| This Scarce, and as far as I know, UNRECORDED set was issued by the JOHN J.BAGLEY & CO., of DETROIT, MICHIGAN. as an insert premium in their brand of Sweet Tips Tobacco and Cigarettes. I have not been able to find this issue referred to in any guide that I am aware of (American Card Catalogue (Burdick) American Tobacco Cards Price Guide and Checklist (Forbes /Mitchel), W.T.I. ect.) so I have not been able to find a date of issue. However I speculate that it is from the 1900-1915 era, based on the Factory Reference number (found on many Tobacco issues after 1900) and the style of the illustrations which is very reminiscent of the work of Charles Dana Gibson and his famous "Gibson Girl". A series of 6 different cards that each feature a smoking method (ie.cigaette, pipe, cigar ect.) with an image of a different women appearing in the smoke trailing off the item being smoked. The back of the card lists the titles of the 6 different in the series. I have only ever personally seen 5 of the 6 subjects mentioned on the back. The back also mentions a premium offer. Once you collected 15 of these coupons /cards you could exchange them for the complete set of six illustrations done in "six colors". I imagine that this might explain the scarcity of this issue. Most people probably would have exchanged the coupons for the larger color pictures. I also imagine that many of these were also just thrown out after a few years if they were not exchanged right away. The fact that they are printed on a slightly thicker paper stock rather than a harder cardboard may also added to there scarcity as I imagine being a bit more fragile that the standard card many would not have survived over the years. As I mentioned I have been through the first 5 volumes of the World Index (Issued by the British Cartophillic Society), and the American Card Catalogue (Burdick's), as well as Murray's, and none of them make mention of these cards. THESE CARDS ARE UNRECORDED IN ANY OF THE STANDARD REFERENCE BOOKS that I am aware of. The Card measures 3 5/8 inches by 2 5/8 inches approximately. | ||