American Beauty Borders Theory
 

Im just a new collector, so forgive me if im stating the obvious. I just got in the mail today an AB460 and was looking at it alongside my AB350 w/frame. I have decided that AB most likely dropped the frame idea when it realized that it was actually cutting into the frame to make the cards slender enough to fit into their packs. I have a lower grade AB350 w/frame in which the entire left side of the frame is gone. I can only imagine the thoughts of the guy assigned to quality control back then, looking at these new cards which appeared to be mutilated. Since there are no framed 460's, it stands to reason that the frame idea was dropped perhaps halfway through the 350 series to give the cards a better appearance. Thoughts? Comments?

The pack theory no longer holds water. American Beauty cigarette packs are the same width as Piedmont, Sweet Caporal, Broadleaf, Sovereign, Oldmill, Cycle, Carolina Brights and Uzit. So, the belief that ABs are thinner to fit into the packs just can't be the case.

Didnt know that. Although its undisputable that AB cards are thinner than any of the others. Any reason for this anomoly?

Absolutely agree that the cards are thiner than other T206s. It wasn't until a recent discovery of AB cigarette packs, however, that it became apparent that the packs are the same size.

Perhaps it was mental advertising ... to be an American Beauty, you must be slim.

:)

Jon,
Were these packs with cards? Can they be definitively dated to the T206 era?
Thanks,
JimB

I concure with this idea. I believe its all about marketing. I wonder if the target area was women also??

Jim,

The full packs discovered are dated 1905. With that being said, however, I also have a 1910 pack in my collection (albeit opened and rough) that is identical in size to the 1905 packs as well.

AB thinner pack
 

I have an American Beauty 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 also have the theory that AB cards were cut thinner to fit in the packs. Soon after the cards were cut thinner, perhaps 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. American Tobacco Co. stock sheets showed T206's being inserted into 10-count packs in 1909-10, so we know about that, but no one has found any stock sheets thus far to prove that cards were inserted into the 15-count packs.

Interesting theory on the no frame cards, makes sense. I know Jerry Garcia loved to smoke them.

It's certainly a possibility that cards could have been packaged with 15 count packs - however I am doubtful.

Other brands also produced 15 count packs (Broadleaf (I own one dated 1910), Piedmont, Sovereign, SC) and some also produced 8 count packs (Sovereign (I own one dated 1909)). If one brand produced cards for distribution in 15 count packs, why not others? In other words, why haven't we found thinner SC, Broadleaf, etc. cards. American Beauty was far from the ATC's most popular brand. I'm just not sure i can buy into the notion that this brand alone would have had distribution with other count sizes other than a 10-pack.

I wonder if they ran test markets back then for new products or configurations? That would make sense since why change the way you manufacure the cards from the other 14 or so brands? Either that or they should not be considered T206.......:D

Please remember that its not only the T206 brand affected by the thin cut. All of my AB T205's are thinner than any others also. So they were still doing this in 1911.