This topic has popped up a few times over the years but I still have questions. Over the weekend I started cataloging P2 pins into my database for the first time, and I am looking for confirmation, contradiction or just more info. Although I have looked at a few hundred scans and the very few pins I actually own, I am hopeful that the P2 collectors here can shed some light.
There are two named printers for the paper inserts and another that is unidentified. Whitehead and Hoag produced the majority of these and all I have seen show the company’s name on inserts for the small letter pins only, with scant exceptions (Matty and Wallace being two) and always in black, never red. The inserts note either Factory 25 or 42.
The Ehrman Co. produced large letter P2 pins only, in black only, denoting either factory.
The anonymous printer produced large letter pins only, in red or black from either factory.
The large letter pins could have either Ehrman or anonymous inserts. Frank Chance, for example, can be found with either.
An old thread showed a couple of scans with the Whitehead and Hoag name and an Allied Printer’s Union bug, with no mention of Sweet Caporal cigs.
Could these pins have been reissued by someone else?
Finally, there are a couple with blank paper inserts. Printing freaks or other explanation?
I recognize the color or tone of the paper used to print these inserts can vary but leave that discussion for another time.
Has anyone seen a red Whitehead and Hoag P2 pin or an Ehrman Co. insert in red? If red printing is found only on the anonymous large letters, it is easy to understand why those are not often seen.
Any info appreciated.
