What links C46s to Imperial Tobacco?

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Posted By: Richard

This is something that I've wondered for a very long time. I don't have any reason to believe that Imperial Tobacco did not issue C46s, I've just never known how the initial connection was made.

According to the June, 1973 issue of Sports Scoop there is a small "article" covering the C46 checklist. The checklist was submitted by Charles Nagy and contains the following note: "...Nagy, a long-time serious student of card collecting, is willing to admit that he hasn't yet been able to discover who even manufactured the cards."

10 years later, the June, 1983 issue of The Trader Speaks contains a C-46 article written by Joe Michalowicz. It starts by saying, "In 1912 an unidentified Canadian cigarette company issued an especially attractive set of 90 cards depicting players from the Eastern League...".

By the time Old Cardboard printed their Summer, 2007 issue it has been accepted that C46s were issued by Imperial Tobacco.

So does anyone know when, how, or by whom, the connection to Imperial Tobacco was ultimately made?
Anyone have any idea on how the cards were distributed? I assume they were issued in packs but have yet to see the pack they were issued in.

Any chance anyone out there can shed some light?

Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Richard.


Note: I realize C46s are mentioned in Lipset's guides, which I believe were originally published in the 80's. I do not have the guide handy though, so cannot cross-check what info it contains about C46s.