Coupon Type 1: Paper Theory

[FrankWakefield]

We could forgo the numbers and just lump all together as T cards. T for twentieth century... not T for tobacco.

Again, you commence with a premise you want to facilitate reaching a desired outcome, it seems to me. Start with Piedmont 150's, the first cards of T206. Seet Caporal and Sovereign, both 150s. They weren't without the numbers... Those Coupon cards come along at that time, without a series, and with quotes, on different card stock. Piedmont and all progress to the 350 series and brands are added. Some mention series 350, some assorted. All the same style fronts, captions and brown ink fonts. And later the 460s, and they stop. I agree the AB's are trimmed down a fraction of an inch narrower, but it is still the same card stock, subjects, captions and fonts and ink, and series. Those Coupon cards don't have that. Coupon cards seem to have been updated and issued long after T206 card distribution ended. T206s came to a halt at one point in time, T213s at a much different time. T213-3s much later, T213-1s much earlier. T206s all stopped about the same time.

I think most folks sort T206s alphabetically, as they're listed in the modern catalogs. I don't, but then I'm quite contrary. I like them sorted the way the collectors did 30, 40, 50, and 100 years ago did... by team. I sort them into teams, then alphabetically. And it is neat to spread a team out, by series, then alphabetically. That way you can see "Cubs" across the shirts on the first run of Cubs cards, and "Chicago" down the shirt later on. I mention this because it's fine with me if you shuffle your Coupon cards in there amongst the white border T206s. I'm amused by the eBay listings where someone mistakenly lists a card as a T206 when it has a Coupon back. Someone doing a T213 search misses it... For me T213-1s are just that, and shouldn't be in with T206s. Mr. Burdick got quite a bit right. Again, I thank him.