December 2016 – That T206 life

Examining the T206 Joe Tinker Hands on Knees “Chicago” Variation

Luke December 27, 2016

T206 Tinker hands on knees PSA Chicago variation — This is the third copy that surfaced, and by far the nicest. Originally sold by REA in Fall 2013 for $11,850

The T206 Tinker Hands on Knees “Chicago” variation is one of the more valuable errors/variations in the set. For a card that has repeatedly sold for five figures, it seems to fly under the radar in terms of notoriety. It’s a relatively recent discovery, which could be a contributing factor. The first copy surfaced in March 2011 on ebay. A thread was started on net54baseball.com to discuss it. There was a lot of skepticism initially. However, a few long-time T206 collectors stated that they thought it was legit. On April 15th of 2011, Bob Lemke posted that the card had been graded by SGC and was deemed a legitimate variation.

At the time the first copy was being discussed, it was known that an early proof of Wildfire Schulte front view had “CHICAGO” written
across his jersey rather than “CUBS”, lending credence to the idea that perhaps Tinker was originally slated to have “CHICAGO” across his
jersey as well. The Schulte proof, which is one of the coolest T206 cards in existence, is owned by Keith Olbermann. He wrote an article about proofs and variations in 1997 for the Vintage & Classic Baseball Collector magazine which included a scan of the Schulte proof. I’m less sure about the timeline of the discovery of this Tinker photo, which legitimized the variation for anyone who was still skeptical. It’s clearly the photo that was used for Tinker’s Hands at Knees T206 card. You can see why they didn’t want to copy it exactly, since his jersey is unbuttoned and it’s hard to read the letters across his chest. Why they chose to remove “CHICAGO” and add “CUBS” rather than just touch it up so “CHICAGO” was legible is anyone’s guess. Every Chicago Cubs pose released in the 150 series features”CUBS” across the jersey. It’s possible all Cubs were initially slated to be printed with “CHICAGO” on their jerseys. It’s also possible that Schulte and Tinker were changed to “CUBS” to fit in with the rest of the team.

In REA’s Spring 2012 Auction, a second copy of this variation surfaced, selling for $18,960. This one was noticed by an SGC grader who spotted it while grading a submission. The owner promptly sent it to REA and cashed in. Soon after, the first copy was auctioned off in Greg Bussineau’s Summer 2012 Auction, where it fetched $33,720. The second copy is in much nicer shape, even though the grades are identical. Waiting until the second copy sold turned out to be a wise move for the owner of the first copy.

In 2013, the third copy of this variation surfaced. This one is by far the nicest. It was graded a 2.5 by PSA due to some slight surface wear on the back but looks a lot more like a 5. A distinct pattern had developed, as this card (in addition to copy #1 and copy #2) featured a Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30 back. The third copy was auctioned off by REA in the Fall of 2013 and went for $11,850. The same card was recently sold via Heritage Auctions in their August 2016 Platinum Night Auction. This time, it fetched $22,705.

T206 Tinker Chicago Sweet Caporal SGC 20 — Copy #1, sold by Greg Bussineau for $33,720 in Summer 2012

Only 3 copies of this variation are known, but a number of Tinker Hands on Knees cards show remnants of the darker “CHICAGO” text. The theory is that when the printers swapped “CHICAGO” for “CUBS”, they initially left “CHICAGO” underneath but reacted quickly to erase most of “CHICAGO”. The partial remnant can be found on cards with Hindu, Piedmont 150, Sovereign 150, and Sweet Caporal 150 backs. I am not aware of any 350 series backs that feature the remnant, so they must have cleaned it up for a second time following the 150 series print runs. Copies with the remnant are not particularly tough to find and don’t seem to sell for any premium.

Next time you come across a copy of Tinker Hands on Knees, make sure to give it a close look. There might be another one out there just waiting to be found!

Thanks to Robert Edwards Auctions, net54baseball.com, Bob Lemke’s blog, and Heritage Auctions for the reference materials for this article.

tinker-sc-and-sov150-with-remnant — Sweet Caporal 150/30 and Sovereign 150 examples featuring the remnants of “CHICAGO” in black behind “CUBS”

T206 Player Bio: Harry Krause

Luke December 21, 2016 December 21, 2016

T206 Krause portrait — Krause won the AL pitching title in 1909 with a 1.39 ERA

In 1909 the Philadelphia Athletics rotation was absolutely stacked. Co-aces Eddie Plank and Chief Bender were flanked by Cy Morgan, Jack Coombs and a 20 year-old rookie name Harry Krause. Plank went 19-10 with a 1.76 ERA and Bender was 18-8 with a 1.66 ERA. Morgan won 16 and lost 11 with a stellar 1.65 ERA. Coombs went 12-11 and his 2.32 ERA was just about league-average. Krause managed to outperform all of them. The left-hander went 18-8 and led the American League with a 1.39 ERA.

It comes as no surprise that the American Tobacco Company rushed to include him in the 350 series print run. In 1910, they released not one, but two cards depicting him. We know them as the portrait and pitching poses.

Prior to his incredible 1909 campaign, Krause has only started 2 games in Major League Baseball. Just as quickly as he achieved stardom, he lost it. The Athletics were World Series Champions in 1910 and 1911, but Krause did not play a huge part in either title. Due to arm trouble he started only 11 games in 1910 and his ERA rose to 2.88. In 1911, his last full year in the majors, he went 11-8 with a 3.04 ERA. In 1912, he struggled and was sent to the Minor League Toledo Mud Hens. After a couple months, he was purchased by the Cleveland Naps, where he appeared in 2 games, posting an ERA of 11.57.

He threw his last pitch in the majors in 1912, but went on to have an impressive career in the Pacific Coast League. In 1913, he won 17 games for Portland with an ERA of 2.28. In 1917 he joined the Oakland Oaks, with whom he would play for the next 12 seasons. His stat line from 1917 is hard to believe. He threw an astounding 428.2 innings, winning 28 games and dropping 26. Despite that ridiculous workload, he put up an impressive 2.35 ERA.

When he finally hung up the cleats at the age of 40, he owned a 249-220 record and 3.22 ERA in 16 PCL seasons. After his career ended, he was inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.

Thank you to baseball-reference.com for all the stats.

Beware of Expensive “Missing Red” T206 cards

Luke December 19, 2016 December 18, 2016

T206 Beck missing red — Legit and very cool Beck missing red ink

A few years back, T206s that were missing a certain color got very popular and expensive. For a combination of reasons (printing process, the inks used, the way our eye processes colors, etc.) red is the easiest color to notice the absence of. During this “Missing Red” fad, a lot of cards were sold for high prices.

Some T206 were legitimately printed without red ink, while others were printed normally, and altered in the years after their production. The legit “missing reds” are cool cards and certainly worth paying a premium for due to their rarity. The problem is that neither PSA nor SGC is holdering missing ink cards at this time. There are a lot of cards out there in holders noted as “Missing Ink”, but they were all graded a few years back. So, if you want to add a T206 with missing red ink to your collection, you have to do the research to determine if it is legit on your own. In addition to doing your own homework, I highly recommend asking the opinion of someone you trust. I’m always happy to answer any questions you may have.

T206 Oakes Missing Ink — Adhesive residue covering the entire back

So, why are many of these “missing red” cards suspect? Red ink on a T206 is very prone to fading under certain conditions. Sunlight has been shown to fade red ink completely, while not altering the other colors nearly as much. If you see a card that is advertised as “missing red ink” but has a pinhole at the top, that is a very good indicator that the card was tacked to a wall and the red faded due to sunlight exposure. Also, many cards that appear to be missing red ink will have adhesive residue on the backs, or paper loss indicating that the card was once adhered to a scrapbook or some other surface. I believe that certain adhesives used back in the T206 era would cause the red ink to fade. It’s based on looking at thousands of scans and seeing patterns, but it is just my opinion. It’s also possible that all the “faded red” cards that we see with back damage or adhesive residue were displayed in the sunlight for years. If that is the case, then the sun is responsible. I think that exposure to sunlight and to certain adhesives are both likely causes.

T206 Huggins and Scott collage — Auctioned off in 2012, this awesome collage shows the effect that sunlight can have on a T206

The above collage was auctioned off by Huggins and Scott in 2012. Besides being an incredibly cool piece, it’s also very useful in that it shows us the effects of sunlight on T206 and other cards from the period. Take a look at the above Pickering, Grimshaw, and Lennox. Those three (and plenty of others) make it pretty clear that red ink can fade from the front of a T206.

There has been a lot of confusion over the years about these cards. Trustworthy sellers have sold faded cards as missing red and trustworthy grading companies have mistakenly slabbed faded and altered cards as “missing red”. Nobody’s perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. The grading companies have stopped slabbing these cards as “missing ink” and I don’t think we will see those same Auction Houses offer them for sale in the future.

T206 Griffith faded red — Paper loss, adhesive residue and fading

It’s important to use common sense when looking at cards that are touted as “missing ink”. These cards were printed over 100 years ago. A lot of things can happen to a piece of cardboard in 100 years. Occam’s razor applies here. If a card appears to be missing red ink, but it also looks a little faded, and maybe has some back damage, those are big red flags.

The main thing to keep in mind is that if the card is in really poor condition, the missing red ink is very likely to be due to an alteration, whether that be sunlight or chemical damage from an adhesive. If the price is low, go ahead and grab the card. They are cool oddities. But, before you spend hundreds of dollars on a card that supposedly is missing ink, do your homework and ask an experienced friend for help.

T206 missing red Harry Niles — Paper loss on the back caused by being glued to a scrapbook or display piece

Understanding the American Beauty backs: T206 American Beauty 350 no frame (Part 3/4)

Luke February 9, 2017 December 15, 2016

There are 37 different poses in the American Beauty 350 no frame checklist. This subset was released in 1910 and consists entirely of poses from the 350-460 series (also referred to as Print Group 3). It’s easy to confuse the two American Beauty 350 backs. There are two important distinctions. First, AB350nf backs tend to sell for more than a AB350w/f back in similar condition. The reason: There are only 37 cards with AB350nf backs and 190 AB350w/f backs. So, in the aggregate, AB350nf is the scarcer back. However, when you are looking for a specific pose with either an AB350nf or an AB350w/f back, you will likely have a harder time finding the AB350w/f. This is because, on average, a specific pose from the AB350w/f checklist is scarcer than a specific pose from the AB350nf checklist. To put it in simpler terms: The average combined PSA & SGC pop report totals for a given AB350nf card are greater than 10. For AB350w/f, the average combined total is less than 10.

19 of the 37 cards in this subset were also printed with American Beauty 460 backs. This can be confusing because sometimes you will see a listing for one of these cards that simply states the back is an American Beauty back, but does not tell you whether it is a 350 or 460 back. These 19 poses exist with both AB350nf and AB460 backs, but are much scarcer and more valuable with the AB460 back:

Burch fielding
Conroy with bat
Crawford with bat
Jennings two hands showing
Jordan batting
Lake St. Louis, no ball
Leifield batting
Manning pitching
McQuillan with bat
Mullin with bat
Overall hand at face level
Pelty vertical
Pfeister throwing
Steinfeldt with bat
Wagner bat on right shoulder
Wilhelm with bat
Willetts
Willis batting
Wiltse pitching

Of course, this means that 18 of the poses in the AB350nf subset do not exist with AB460 back. For these 18 cards, it is easier to read the SGC and PSA pop reports and get a feel for how many copies have been graded. SGC and PSA have not always differentiated between the two backs. This makes it tough to get a handle on the true populations of AB350nf versus AB460 for the group of 19 above. I went through both the PSA and SGC Pop Reports and attempted to compile the combined Pop Report totals for each of the 37 cards in the AB350nf subset. This proved to be more difficult than I had imagined. For all of the 19 poses listed above, there are generic entries which could be either AB350nf or AB460 backs. We know that they are far more likely to represent a AB350nf back, but we can’t be sure.

The table above shows the results of my research into the SGC and PSA Pop Report Numbers for every card in the American Beauty 350 no frame subset. Because both PSA and SGC have generic American Beauty listings, it is impossible to know with 100% certainty how many of each pose are in each Pop Report. However, it is possible to look at all the numbers and make a reliable guesstimate. The table below shows the work I used to arrive at the estimates above. As you can see, there are 15 poses in the table below that do not have any ambiguous entries. For those 15, we have the exact Pop Report numbers. For the other 22, I have made an educated guess. For the cards in the AB350nf subset that also exist with an AB460 back, we know that the AB350nf will be far more plentiful. Somewhere in the neighborhood of a 4:1 ratio. This is how I arrived at my estimates. If there are 10 generic American Beauty backs in the PSA Pop Report, I have estimated that 2 of them will be AB460 backs, and 8 of them will be AB350nf backs.

This data shows that the individual cards in this subset are not particularly rare. Steinfeldt has the lowest Pop, at an estimated 10 copies. There are plenty of Old Mill, Tolstoi, AB350w/f, and Cycle 350 front/back combos that are more scarce than any card in the AB350nf subset. But, demand for this back remains high. A few of these cards have relatively high Pop numbers, but I don’t recall seeing a single copy for sale in the last couple years. Apparently they are out there, but they don’t change hands often.

Thanks to t206resource.com for the use of their checklists.

The Incredible St. Louis T206 Drum Find of 2009

Luke December 10, 2016

In 2009, Legendary Auctions brought to auction an absolutely stunning group of 41 T206 Drum backs (and an additional 8 T205 Drums). This massive find was dubbed “The St. Louis Find” after the city the cards were found in*. This was by far the largest assemblage of Drum backs ever found. The cards are in amazing shape. They have stunning colors, and only a couple have creasing. Each card has corner wear that is remarkably consistent throughout the group, suggesting they were enjoyed a lot over the years but treated with care. They were auctioned off in April and June of 2009 and fetched prices between $2,040 and $7,200.

As you can see, they are a breath-taking group. I wanted to save the scans all in one place for posterity. Here is the entire list in alphabetical order:

Arellanes PSA 3
Atz PSA 2
Bescher portrait PSA 3.5
Charles PSA 3
Doolan batting PSA 3
Egan PSA 3
Elberfeld fielding PSA 3
Fletcher PSA 2
Gasper PSA 2
Graham, Peaches PSA 3

Hoblitzell PSA 2
Hofman PSA 3
Howell portrait PSA 3
Jordan batting PSA 2
Knabe PSA 3
Knight portrait PSA 3
Kroh PSA 3
Lake no ball PSA 3
LaPorte PSA 3
Lennox PSA 3

Manning pitching PSA 3
Marshall PSA 3
Milan PSA 3
Mitchell, Mike PSA 3
Mullen portrait PSA 2.5
Oakes PSA 3
Perring PSA 3
Pfeister PSA 2.5
Phelps PSA 2
Quinn PSA 3

Rhoades hands at chest PSA 1
Schmidt portrait PSA 3
Smith, Heinie PSA 3
Steinfeldt with bat PSA 2.5
Titus PSA 2.5
Wagner, Heinie bat on right shoulder PSA 2
Wilhelm with bat PSA 3
Willett PSA 2.5
Willetts PSA 2
Willis with bat PSA 3
Wiltse pitching PSA 2

* St. Louis has continued to be a hotbed for Drum finds in the intervening years. Four more were found there earlier in 2016 (Hayden, LaPorte, Schreck, & Starr).

I want to thank cardtarget.com for saving these scans so they could be enjoyed 7 years later. cardtarget.com tracks completed sales in an easy-to-use and well-organized interface. I highly recommend checking them out if you haven’t yet.

Back Scarcity in the T206 150-350 series Part Three: Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649

Luke February 9, 2017 December 7, 2016

The Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649 subset is quite an anomaly in comparison to other Sweet Caporal backs. The American Tobacco Company obviously wanted to start including cards in their Sweet Caporal product that was coming out of factory 649. It’s interesting that they selected so few cards to be released in this way. The Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649 subset consists of only 34 cards.

I can’t figure out any reason why these particular players were selected. I’d guess it was probably just a matter of selecting a Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30 sheet that was handy. The red bar overprint and the new text reading “FACTORY No 649 1st DIST N.Y.” was printed on the back of the SC 150/30 sheet. At the time, tobacco companies were required by law to indicate which factory any card or other piece of advertising media came from.

Each card in this subset is fairly easy to obtain, although if you are looking for a certain player it may take you a little while to track one down. Like Sovereign 150 backs, they can be quite tough to find in higher grades. The prevailing theory on why this is the case goes like this: Cards released in 1909 were most likely handled by kids much more than cards released in 1911, when production of the set was winding down. In 1911, some of the kids who played with the cards in 1909 may have gotten bored with them. When production stopped in 1911, a lot of the cards probably got put in a drawer and forgotten.

The Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649 subset itself does not offer any rarities, but it does have a strong correlation to some rare Old Mills that were printed soon after. 30 of these 34 poses were printed with Old Mill backs in 1910, and those 30 are some of the toughest Old Mills in the set to find. Any theories as to why would just be speculation, but it’s possible that this sheet was used for the SC 150/649 backs for some period of time while the Old Mill backs were being printed. If so, these 30 poses may have started the Old Mill print run late, resulting in lower Pop numbers for these 30 poses. It’s fun to speculate, but I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly why these 30 poses are more scarce with Old Mill backs than other 150-350 subjects.

There does not appear to be any similar correlation with El Principe de Gales or Sovereign 350 backs. The 4 players who were not printed with Old Mill backs are Powers, who is a 150-only subject, and Ewing, Jones, and Spencer, who are all members of the “Elite 11”, a group of subjects who were pulled very early in the 350 series. It’s interesting that all 30 of the remaining players were selected to be printed with Old Mill back, but only 22/34 were used for EPDG and only 10/34 for Sov350.

Thanks as always to t206resource.com for the use of their checklists.

Collecting T206: Choosing a Focus

Luke December 4, 2016 December 3, 2016

Figuring out exactly how you want to approach the set is easier said than done. It will most likely take some trial and error before you feel confident that you know what you want to collect. That being said, it definitely can’t hurt to go into it with an idea of how you want to get started. There are a ton of different ways to collect the T206 set. Let’s take a look some of the more common approaches:

Collect all 518 (or 520) fronts:
This is pretty self-explanatory. You pick a general condition preference, and work on getting one of each front. Some people stop at 518 cards, and others make it 520 which includes the St. Louis variations of Demmitt and O’Hara.

Collect all of the Hall of Famers:
Also quite simple. There are 76 cards in the T206 set that depict a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Most of us can’t afford a Plank or Wagner, so that drops the number to 74.

Collecting just one back:
Some people decide they just love the look of one particular back and try to get every card that was printed with it. I have a friend who has a complete Polar Bear set and another who is getting pretty close on an entire Tolstoi set.

Collecting one team or city:
This is a great way to enjoy the set. It makes a lot of sense if you are from or reside in one of the cities represented in the set. Some collectors take it a step further and try to collect their favorite team with a variety of backs.

Back collecting:
This can mean trying to find one copy of each back, or multiple copies of certain backs. The common denominator for back collectors is that they tend to prefer the uncommon backs, sometimes to the point that they have little interest in common backs.

Collecting a player back run:
The idea is to take one pose, figure out all the possible backs that exist for it and try to acquire them all. This can be a really fun way to collect and learn about the set. One collector has an epic back run of the Cobb red portrait. He has more than 20 different red Cobbs, all with different back advertisements.

Collecting a subset:
This is similar to collecting just one back, but deals with one specific series and/or factory number. For example, a collector I know has a complete Sweet Caporal 350-460 factory 25 subset.

Most of the time, a new collector will fall into one of these three categories:

Just wants a few stars and/or notable players
Wants to collect a team or city
Wants to collect the entire set

Starting with a smaller goal can be a great way to get your feet wet and see what appeals to you. However, if you plan to tackle The Monster in its entirety, know this: Attempting to complete the set is a monumental task. Most people who start never finish. Completing the set requires a lot of money, patience and determination. Perhaps more importantly, it requires that your focus remains constant. I know quite a few collectors who set out to complete the set and and their focus never wavered. For others (me included), the journey isn’t quite so smooth.

When I began collecting the set, I wanted to complete it in right around Good Condition. I got up to about 175 cards and then one day I realized that I was just plodding along, checking off cards on my checklist, but not really enjoying it. What happened was I had started to be attracted to the tougher backs, but I couldn’t afford to buy any if I wanted to complete the set in the next 10 years. My budget was pretty small and I was adding a common once a week or so. I felt like it was going to take me forever to complete the set, and I wasn’t enjoying the journey much. Once I realized that my focus had changed, I sold off most of the commons and started over with a new plan. Nowadays, I am mainly a back collector and I don’t have any plans to complete the set anytime soon.

A change in focus isn’t a bad thing. After all, the only reason to collect anything is if you enjoy it. If you ever find yourself losing interest in your collecting goals, take a little break. Be aware that your wants may change as you learn more about the set and handle more cards. It could be as simple as your condition preferences changing along the way. It’s also possible that your collecting journey will take you to unexpected places. When I first caught the T206 bug I thought the fronts of the cards were really cool and figured I’d try to get one of each. I never expected that I would be collecting them based on the tobacco ads on the back. I also never imagined I’d love it so much that I’d end up writing about the set and sharing the fun with other collectors. But, here we are.