Mapping out the T206 sheets....check-out the A-B-C-D lists

[tedzan]

Over 2 years ago, I speculated that American Lithographic (ALC) printed & issued the AMERICAN BEAUTY 350, BROAD LEAF 350, CYCLE 350,
and DRUM 350 cards concurrently in the Summer/Fall of 1910. I referred to this release as the "A-B-C-D" connection. My theory is based on
the similarity of the design of these four T206 backs.

Compare the near-complete confirmed lists of these four backs. It is quite apparent that these A-B-C cards virtually share common FRONTS.
Eventually, as more DRUM's surface and the DRUM list is near completion, I expect that it, too, will virtually coincide with the A-B-C pattern.

During the various production phases of the 350 series, ALC would pre-print sheets with certain T206 fronts (unprinted backs). My research
indicates that these sheets were formatted in arrays of 12 cards across a row by 4 (or 6, or more) rows down each sheet. Several of these
sheets comprised this series of approx. 200 cards.

As orders from the various tobacco Factory's in the North, South, and Midwest would arrive at ALC for the T206 cards, ALC would then print
the appropriate backs on these pre-printed sheets. Followed by cutting the cards and shipping them to the requesting Factory. With respect
to these A-B-C-D cards, they were all shipped to the Richmond plant (Factory 25) in Virginia to be inserted into the A-B-C-D cigarette packs,
respectively. Then, for example, the DRUM cigarette packs were shipped to the St Louis area from Richmond.


...............A..............................B... ..........................C....................... ........D





TED Z

[T206Collector]

James recently reported that Huggins has been consigned an OBak sheet, which proved conclusively that Obak's were printed at Schmidt Lithography in San Francisco. The sheet is comprised of (8) 21-card vertical strips and (1) 11-card horizontal strip at the bottom. There are (88) different players. (85) cards have duplicates while (3) cards (including Weaver) have triplicates.

When I saw the sheet in the latest H&S auction catalog, I couldn't help but thinking T206s were probably printed the same way. Any thoughts?

[tedzan]

Information dating back to the early 20th Century regarding printing presses, notes that a 19-inch wide track press was used
by American Litho. for their color lithography printing. Therefore, when you consider that the T206's are 1 1/2 inch wide, this
results in 12 cards per row.

Furthermore, the total card count of each of the T206 series (150, 350, 460, and Southern League) are multiples of 12.

P.S......Schmidt Litho. of San Francisco used a much wider track press to print their OBAK cards. This is totally unrelated to
the printing of the T206's.


TED Z

[T206Collector]

Cool... Makes sense to me. I think its interesting that the Obak sheets had extra horizontally placed cards at the bottom of the sheets. Given that I don't think anyone has ever seen a T206 miscut like that lends credence to your theory.

[cfc1909]

can you post a link to the Obak sheet?

[tedzan]

Is this the OBAK sheet that you are interested in ?

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ak+uncut+sheet


TED Z

[Abravefan11]

We do know from T206 miscuts that the same player was printed multiple times on the same sheet in some cases which makes figuring out exactly how the sheet was set up and how many players each contained difficult.

If Ted is correct (and I think he is) that the cards were printed in multiples of 12, than I believe the sheets contained atleast 36 cards, possbile more with duplicates.

My reason for believing this comes from my recent work with the Southern Leaguers and the initial 34 that were printed. Why 34 and not all 48? I believe the 34 cards comprised one sheet. This explains why the 34 can be found with Brown Old Mill but no other players including major leaguers. Just that sheet of players was tested with the Brown Old Mill back.

[T206Collector]

That is an obak sheet, to be sure. But the one that James spoke about is the one at Huggins and Scott. Strangely in this day and age I saw it in their catalog, but can't find it online! Anyone have a scan or link?

[teetwoohsix]

Hi TedZ-

Thanks for all of your hard work lately with the various T206 threads w/ confirmed front & back combos, Jantz just explained to me how to "bookmark" threads here on Net54, and I will be doing that with all of these threads.

Your idea of A-B-C-D is genious, and makes total sense to me........my question is, is there any explanation as to why Piedmont and Tolstoi use the exact same back design? I've been wondering about this for a long time, any help would be appreciated- and thanks in advance !!

Sincerely,Clayton