I remember talking to an old collector years back who said as a child they would snip the sharp corners off. Others bounced around a box so much that someone may have decided a cut off corner to make them look better. Some people may have even ripped the corners off instead of cutting them giving them the jagged appearance. You have to understand these were produced in the millions I believe and no one thought they'd be worth more than the paper they were printed on.
As far as the clean ones, some people actually cherished these cards and would keep them in books, and photo albums from the moment they exited the packs. Kids would hang around tobacco stores (during the times they couldn't buy them themselves) waiting for adults to exit so they could get their cards. Many of our most treasured cards that have sustained the test of time you can thank little girls for. I can't count how many times I've heard that some of these large finds came form someone's grandmothers old stuff instead of their grandpas.
There's a ton of great stories surrounding the discovery and history to these little cards and its amazing how many survived in good form.
By the way I love the orange back on that tinker. They should have done that permanently instead of the red IMHO.
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