MAJOR
LEWIS GINTER:
INVENTOR
OF THE TOBACCO CARD?
By
Franklyn Roberts
I
expect a good many of you recognise the name (half a famous cigarette
manufacturer, Allen & Ginter). Born in New York in 1824 he began life as
Lewis Guenther (his parents were Dutch).
His
early life is now largely lost in the mists of time. What is known is that his
father was a successful merchant in a busy community near the mouth of the
Hudson. In his early teens he moved to Richmond, Virginia. He remained in
Richmond for almost all of the remainder of his life.
BUSINESS
BEGINNINGS
His
original business venture was the selling of fine linens. There was quite
fierce competition in this area and so he developed various sales strategies to
increase trade. Some people even credit him with the idea of 'gift' wrapping.
The
Civil War was to see Ginter as a successful businessman but he enlisted in the
quartermaster corps. He earnt the nickname, 'The Fighting Commissary' because
he always seemed to end up in the fighting. After driving back a Union attack,
he gained the attention of General Jackson at the second battle of Manassas.
However he declined the rank of Lieutenant-General offered him at that time. He
later accepted Major, a title he maintained in later years.
After
the Civil War he returned to Richmond but the linen trade was not the success
it had been previously. Moving to New York he set up a banking business with
financial aid from some friends. This was a success until the crash of 1873
which left him penniless.
He
returned to Richmond looking for employment. He found it with the firm of John
Allen & Co. manufacturers of tobacco. It was here that he made something of
a quantum leap. Noticing that cigarettes were becoming more popular (still
pipes and chewing were the predominate uses of tobacco) he felt that it would
be a cost saving to make cigarettes out of Virginian tobacco. It was customary
till then to make cigarettes from more expensive foreign tobacco.
MARKETING
INNOVATIONS
In
1875 John Allen was persuaded to try out this venture. Richmond Gems were
created, probably the most famous brand of cigarettes the firm ever had. He
employed 20 women to roll and pack the cigarettes being potentially the first
time cigarettes were ore-packed.
Such
was the breakthrough this represented that the packet was exhibited at the
Centennial Exhibition of the American Republic, Philadelphia 1876. Soon the
orders were flooding in and other brands were created including, Virginia
Brights, Perfection, Dandies and Little Beauties. Expansion meant the form went
multinational with branches in London, Paris and Berlin.
There
is also strong evidence that Major Ginter also created the cigarette card (and
certainly the earliest known UK cigarette card was from a packet of Richmond
Gems). Producing over 80 sets of cigarette cards during the period, 1885-1890
including the set, Women Baseball Players [1887]. Indeed the beautiful sets
that were produced by this firm are among the most sort over sets from the
early history of cigarette cards.
By
1884 a thousand workers were making two million cigarettes a day. It is perhaps
in this area that Major Ginter made an uncharacteristic error of
judgement. In 1881 James Bonsack of
Virginia invented a machine that could roll cigarettes. Most of the majors felt
that this would not be appreciated by the public and so turned down the
technology. This list included Major Ginter but not James B Duke.
Everyone
is allowed one mistake but Major Ginter may have made another when Duke
approached Ginter in 1889 (by now Duke had cornered about a third of the
market) with the suggestion of a merger. Major Ginter is reported to have said,
'Listen Duke, you couldn't buy us out to save your neck. You haven't enough
money and you couldn't borrow enough.'
In
1890 the two firms joined forces along with sundry others to create the
American Tobacco Co. (which effectively ended the production of cigarette cards
under the name Allen & Ginter) in which Major Ginter was offered the
presidency which he declined taking a place on the board instead. He was to
remain there till his death in 1896.
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The
author of this article owns Franklyncards in England.
Visit
Franlyncards online at www.franklyncards.com