Two Thoughts on T206 American Beauty Dimensions
 

OK, this may get shot down real quick but has anyone ever opened an AB pack with a card inside? Was there perhaps something else in there with it? I'm wondering if there was another, non-card insert that made it necessary to slightly slim down the AB's so they could fit atop this other insert within the pack. You know, too snug a fit for a full width card so it was shaved a little? Or is the depth of the pack without this conjectured insert ever so smaller (compressed) as opposed to the width? Either option could explain the thinner AB cards by not leaving enough wiggle room otherwise. Or not.

Weren't AB packs slightly smaller than the "standard" packs of the day (hence the narrow AB cards?) I may have misunderstood your question. By depth, do you mean front to back, or top to bottom?

American Beauty packs
 

I have an AB pack of 10 cigarettes and it is the same size as other brands. I also have an AB pack of 15 cigarettes, which is thinner and has a 1910 stamp. The 15-count size appeared after July 1910 when the govt increased the tax rate. I have a theory that AB cards were cut thinner to fit in the new packs. Soon after the cards were cut thinner, AB eliminated the frames on the backs. I don't believe anyone has ever opened a 10-count AB pack or a 15-count AB pack and found a T206 inside. So we may never know.

Top to bottom from a side view.

I have a nm-mt pack as well but this is the only one I own that dates to 1910.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ks/abfront.jpg