Why I think Cobb wasn't printed with a Brown Hindu back

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Pat R

I'm adding this here from the other thread. This new Old Mill Ad is enlightening at least to me I always thought the Old Mill brand was Older but the T206's
were a promotion in them as a new brand.



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Very interesting. Especially the entry noting the discontinuance of the Old Mill T206 cards as of 12/15/1910. I'm wondering if this likely ties into the switch from the insertion of T206 cards in Old Mill packs to the inclusion of S74 silks instead, and is further proof that the S74-1 white silks were, at their earliest, a late 1910 issue? And if so, it also helps confirm that the S74-2 colored silks were definitely a mid to late 1911 issue, at their earliest, as well.

With the exception of Old Mill cigarettes, the T206 cards and S74 silks do not share distribution in any other brands. The only other cigarette brands S74 silks were distributed in were Turkey Red, Red Sun, and Helmar. So the timing of the discontinuance of T206 Old Mill cards with the emergence of S74 Old Mill silks makes logical sense.

But what about the issuance of the T205 cards? They are now considered exclusively as a 1911 issue, and also distributed with brands that never included T206 cards either (Hassan, Honest Long Cut, etc.). But unlike the S74 silks, T205 cards were most commonly issued in the same two brands that were also the most commonly issued with T206 cards as well, Piedmont and Sweet Caporal. So is there evidence to possibly show that T206 cards stopped being distributed in Piedmont and Sweet Caporal packs so as to transition to just distributing them with T205 cards instead? I've always considered T206 cards as being distributed from 1909 through 1911, but never really thought about when that distribution actually ceased in 1911. Or were both T206 and T205 cards being distributed with Piedmont and Sweet Caporal cigarettes simultaneousl in 1911?

We often talk and debate on this forum about when a card issue actually first came out and was distributed, but not so much about when a card issue actually ended and it's distribution ceased. Especially when the cessation of one issue's distribution could point to and tie down the actual starting distribution date of a different issue that takes over a particular cigarette brand.