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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Seriously though.....by 1912 the American Tobacco Company's (ATC) monopoly had been divested. The printing style
of the T207's doesn't in any way resemble the colorful style and quality of the T206's, T205's, and especially the T3's
that were produced by ATC's long time affiliate....the American Lithographic Co. (ALC). In 1911, the T3's were most
likely the last BB T-cards produced ALC. My theory is that some lesser known printing firm (possibly in PA) produced
the T207's that were mainly inserted in RECRUIT Little Cigars packs (and to a lesser degree, also in Broadleaf and Red
Cross packs....and rarely, the (red) Cycle brand..

Now consider this, the various Caramel Company's in that era (E91, E90, E92, etc.) were already depicting big stars
like Cobb, Mathewson, Plank, Wagner, and CYoung. So, this new printing outfit (by 1912) could not acquire the rights
to depict these guys. The one exception is Walter Johnson, who is depicted in the T201 thru T207 and T3 sets; but,
not in any of the Candy sets of that era (1908-1915).

Further proof that ALC had stopped producing BB T-cards is found in subsequent T-sets, such as the T216 cards (MINO,
KOTTON, and Virginia Extra) that were produced by the same printing firm that produced the Caramel cards (check-out
the Cobb, Mathewson, Plank, Wagner, and Cy Young in the T216 sets....their pix are identical to their Caramel cards).

I'm sure I'll get some debate on some, or all, aspects of this.....but, I firmly believe that the T207's were not produced
by ATC's American Lithographic Co. This could explain why the lack of big stars, and the T207's poor quality.

TED Z