Piedmont pack expert needed

[chriskim]

Originally Posted by Pat R

Richard, I thought there was at least two claims of T206's that were pulled from a 12 count Piedmont pack.

+1 That's what I read as well.

[canjond]

What we know is that cards were packaged with 10 count packs. Factory records indicated so. There's nothing that has come to light to show that cards were also packaged with 12 count packs which weren’t available until years later, and so absent some sort of proof that T206s were packaged well into the late teens, I don't believe it to be the case.

The pack pictured above was produced well after the T206-era. I can't see the exact date unless I see the series number on the pack, but it is not period correct.

[chriskim]

Found this write up again from REA:


This twelve-cigarette pack style is believed by tobacco pack collectors to have been issued years later, beginning in 1917. Either 1) this is not accurate, and twelve-cigarette Piedmont packs of this style were issued earlier than 1917; 2) T206s were in some instances inserted into packs in later years after 1911; or 3) the pack was somehow expertly tampered with and the card was somehow inserted in to it and resealed. We are certain that the consignor opened this pack and found the card. We even have pictures of the pack being opened. We have checked the card and found that it is a "Factory 25" card, which is the same as the factory of the packaging. It would be easy to say that the pack must have been tampered with, and we are presenting this as a possibility, but we are then left with the question of why anyone would put a virtually perfect T206 into a Piedmont cigarettes pack and sell it, with no claim that there is a T206 in the pack, and with the knowledge that the pack would probably never be opened. That would have to be the case here.


^^^ The last sentence just make so much sense. Skillfully inserted some nice looking T206s inside those piedmont packs as a prank?

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by chriskim

Found this write up again from REA:


This twelve-cigarette pack style is believed by tobacco pack collectors to have been issued years later, beginning in 1917. Either 1) this is not accurate, and twelve-cigarette Piedmont packs of this style were issued earlier than 1917; 2) T206s were in some instances inserted into packs in later years after 1911; or 3) the pack was somehow expertly tampered with and the card was somehow inserted in to it and resealed. We are certain that the consignor opened this pack and found the card. We even have pictures of the pack being opened. We have checked the card and found that it is a "Factory 25" card, which is the same as the factory of the packaging. It would be easy to say that the pack must have been tampered with, and we are presenting this as a possibility, but we are then left with the question of why anyone would put a virtually perfect T206 into a Piedmont cigarettes pack and sell it, with no claim that there is a T206 in the pack, and with the knowledge that the pack would probably never be opened. That would have to be the case here.


^^^ The last sentence just make so much sense. Skillfully inserted some nice looking T206s inside those piedmont packs as a prank?

In this thread the person that pulled the card from the pack posted about it.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=89252

[chriskim]

Originally Posted by Pat R

In this thread the person that pulled the card from the pack posted about it.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=89252

Pat R.

Thanks for posting the link. I wasn't aware of that discussion at all. I spent 2hrs reading the info and digested a lot of info out of it.

Thank you!

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by chriskim

Pat R.

Thanks for posting the link. I wasn't aware of that discussion at all. I spent 2hrs reading the info and digested a lot of info out of it.

Thank you!

Yeah it's perplexing, the original owner seemed like an honest guy and most people that knew him or talked to him believed what he said and he said there was no way the card could have been inserted in the pack and re-sealed. If that's true to me it seems highly unlikely that a T206 was inserted in a pack in 1917 or later but the people who are knowledgeable about the cigarette packs claim that's the only other option.

My knowledge about the cigarette regulations is limited could these cigarettes be distributed in other country's with different regulations and would these tax stamps have been put on them? I know ATC had factories in other country's like Canada, Japan and Egypt or could it have been a pack distributed in the Military and had different regulations?

[Joe_G.]

I'm not a T206 guy but have studied domestic cigarette taxation. If the stamp is original to the pack, then the pack was likely issued 1918 or later, no earlier than 1917.

12 count was legal on "Class A" cigarette packs . . .
- prior to May 1st 1879
- Nov. 2nd, 1917 to 1945
- 1955 to ?

This particular stamp is considered a "Type III" design which for the 12 count pack likely wasn't adopted until 1918 although still considered a "Series of 1917" tax stamp.

For reference . . .
Legal pack sizes in 1910 were 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 50, and 100 and would remain unchanged until 1917.
Legal pack sizes in 1917 were 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 50, & 100 with some change in late 1917/1918 with 16 count eliminated and adding 40 and 80.

I much prefer the simplicity of 19th century cigarette packs where everything from May 1st 1879 on was 10, 20, 50, or 100 (no exceptions unless manufacturer broke the law).