What do the Factory designations on T cards actually mean?

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Posted By: Tim Newcomb

My previous post with these questions met with total screaming silence, so let me try asking it once more with a different message title-- maybe you overlooked it and can help me with these questions:

1. Is there a consensus about what the "factory" designations on T cards mean? Were these factories the site of the cigarette production, or the card printing, or both?

2. Another way of asking this: were the cards printed at the individual factories, or were they printed elsewhere and shipped to cigarette factories to be inserted into the packs?

3. DO we know what the numbers of the factories mean? "Factory No. 606 Dist MD" surely doesn't mean there were 606 American Tobacco Company factories in Maryland, right?

Maybe all this is general knowledge, but I don't seem to know it. Any help appreciated!

Tim Newcomb

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Posted By: dan mckee

The only answer Dad and I have is that yes, these factories are where the tobacco was produced. We do not know and of the answers with the cards. Lew L may know. Dan.

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Posted By: ty_cobb

We do know that many T206 pictures were done by
Carl Horner in his Boston studio.
Although the subsequent lithographic process would
require considerable printing equipment, it is unknown
where the lithography occured.
In the T207 series the Red Cross backs
show a factory no. 10 New Jersey designation , but
the known area of issue is Louisiana. In T206 the
southern league cards were also distributed regionally,
and were not found in northern US cities,yet the cards show a Piedmont Va back.
I would be surprised if they were prepacking cards
and tobacco going from New Jersey to Louisiana or from
Richmond to Texas.
It appears the card backs were not printed at the same time as the fronts,
this is evident from miscuts.
Then you have your Sweet Cap overstrikes where the factory
designation is changed for no known purpose.

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Posted By: runscott

The purpose of the cards was to advertise the product, so it makes sense that the factory designation would be associated with the tobacco rather than where the card was printed. The Sweet Cap overprints make sense in this context - If you needed more Sweet Cap cards to go in cigarettes produced at factory 42, but you were low on cards with that designation and had extras from another factory, less expensive to "overprint" with factory 42 than to print up a bunch of new cards.

I have a load of old cigar boxes and most of them have the factory printed along with the district and state, just as the cigarette packs did. Also, and Pete would have a better idea about this than I would, I see no reason why the cigarette packs and cards had to be printed at the same location. And finally, there is no "factory/district" designation on any cards other than tobacco cards - caramel and gum cards don't have this - so I think it has to do with the tobacco. Why would anyone care what district a card was printed in?

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Posted By: BROOKS

JUST A FRIENDLY FYI , TRY THIS SITE FOR HELPFUL INFO. T206MUSEUM.COM...............REGARDS BROOKS