Posted By:
Dave HornishI wonder if some of the rarer backs (excluding color variations) and overprints were printed as a result of the impending breakup as opposed to being truncated when the dissolution of ATC was ordered, or at least expected. If ATC knew the dissolution was coming even though the verdict had not yet been reached and perhaps knowing all the Piedmonts and Sweet Caps going to major factories had been shipped out already, using up a fraction of a normal run of sheets with poor selling brands on the back was a way to burn off excess card stock.
I sometimes wonder if a final run of PB's were actually the very last backs to be printed "on purpose" (i.e. a redesigned sheet with Demmitt and O'Hara variations were just the beginning of the next phase of changeouts on the sheets) and some of the rarer backs were just using up already (obversely) printed stock when the trust fell apart.