$22.00 CAD
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Albumen photograph cigarette cards of women from Actresses series issued ca. 1890.
Honest Long Cut
#1 is woman standing, holding open her cape. #2 is woman sitting in chair, thinking.
Back is solid black.
Photos bit faded. Cards bit curved. Chips along edges. On #2, some ‘bubbling’ of photo left side. Stain on #2.
4 ⅛” x 2 ⅜”
In 1881, two years after W. Duke, Sons & Company entered into the cigarette business, James Bonsack invented a cigarette-rolling machine. It produced over 200 cigarettes per minute, the equivalent of what a skilled hand roller could produce in one hour, and reduced the cost of rolling cigarettes by 50%.
Duke set a deal with the Bonsack Machine Company in 1884.
In the 1880s, while Duke was beginning to machine-roll all his cigarettes, he saw that growth rates in the cigarette industry were declining. His solution was to combine companies and found “one of the first great holding companies in American history.” The five constituent companies of American Tobacco: W. Duke & Sons, Allen & Ginter, W.S. Kimball & Company, Kinney Tobacco, and Goodwin & Company – produced 90% of the cigarettes made in 1890, the first year the American Tobacco Company was listed on the NYSE.
