Wrong catalog year on the Obak T212-1's?

[Pat R]

I've been doing some research on the T212 Obaks and I'm pretty sure the 1909 date assigned to the T212-1's is incorrect. I don't think they even started producing the Obak cigarettes until 1910, I can't find any information on Obak cigarettes prior to late February 1910. In searching old newspapers from 1910 and earlier there are 254 ads and articles on Obak cigarettes but nothing prior to mid February 1910 and that's when they start what appears to be an ad for a new cigarette based on the wording.

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Then later in the year they came out with an ad that seems to indicate the success of their new cigarette.

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I think a lot of the vintage sets were originally dated by the players and their teams if there wasn't additional information to go by but without taking into account that in most cases the players and teams used in the sets were from the previous year. Using just one example we know the distribution of the first series for the T206's began in June or possibly May 1909 Harry Pattee who is in the first series printing only played one year in the Major Leagues and that was for Brooklyn in 1908 and if you look at the rest of the first series everything lines up with 1908 not 1909.