Lucky Strikes

astixjr · **Posted:** Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:19 pm

Since the weather has warmed up a bit in St. Louis, I'm back to tipping over drums of turret parts again. In one of the three drums I tipped this weekend, I found an empty pack of Lucky Strikes that was near the bottom of the drum. There is a .20 Cent tax stamp still attached so does anyone know what period of time these would have come from? The drum in question had about 300 Lbs of parts from Sperry ball turrets for sure and maybe some Martin turret bits as well. Thanks.

*looking on ebay, I noticed other packs with a similar stamp that just say "20 Cigarettes" so maybe what I looked at was not a tax stamp. I have now been told that Lucky Strike's packaging color changed from Green to White in 1942.

Former Member · **Joined:** Mon Aug 29, 2005 1:40 pm **Posts:** 1493

Cool find Albert...and here I thought you had started smoking due to all the stress from sorting through those turret parts. :lol:

I can just picture you in the hanger with a lit cig in one hand and a can of "Red Bull" in the other. :lol:

John

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2007 6:13 pm

all ww 2 era lucky strike stuff i've seen has had green packaging. that doesn't mean i'm right though!!!

Django · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2007 7:14 pm

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2007 7:19 pm

guess i'm wrong!!!! don't tell!! :wink:

astixjr · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:05 pm

The story I read on ebay (you know you are in trouble when you are getting historical information from ebay) is that the parent firm of Lucky Strike said that the Copper based pigment in the green ink used on their packaging was in short supply due to the war effort so they changed to an overall white colored package. According to the ebay story this was not really true, Copper was not used in the green pigment. However, the white package was less expensive to produce and the company was looking to attract more women smokers to the brand.

So I guess women don't like green cigarette packages? I suppose that all I can determine at this point is that the pack in the drum was produced after 1942. Further sorting of this drum today has revealed parts from five different turrets including one built right as the war ended and for a few years afterward. So much for my plans to teach a graduate level course in Turret Parts Archeology. I was planning to start off the semester with a lecture on the use of discarded cigarette packs as a way of "Carbon Monoxide Dating" each drum of parts.
:wink:

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