In a message dated 10/14/2004 1:25:16 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> I attended a lecture on tobacco cans at a conference some years back. I
> seem
> to recall there are subtle differences in the artwork that can be used to
> date
> the cans, but then a lot of tobacco cans I have seen are rusted hulks.
>

Thats the biggest issue, Ron - I can count on one hand the number of times I
have found a tobacco tin with the artwork even partially intact (and those
were heady times, I'll tell you - heart beating fast- one was at a completely
untouched ca. 1910  mining camp, complete with half a dozen whole beer and
whiskey bottles lying on the surface and several piles of untouched tin cans).
There are few physical attributes of a tobacco pocket tin which may change through
time, but those are the ones we seek out - size, presence or absence of a
striking plate (usually on the bottom, but never on a Prince Albert can that I
have seen), and number of hinges (perhaps the most promising of attributes which
may change through time).

Mike

Mike Polk
Sagebrush Consultants
Ogden, Utah