Mastronet T215 "Pirate" Back

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Posted By: ty_cobb

The T215 Pirate I've seen is Doolan, but thats about
5 years ago now. I seem to recall it had some
miscut issue as well, but from what I've heard this
is typical of Pirate cards, so not necessarily
a later trimming.

Of the 'Chinese' character fronts I have 4, all
completely different sizes, and even 1 on different
cardboard stock.

Also have a T215 Pirate cigarette outer slide pack, but
these would more likely have housed the the 'Chinese'
charcter cards which appear to have been produced
over a longer period than the baseball issue. An example of a
Red Cross pack does not seem to exist at all.

As to set designation: as far as I know Red Cross
were originally considered 'T206'. So someone decided
otherwise, and my guess here would be early 60s.
One could debate whether this is based solely on
similar subject matter. My thoughts: someone saw/owns
store advertising/promotional literature connecting
Red Cross(Lorillards)and Wills. While I have seen similar
'brochures' , it still does little to satisfy the question
of New Orleans issue vs overseas issue.

That may be more of a 'modern' American view, which
sees 'Pirate' as a foreign brand. I'd be happier though
if the new explanation was backed by significant years
of card/pack/company/literature study rather
than no study which touts regionalism as the defining difference.