Month: July 2017

Why Do You Collect Backs?

Recently, a net54 member posed the question “Why do you collect backs?”.  A very simple question on its face, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized answer wasn’t so simple.  Like most other back collectors, I didn’t begin collecting pre-war baseball cards with the intention of collecting the tobacco advertisements on the back.  The question made me stop and think about my motivations.

The Thrill of the Hunt

My main reason for collecting backs is I find it exciting.  When I am searching for a new T206 to buy, I find it much more fun to find a scarce front/back combo than if I find a common backed card in really nice shape for a great price.  The reason is simple.  You can always buy a common back in nice shape as long as you have the money.  However, it takes more than just having money to acquire a scarce combo.  You still need to have the money, but now being the first person to find it is much more important.  This aspect of collecting backs is really fun for me.

Scarcity Within a Very Common Set

While somewhat related to the previous topic, this is a bit different.  With T206 more than any other set, you can get “scan overload” if you spend too much time searching eBay for new cards.  If you looked at every new listing for a year, you would probably see a few hundred copies of Dode Criss with a Piedmont back.  In that same time frame, you might not see a single Criss with Old Mill or Sovereign 150 back.  If you did find either, it would likely just be one or two over the span of a year of searching.  The upshot is the more you search for T206s, the more appealing the tougher backs become.  Seeing how many common backs are out there makes me appreciate how comparatively scarce the mid-tier and rare backs are.

Variety

Even before I made the plunge into full blown back collecting, I enjoyed the variety that the different backs can bring to a collection.  I love a good front as much as anyone, but there’s no doubt that a stack of T206s with a bunch of different backs is more interesting than if they all had Piedmont backs.  I know there are plenty of T206 collectors who don’t care about backs and just go with the most affordable card they can find in their desired grade.  That being said, I have to imagine the majority of collectors do have some interest in the backs.  Even if that just means keeping an eye out and snagging a few mid-tier backs when the opportunity to get them at good prices presents itself.  Another cool thing about the various T206 backs is that often your non-collector friends and family will be more interested in the tobacco ads than the fronts of the cards.  A lot of people that aren’t sports fans will still appreciate the ornate back designs and seeing the logos of these long forgotten brands.

Value

In my opinion, the mid-tier T206 backs are very undervalued.  I realize that the market prices for mid-tier backs are arrived at through supply and demand dynamics, but it still doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.  Not too long ago I paid $50 for this McElveen Tolstoi.  I’ve probably seen scans of 200 or 300 different Piedmont 350 McElveens, but this is the only Tolstoi I’ve ever seen.  A Piedmont 350 in the same shape would probably run you about $12-$13 or so.  So, I essentially paid a 3x premium above what the Piedmont would cost for a card that is 200-300x (a ballpark estimate) scarcer.  This kind of goes back to my first reason.  Finding cards like this is fun and exciting, and it’s why I enjoy collecting T206 so much.

The Most Obscure Major Leaguer in the T206 Set

In 1910, 31 year-old John Frill made his Major League debut with the New York Highlanders.  He appeared in 10 games, starting 5 of them.  He went 2-2 with an ERA of 4.47 over a total of 48 innings pitched.  Nothing too interesting about any of that.  Just a career Minor Leaguer getting a cup of coffee and eating some inning for the big league club.  Only July 13th 1910, Frill was back in the Minors, his contract having been purchased by Eastern League club Jersey City.  In 1911, he turned in a 16-17 record with a 3.78 ERA for the Jersey City club .  That same year, American Tobacco Company made a curious decision when they included Frill in the 460-Only portion of the T206 set.

There is no shortage of obscure players in the T206 set, but Frill may be the most extreme example, at least among Major Leaguers.  He was a bit of a late-bloomer in baseball terms.  His first taste of professional ball came as a 27 year-old in the Connecticut State League, where he pitched parts of the 1906 Season with Bridgeport and Springfield starting 29 games and going 11-15.  In 1907 he started 6 games for Newark of the Eastern League, before joining East Liverpool of the Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League.  He appeared in 30 games for East Liverpool, but no other stats were kept.  In 1908, Frill re-joined Newark, where he turned in solid seasons in both 1908 and 1909.  In 1908 he went 13-10 with a 2.39 Run Average (the ERA stat was not kept, presumably because errors were not recorded).  In 1909 he was 16-13 with a 3.34 Run Average.

A mysterious figure, this little black and white thumbnail is the only picture I could find of John Frill

Including Frill in the set as a member of Newark in 1910 would have made a lot of sense.  Including him as a member of the New York Highlanders in 1911 is a real head-scratcher however.  My best guess as to why Frill was chosen for inclusion in the set is that he may have been a relatively well known player at the time as a result of his 1908 and 1909 campaigns in Newark.  This still doesn’t make a lot of sense, as most fringy Major Leaguers in the set either had a long Major League career, or a short and notable one.

Whatever the reason, Frill’s T206 card is one of my favorite of the 460-Only Series.  Though there are a number of cards with green grass and blue sky backgrounds, the colors on this one have always stood out to me.

In 1912, John Frill returned to big leagues for another cup of coffee.  He appeared in 3 games with the St. Louis Browns before being selected off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds.  He pitched in 3 games for the Reds, and then returned to the Minor Leagues for good.  In 1915 he pitched for Albany and Syracuse of the New York State League before hanging up the spikes at 35 years of age.  In 1918 he passed away far too young in Rhode Island at the age of 38.

John Frill’s T206 can be found with Uzit, Lenox, American Beauty 460 and Cycle 460 backs.  The Uzit was recently discovered and is the only copy known as of this writing.

The T206 Eddie Collins With Bat Proof

The Collins Proof above is probably my favorite T206.  This unique card walked into a card show in New York in the 1970’s.  It was brought to the show by a relative of someone who worked directly with proof production for the T206 and T3 sets.  No one knows why this pose didn’t make it into T206 production.  The Portrait is an iconic pose, but this With Bat pose would have been a great complement to it.

A copy of the 1994 REA catalog which featured the Collins Proof – The first time it had been offered publicly

The card speaks for itself, but the story of who has owned it over the years adds to its mystique.  Rob Lifson, who went on to run Robert Edwards Auctions (REA) purchased it and sold it soon after to Bill Mastro at a different show.  Mastro recognized that it was an unissued pose and jumped at the chance to buy it for $17.  He told Lifson that it was unissued only after he had bought it.  Realizing the significance of the card, Lifson decided to re-acquire it.  He had to give Mastro $2,000 in trade, but he left the show with it.  He then sold the proof to high profile collector Barry Halper for $2,500 when he got home.

In 1994, Halper consigned the Collins Proof to Lifson to sell in REA’s January Auction.  The minimum bid was set at $50,000 and the lot received just one bid, selling for a post-juice $56,000.  The new owner was none other than actor Charlie Sheen.

The two legendary baseball card collectors who have owned the Collins Proof

In 2000, Leland’s auctioned off the card, and it sold for $24,930.  This time, it was purchased by Keith Olbermann, and it resides in his collection to this day.  In 2011, Olbermann wrote the following in his MLB blog:

“I’d like to thank him (Charlie Sheen) belatedly for the T206 Collins Proof card, by the way.”

In the below issue of The Trader Speaks, the question of whether the Collins Proof was a more significant card that the T206 Honus Wagner was posed.  Today most collectors would opt for the Wagner if given the choice, but there are a few who would prefer the Collins.

There’s no way to know for sure what the Collins Proof would sell for in today’s market, but it would not shock me at all if it sold for low-to-mid six figures.

I’d like to thank Keith Olbermann and t206resource.com and for the use his/their scanas well as info used from the article entitled “The Olbermann Proofs” and Rob Lifson for his summary of the history of the Collins Proof, which can be read on the Full Count Vintage Baseball Card Forum here.

The “Dark Ink” Connection Between The T206 Sweet Caporal Factory 649 Subset, 150-350 Old Mill Subset, and the Elite Eleven: Part Four

It’s probably not possible for us to ever know with certainty how many different print runs made up the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series.  I think it’s pretty clear there were at least three distinct stages, but beyond that it gets really tricky to say anything with certainty.

I was chatting with my friend Steve Birmingham about this topic recently.  Anytime I have a question the printing processes used for T206 production, I ask Steve.  He mentioned my observation about the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 and Sovereign 350 connection that I wrote about in Part Two of this series.  I noted that only 10 of the 34 subjects in the SC 150/649 Subset were printed with Sovereign 350 backs.  This was a departure from Old Mill, Piedmont 350 and SC 350/25 & SC 350/30 print runs which used the majority of the 34 subjects that make up the SC 150/649 subset.

Ten subjects with overlap between SC 649 and Sov 350fg, and only three of those seen with dark ink. That very clearly speaks to different print runs with different sheet layouts each time.

I have to agree.  Printing the Sovereign 350 sheets was clearly not as simple as just reusing the layout from an earlier 150 Series sheet.  This knowledge may get us closer to understanding the printing process, but it probably creates more questions than it answers.  The fact that they used just ten SC 150/649 subjects for the Sov350 print run may mean that it was relatively easy for the printers at ALC to swap poses in or out of a sheet.  If this was a common practice, it would be nearly impossible for us to recreate or make sense of the sheet layout for the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series.

I let that idea marinate for a little while, thinking to myself that this puzzle seemed not only immense, but daunting.  I had to chuckle when I got Steve’s next email.  It seemed we were feeling the same way:

Every time I get into this stuff I realize more and more that Heitman was incredibly right to call it “the Monster”.   It looks simple enough, 524 cards with different backs, then you realize that some “common” backs on some cards are anything but common.  Then you try to pin it down to sheet sizes, and print groups, and with outliers, and a handful of obvious changes during a run it becomes clear that even a few print groups aren’t really enough.  And that it’s more like 12, maybe more.

I also wanted Steve’s opinion on what created the “Dark Ink” and “Washed Out” cards that I’ve discussed earlier in this series.  Much like the questions I have about print layouts, there aren’t any easy answers.

Why they’re darker probably won’t be easily solvable.  One possibility is that the adjustments to the art between 150 and 350 were intended to save on ink- trivial for one card, but over several thousand it adds up. I can see ATC asking for and getting a volume discount, and also ALC cutting a few corners to preserve profits.  Of course, looking at Gilbert that makes no sense!  The red in the sky is far more extensive, so they didn’t save much by messing with the art.

Of course, the opposite could be true in a couple ways.  ALC could have requested that the cards look more vibrant, and darkening colors and adding a bit more of brighter ones would do that.  But it might have cost extra, so they could have decided to tone it back down later.

I don’t really buy the worn plates concept for the more washed out ones.  It’s possible, but they’re pretty common, and I doubt they’d run for that long on worn plates.  It’s more likely another deliberate adjustment to the art.  And a more likely cost cutting move.  Plates only lasted so long, especially when using stones. So they would have needed regular replacement.

I imagine I will spend more time in the future trying to make sense of it all.  Thanks as always for stopping by to read my articles.  And thank you yet again to Steve for helping me understand the printing process used by ALC in the production of T206 cards.

The “Dark Ink” Connection Between The T206 Sweet Caporal Factory 649 Subset, 150-350 Old Mill Subset, and the Elite Eleven: Part Three

I spent the first two parts of this series talking about the “Dark Ink” cards from the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series and what we can learn from them.  Now, it’s time to move on to the “Washed Out” cards.  These are cards that look a bit “fuzzy” and have muted colors.  They exist with the following backs:

Old Mill

Piedmont 350

Sovereign 350

Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 25

Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 30

El Principe de Gales stands out as the only 150-350 Series back that was printed during the 350 portion of the print run to not appear above.  EPDG backs were printed directly after the 150 Print Runs and before all other 350 Backs (Old Mill, P350, Sov350, SC 350/25 & SC 350/30).  There are not any “Washed Out” images with 150 Series backs, and there are none with EPDG either.  What this means is that the Washed Out images appeared later on in the 350 Print Runs.

The accepted theory on the “Washed Out” images of the 150-350 Series is that the printing stones became worn over time, which produced the images we see above.  The colors are less sharp and the lines are less defined on the “Washed Out” images than the cards printed in 1909 at the beginning of the 150 Print Run.

This is where the Elite 11 come into play.  The following 11 poses are known as the “Elite 11”:

  • Dahlen Boston
  • Ewing
  • Ganley
  • Jones, Tom
  • Karger
  • Lindaman
  • Lundgren Chicago
  • Mullin horizontal
  • Schaefer Detroit
  • Shaw St. Louis
  • Spencer

These 11 poses follow a similar pattern.  They were all printed with EPDG backs and Piedmont 350 backs, before being pulled from production.  They don’t exist with Old Mill, Sovereign 350 or Sweet Caporal 350 backs.

They don’t appear to have been pulled from EPDG production.  I’ve read that theory in the past, but I don’t believe there is enough evidence to support such a conclusion.  The only Elite 11 pose that is truly scarce with EPDG back is Bill Dahlen Boston.  He may have been pulled from production before the EPDG print run concluded, but it could also just be a result of a normal distribution variance.

“Elite 11” Piedmont 350 Germany Schaefer

So, What do the Elite 11 Have to do With This?

We know they were printed briefly at the beginning of the Piedmont 350 print run, and then quickly pulled.  I’ve made the observation over the last few years of collecting these cards that none of the Elite 11 Piedmont 350s have either “Dark Ink” or the “Washed Out” look.  They all look just like their Piedmont 150 and EPDG counterparts.

What this means is there were multiple distinct print runs for Piedmont 350 backs.  Initially, the fronts looked similar to Piedmont 150s, but by the end of Piedmont 350 production, some of the fronts looked “Washed Out”, and others were printed with “Dark Ink”.

I don’t know how many distinct print runs it took to create all of the Piedmont 350s, but I think it’s pretty clear that it was at least three.  The early run produced the Elite 11 poses.  They look the same as the Piedmont 150s of those players.  The “Dark Ink” and “Washed Out” sheets came later.  At this point, I don’t know if there is any way to tell which came first.  I used Piedmont 350 backs to make the point about the Elite 11, but the same patterns hold true for most of the other backs we have been discussing.

150-350 Series Old Mills exhibit the three distinct print qualities that I noted in Part One of this series.  That points toward at least three print runs.  The same appears to be true of Sweet Caporal 350/25 and Sweet Caporal 350/30.

Where Sovereign 350 Stands Out

It appears to me that 150-350 Series Sovereign 350s have two distinct print qualities.  There are some Sovereign 350 fronts that look just like 150 fronts, but most Sovereign 350s look at least a little washed out but with normal colors.  My guess is the majority of Sovereign 350 backs were printed towards the end of the 350 portion of 150-350 Series production when the printing stones were worn down.