Show us your T206s with names stamped on the back

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Dave,

I don't think the stamps on the back are dealer marks for approvals... I think they were ownership marks or advertising marks. Wonder who was the first dealer... One of my cards had a date stamp, month date and year of 1910. I don't think there would have been dealers then. I do think collectors would have marked their own cards then.

Maybe Judson has something... Maybe the Saturday Evening Post got a bunch of cards as part of a deal for advertising the various brands. Once the cards reached the magazine folks they could pass them on down to their agents. Or, maybe the agents got cards from cigarette vendors (maybe the vendors could get the cards in bulk) and after getting the cards, stamped them and gave them to newsstand folks to distribute as a way of selling a magazine. Maybe the agents we're seeing had newsstands and they sold both cigarettes and magazines themselves...

It is interesting to see that there are multiples of the same agents.

I saw a stamped initial on one of my cards. Either a cat or a little bear on another. And I think I might have that dude with the umbrella on one.


Come on, T206 collectors, look at those backs and scan some for us. Or are you ashamed that you have less than perfect cards.