Retail Recycled

Your intrepid blogmaster was fortunate enough to land this prize piece of Topps retail history a couple of weeks ago:

That is an unopened, albeit poorly wrapped, 1949 Tatoo gum tab alongside (it also came with a '48 tab) and I can report that, despite the wrapper in 1949 being a bit longer than the 1948 version, the tabs are the same size. The colors in 1949 seems a bit muted though. The canister is scarce with possibly only one other example known. Comics, Army and Sports are advertised subjects on this hemisphere while G-Men and Mystery appear around back.  "Every Wrap - Another Tatoo" ballyhoo also appears twice along with the 1 cent price advisory.

Strangely, neither Bubbles Inc. (1948)  nor Topps (1949) manufacturing information appears anywhere on the tub, nor is there any other indicia. There was also a 1953 Tatoo issue but it was in a larger pack that I don't think retailed in these type canisters.

The bottom is pretty blah:

So no indicia but something is printed there on the nonetheless:

BFF o'the Archive (and seller of this piece) Jeff Shepherd thinks the materials used to manufacture this canister were recycled or pulped, hence our two letter vestigial word.  The tub is quite flimsy, especially compared to the snazzy 1946 foil enhanced Topps Gum canister:

There are at least two earlier versions of this other canister by the way, one foil and one plain, and it would not surprise me if even more varieties are out there. All of the Topps Gum canisters I have seen carry dated copyrights.