By DB Sikes
The T68 Heroes of History set (1910–1911), produced by the American Lithographic Company for American Tobacco Company products like Royal Bengals cigars, is celebrated for its bold color and educational content. But the original artwork lived on well after the tobacco promotion ended—surprisingly reused in promotional series for bread, milk, and butter.
Shared Roots, Divergent Paths
The vivid portraits that defined T68 were repurposed by other companies:
- D117 “Famous Men” Series (circa 1917–1919): Distributed with Onist Milk and Pullman Bread, both produced by the Weber Baking Company of Irvington, New Jersey. These ultra-thin cards lacked biography on the back and featured exclusive product branding.
D117 Famous Men Checklist 1-50 Key set cards are highlighted.
- F130 Gridley Butter Cards (late 1920s): Issued by the Gridley Dairy Company, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of the largest sweet cream butter producers in the state. By 1928, Gridley Dairy used over 30,000 cows and produced millions of pounds of butter annually.
F130 Gridley Butter Checklist 1-48 (No Molly Pitcher/Joan of Arc) Key set cards are highlighted.
While the imagery remains faithful to the T68 originals, each variation reflects product-specific branding, different card stock, and distinct back treatments.
Key Differences Across Each Issue
| Feature | T68 Heroes of History (1910–11) | D117 Famous Men (Weber Baking, NJ, ca. 1917–19) | F130 Gridley Butter (Gridley Dairy, Milwaukee, WI, late 1920s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Issued With | Royal Bengals, Pan Handle Scrap, Natural Leaf Scrap, Miners Extra | Onist Milk & Pullman Bread | Gridley Butter |
| Issuing Company | American Tobacco / ALC | Weber Baking Co., Irvington, NJ | Gridley Dairy Co., Milwaukee, WI |
| Card Stock | Medium-thickness, gloss-coated | Ultra-thin, matte | Ultra-thin, ultra-fragile stock |
| Back Design | Full biography & factory imprint | Simple ad-only back (no biography) | Simple Gridley product advertising back |
| Image Style | Sharp chromolithograph | Slightly muted or reversed | Reverse-negative or shifted visual layout |
| Catalogue Reference | T68 | D117 (Famous Men) | Uncataloged Gridley butter issue |
Print Variations & Visual Clues
- Some Famous Men and Gridley Butter cards display reverse-positive imagery or reversed compositions—a telltale sign of second-generation reproductions.
- Others, such as Kosciuszko or Eli Whitney, while matching T68 compositionally, show the reverse negative image and subtle print difference in features and background
Such traits point to reuse of the original American Lithographic artwork but pressed through different plates or production paths decades later.
Product Back Design: From Biography to Brand
In contrast to the educational, text-heavy backs of T68 cards, the D117 and F130 issues offered exclusively promotional fronts:
- Famous Men backs proclaimed bakery or milk branding (e.g. “Onist Milk and Pullman Bread”), without listing biographical data.
- Gridley Butter backs marketed dairy quality and branded slogans—no historical or subject information appeared.
Collectively, these backs reflect a shift from dual-purpose collectible/educational cards to purely marketing giveaways.
Why It Matters for Collectors
These divergent series offer collectors insight into:
- The redistributive nature of lithographic masters across product types and decades.
- How one iconic card design could serve different industries.
- The importance of identifying card-stock thickness, ink density, and back design when authenticating T68 versus D117 or F130 variants.
Though T68 remains the most collectible, Famous Men and Gridley Butter cards are significant for collectors of ephemera, advertising history, and early mass market promotional giveaways.
Collector Call-Out: Have These in Your Set?
Do you own a D117 Famous Men or F130 Gridley Butter card featuring a T68 subject? We’re building a reference gallery to:
- Compare portrait orientation, coloring, and negative/reverse discrepancies.
- Document product-back variations and regional branding differences.
- Map the artistic continuity from T68 originals to these derivative issues.
📧 Submit scans via email sikesdb3@gmail.com to contribute to this comparative archive.
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