Based on visual evidence alone, I believe neither the fronts nor the backs were printed first. Maybe when the print run began in 1909, yes one side or the other was printed first, but as the print run progressed and more tobacco brands were added, I think they were printed according to what was needed.
I believe this because some printing mishaps are back specific and some are not. Here are two examples:
1. The Lundgren recently found by Jamie (Blunder19) appears to be a back specific printing mishap - Piedmont 150 Fac.25. Three board members posted that their cards all had this same back. So in this case, I guess one could say that the backs were printed first. This also applies to other printing mishaps in this set as well.
2. The Murr'y printing mishap on the other hand, appears to be a non-specific back mishap since it is found with 4 different backs - Lenox, Sweet Caporal 460, Piedmont 460 and Tolstoi. Please correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't the Tolstoi brand appear in 1910 and the Lenox brand didn't appear until 1911. I'm going with what I read in "the Monster", but it looks to me that this printing mishap jumped from one print series to the next, which could make one think that the fronts were printed first and the sheets were stored until later needed and then the back advertisements were added.
I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong in whatever they believe about the printing process of this set, I'm just pointing out some of the small discoveries that I've made since collecting these cards.
Jantz
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