigarette advertisement.

Rob

[sb1]

The only mention of who it was put out by is a very short line below the photo of Wagner that says "Published by the makers of Ramly Cigarettes"

[caramelcard]

Oh, i see.

Thanks for sharing the pictures with us Scott.

Wonder if they even made a second series of these since they are so scarce. Probably would've included the Cubs among others.

[sb1]

I have not seen a coupon for the second series(I have a couple of the series 1's). They may have ran out of gas with the first series.

[caramelcard]

Are there any other ramly newspaper ads or advertisements that show a T204 card?

[Jason Carota]

Great post, jimonym. Love the window display. What an amazing piece. Any time a "favorite card" post is made, my T204 McConnell is always in the back of my head saying pick me, pick me!

[slantycouch]

Great stuff - thanks all for sharing.