And how that listing continues is by saying :
The pictures are adapted from Allen & Ginter`s "Celebrated American Indian Chiefs" but facing in the opposite direction and with much alteration in detail and colour.
The same basic pictures were also used for a number of American and Canadian issues.
Anonymous plain backed cards are also known.
I did not believe that, but today`s illustration proves it beyond a doubt.
In our original World Tobacco Issues Index, the listing for the Allen & Ginter version starts with the header, which tells us the size, small being approximately 70 x 38 m/m, and large being 83 x 72 m/m. It also explains that the large cards show the same numbered card but with a design added to each side to make up the spare space of the larger card :
AMERICAN INDIAN CHIEFS. (50). Four error cards, see ABC/2
(a) Small, titled "Celebrated American Indian Chiefs". Bkld. Ref. USA/2.
(b) Large, titled "The American Indian . . . ". Unnd. Ref. USA/36,
The listing in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index is identical to the above, but in a new third section it tells us that these images were also issued as a printed booklet, which was exchanged for coupons. It also says that the number of pages does not include the covers. The listing for our set`s album is under card code A400-610, and it reads :
ALBUM OF CELEBRATED AMERICAN INDIAN CHIEFS. 205 x 153. 12 pages. Ref. USA/A2.
A. With two error cards
B. with four error cards printed.
So lets talk about those errors. They revolve around the misprinting of the identities of four of the Indians, which affects the cards of "British" and "Chief Gall" and "Agate Arrow Point" and "White Swan". Rather than reading me describe these at length, nip over to Vintage Cards/AG.Errors where the four cards are shown below the list of descriptions and the correct cards further down still.
You can also read a lot more about this set, and see the two most sought after images of Geronimo and Sitting Bull, at Pre-War Cards/AGI
There is something else that puzzles me, and that is how did the 1880s artwork end up with B.A.T.? Or did they just acquire a set of the original cards and reproduce them, which could explain why some of the details are not so sharp.
Now lets close with picking out another bit of text from above, where Jefferson Burdick says "The same basic pictures were also used for a number of American and Canadian issues". This is true, because we now know the set was issued even further away from the original date, in 1940, by Kelley Baking Company. Their version is large sized but only shows the standard sized card as half of the space, filling in the other half with a descriptive text. And you can see our card, from that series, at the Metropolitan Museum of New York/Kelley. However if you look at the shoulder of our man, it appears that Kelley copied the British American Tobacco version, because his sleeve is entirely red, whereas the Allen & Ginter original has a pattern there. And he also faces the same way as the British American Tobacco card.
Whereas Allen & Ginter, thrillingly, used an actual photo of Lean Wolf - which you can see at https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/429179039475340766/.
ADDED 19 March 2024 - Further to this entry, we have more information, thanks to Tim Davidson, who offered for sale in his March 2024 auction a part set of these cards in the standard size, issued by someone else, namely Ganong Bros. Ltd, of St. Stephen, New Brunswick in Canada.
Our man is also reversed in that set, facing the opposite way from this large card, showing here. And he also has a red sleeve, just like the British American Tobacco version. The backs are bi-lingual, English and French, and they all read the same. We will add a scan asap - with your help!
This incarnation of these cards dates from 1939, but Ganong Bros are Canada`s oldest chocolate and candy company, and were founded in 1873 by James and Gilbert Ganong. Their stock in trade was boxed chocolates for special events, and they hold the honour of being the first company to sell such things in a heart shaped box, originally at Christmas, and then for the Valentine`s Day.