Posted By:
Frank WakefieldI don't think the printing was ever completed as originally contemplated.
American Tobacco gets American Litho to print the white border tobacco cards, and the cards are distributed over 2 1/2 to 3 years.
Then AT and AL get going with the gold border tobacco cards, T205, in 1911. Some of them have backs that mention 400 designs. There's about 209 different cards, though. I think the gold border cards were more expensive to produce. For whatever reason, the gold border series ceased production / distribution after about a year. And it seems to me it lacked completion as originally contemplated.
AT and AL then started with the brown border cards. I don't think they were completed as originally planned, either.
I think that with both the gold border cards and the brown border cards, some stars weren't included because they were being held out for later, to aid with tobacco sales. And it is realistic that an additional factor was that some stars wanted compensation for being depicted in the set.
Wagner would fit in that compensation category. And I think Plank was loyal to Philadelphia, and the caramel folks there. That's been discussed in a previous thread. I think that's why Plank was removed from the white border cards. And may well be why Plank wasn't in the subsequent AL issues.
Frank W.