Author: Luke

A Twist on the Back Run: Player Runs

Like any other T206 collector, I love a good back run.  They’re a fun, challenging way to add some variety to a collection.  However, there are a few aspects of working on a back run that can be make it tough to see the project through to completion:  Collectors with large budgets will often target a very tough 350-460 Series or Super Print subject as their pose of choice.  Money won’t be an object, but availability certainly will.  Waiting over a decade for your specific pose to show up with Drum or Broad Leaf 460 back seems like it would really put the damper on the fun of working on a back run.

For a smaller budget collector like myself, there are other potential roadblocks to consider.  First, tying up a significant amount of money into multiple cards of one player can be hard to justify at times when other desirable cards come to market.  I’ve started a few back runs that never reached completion because I sold one or more of the cards in order to pay for a different T206 that I wanted more.  The longer it takes to complete the back run, the more chances you’ll have to decide you might rather have something else than complete the project.

The other problem has to do with the project itself.  A smaller budget collector is probably going to choose a 150-350 Series subject for their back run simply as a matter of finances.  You could also target a 350 Series player who doesn’t have a Drum, but then you’re still going to need a Carolina Brights and/or a Broad Leaf 350 which are not cheap.  A 150-350 Series back run makes the most sense, but it can be a little mundane.  I recently abandoned a Dode Criss back run while lacking only the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 25 because I had just lost interest.  Granted, Criss is one of the easiest 150-350 back runs because their is no Hindu or EPDG to track down.  However the largest back runs from the 150-350 Series (Bresnahan Portrait or Johnson Portrait for example) only have 12 front/back combos, and 7 of them are either Piedmont or Sweet Caporal backs.  Needing that many common backs* can get boring, at least it has to me on a few occasions.  I’m sure there are plenty of people who have completed such a project without giving up at some point, but I know of many such back runs that have never been seen through to completion.

Once I realized that I wasn’t likely to complete a back run anytime soon, I came up with a different way of looking at back collecting.  I would much rather have 12 different mid-tier front/back combos than 12 different backs of the same pose.  With that in mind, I started to try to acquire the scarcest back (or the scarcest back I could afford) or each pose for a certain player.  Obviously this only makes sense for players who have multiple poses in the T206 set, but thankfully there are plenty of them.

The Bender run below features his toughest Portrait, second scarcest With Trees (Broad Leaf 350 is harder to find), and the tough Cycle 460 No Trees (there are a few tougher front/back combos with for this pose, but I can’t afford most of them).

The Bender run was on the expensive side, but this can also be a fun way to collect on a budget.  This Mullin run below cost me around $400 to complete.  None of these are the very scarcest back for the pose, but the Cycles are pretty hard to find.

Gallery:

*Not all Sweet Caporal backs are easy to find, but it can be hard to know which ones are tougher to find because most collectors aren’t interested in the  different Factory Numbers, and Pop Report numbers are not helpful.

Lionel Carter’s T206 Eddie Plank

In 2007, hobby legend Lionel Carter sold a number of cards from his expansive collection.  Among them was his T206 Plank.  This is one of my favorite T206s that I don’t own.  Beyond the fact that its a T206 Plank, there are a couple things which make this card extra special, in my eyes.  Most of the highest profile cards in the hobby quietly change hands behind closed doors.  However, if you were a net54baseball.com member in 2012 and 2013, you probably remember reading along as this particular card was purchased by a board member, only to be put back on the market shortly thereafter.   For this Plank card, the story of its ownership and how it was acquired adds to its appeal, at least to me.  Another endearing aspect of this card is how “well-loved” it is.  The vast majority of Mr. Carter’s baseball cards were in very nice shape, and this one obviously stands out like a sore thumb.  Including Mr. Carter, there have been only four owners since 1957:

TIMELINE:

1957:  Lionel Carter acquires the Plank in a cigar box full of cigarette cards from a Charles Bray auction.

In a telephone conversation recorded in 2008, Mr. Carter recalled his first thoughts when discovering the Plank among the other cards in the cigar box:

“I bought it in a box of cigarette cards for $5.  I was quite young at the time, probably going to high school.  I took it up to my room and dumped them out.  And I was going through them, and I said, “Well what’s this crappy card doing in here?”  And I was going to throw it out, but I said, “I’ll keep it until I find a better one.  But I never did find a better one.”

Aug. 27, 2007: Lionel Carter’s T206 Eddie Plank comes to market for the first time. Sold by Legendary Auctions for $16,474.

The new owner reached out to Mr. Carter to ask him a few questions about the card.  In a 2008 letter written to the owner, Mr. Carter wrote:

As for Mr. Plank, I purchased him in Charles Bray sale of 440 lots in the Card Collector’s Bulletin of May 10, 1957 listed as a cigar box full of baseball cigarette cards for $5.00! Figured I had nothing to lose and bid $5.00 and was surprised to get them. All fair or good condition except Plank. Nearly threw him away. Glad he has a nice home!

March 28, 2012: In a private transaction, the buyer of the Plank in the Legendary auction sells it for $29,000.

The winning bidder in the Legendary Auction was approached by a fellow member of the net54baseball.com forum, and a deal was struck.  However, it wasn’t long before the new owner was on the hunt for another high profile card.  In May of 2012, he posted that he was looking for a 1933 Goudey Nap Lajoie and that he was willing to trade the Plank.

August 2013: In a private transaction, Plank is traded to collector Rob Dewolf for a 1933 Goudey Lajoie in an SGC 40/3 holder. The Plank has remained in Dewolf’s possession since then.

This has to be one of the biggest trades in the history of the hobby, but it wasn’t easy.  In April 2013, Dewolf reached out the owner of the Plank about a possible trade, but the two parties didn’t gain any traction right away.  Talks stalled in April only to be re-opened in August.  The owner of the Plank lived in Canada, which added an extra wrinkle to the negotiations.  The owner of the Plank didn’t want to pay for shipping and insurance on the Plank and customs fees for the Lajoie, so they had to come up with a creative solution.  In the end, a straight-up swap of the two iconic cards was agreed to when Rob commissioned a trusted third party to travel to the border with the Lajoie and complete the trade for him.

Unfortunately for us, there’s no way to know the history of this card prior to its arrival in Mr. Carter’s collection.  If it could talk, I’m sure it would have some tales to tell.  I can only imagine how it came to look the way it does.  And, being in that condition, I’m amazed it survived all these years.  Back when tobacco cards had no monetary value, I would think a severely worn card like this would find its way into the trash more often than not.  Heck, even Lionel Carter considered throwing it out.

 

-Thanks to t206collector.com for the excerpts from both the written letter and telephone conversation

A Look at the “Mid-Tier” T206 Backs: Tiers 2 & 3

This is a continuation of Part 1, which can be found here.

Tier 2:

American Beauty 350 no frame

There are only 37 poses in this subset, all of which are from the 350-460 Series.  Because of the small number of poses, this back was printed in smaller quantities than all the backs in Tier 3.  However, individual Populations of each card in the subset are usually higher than individual cards in the American Beauty 350 With Frame and Cycle 350 to name a couple.  The distribution appears to be normal.  In other words, there don’t appear to be any short-prints.  On average, cards with American Beauty 350 No Frame backs sell for more than all other backs in Tiers 2 and 3 other than Brown Hindu.

Brown Hindu

There are 136 poses in the Brown Hindu subset.  34 of these poses are Southern Leaguers and 102 are Major Leaguers from the 150-350 Series.  Some collectors have advanced the theory that 150-Only Poses are tougher-to-find with Hindu backs than other poses, but I don’t really think the Pop Report data corroborates this.  T206s with Brown Hindu backs sell for more than any other Tier 2 or Tier 3 back on average.  They also sell for more than Piedmont 350-460 Factory 42 examples.  Brown Hindu backs and Cycle 460 backs tend to sell for very similar prices.

Sweet Caporal 350-460 Factory 25

This back flies under the radar.  Most experienced collectors realize that you don’t see examples with this back often, but the truth is very few people seem to care.  SC 350-460 Factory 25 backs are certainly the most undervalued of all the Mid-Tier backs.  Because the grading companies have not kept records of the different Sweet Caporal backs (PSA recently started differentiating between the different series and factory numbers, but as of right now there is not nearly enough data for it to be useful for research) it is pretty much impossible to do any meaningful research on this back.  Just going off memory and experience, I know this back is scarce.  I think it belongs here in Tier 2, but others with similar experience might slot it higher or lower.  Cards with this back can be found for only a slight premium over other Sweet Caporal backs.  There are 69 poses in this subset, originating from the 350-460 Series, 460 Only Series, and the “Super Prints.”

Tier 3:

American Beauty 350 with frame & Cycle 350

Both AB350wf and Cycle 350 boast a whopping 190 subjects in their checklist.  Each of these backs consist of poses from the 350 Only Series as well as the 6 “Super Prints”.  Because of how many players were printed with these backs, they fall fairly low on most Back Scarcity Rankings.  However, finding a specific player with AB350wf or Cycle 350 back can prove quite difficult.  Prices for cards with AB350wf backs tend to be on par with Cycle 350s.  These two backs sell for more on average than any other back in Tier 3.  Like most other backs, distribution appears normal.

El Principe de Gales

To the best of my knowledge, there are 281* known poses that exist with EPDG back*.  This back was printed throughout T206 production and includes poses from all Print Groups.  Some poses can be quite difficult to find with an EDPG back, while the majority are not too tough.  There does not appear to be any pattern, so you’ll just have to use the Pop Reports to find the relative scarcity of individual poses.  EPDG backs tend to sell for a bit less than Cycle 350 and AB350wf and slightly more than Old Mill, Sovereign 150, 350 Green Apple, and Sovereign 460.

Old Mill (Base Ball Subjects)

Like the EPDG subset, Old Mill backs were printed throughout T206 production and feature poses from all Print Groups.  To the best of my knowledge, there are 312 poses in the Old Mill Subset (excluding Southern Leaguers).  For the most part, specific poses with an Old Mill back are easy to find.  There are a couple exceptions.  150-350 Series subjects are usually pretty tough to come by, and the twelve 460 Only poses below (often called the Exclusive 12) are also very scarce.  You’ll notice these 12 poses appear in Part 1 of this article because they are fairly easy to find with American Beauty 460 backs.

-Crandall with cap
-Devore
-Duffy
-Ford
-Gandil
-Geyer
-Hummel
-McGraw glove at hip
-Pfeffer
-Sheckard glove showing
-Tannehill on front
-Wheat

Sovereign 150, Sovereign 350 Green Apple, & Sovereign 460

These three Sovereign backs are scarcer than Sovereign 350 Forest Green, which falls just outside the Mid-Tier backs in my opinion.  Sovereign 460 is probably the scarcest of the Sovereign backs, mainly owing to the fact that there are only 52 poses in the subset.  The Sovereign 350 Green Apple subset consists of 66 poses while Sovereign 150 has exactly 150 subjects.  Individual scarcity is similar between Sov150 and Sov460, but because the Sov150 checklist is so much larger, you’ll see Sov150 backs more often.

Like Old Mills and EPDGs, most poses can be found without too much difficulty with a Sovereign back.  As is the case with Old Mills, there are some exceptions.  The “150 Only” poses are exceedingly hard to find with Sovereign 150 backs.  Likewise, the “Super Prints” are tough to find with a Sovereign 460 back.  Cobb Red Portrait seems to be the scarcest of the Super Prints with Sovereign 460 back, while Mathewson Dark Cap is a good deal more plentiful.  The “Exclusive 12” which are listed above, are more readily available with Sovereign 460 backs than the other cards in the Sovereign 460 subset.

For the most part, Sovereign backs are a bit tougher to find for individual poses than Old Mill, and slightly easier to find than EPDG copies.  Of course, there are many anomalies and you should check the Pop Reports to be sure.

Tolstoi

To the best of my knowledge, the current count is 255 known cards with Tolstoi backs.  Of all the Mid-Tier backs, we know the least about the Tolstoi subset.  They seem to be pretty common at first glance, because many of the 350-460 Series and 460 Only Series poses are quite plentiful.  However, some players from the 350 Only Series can be downright impossible to find with a Tolstoi back.  Just this past year, two new poses were discovered and added the Tolstoi checklist**.  For Tolstoi, more than any other back, the Pop Reports are your friend.

Honorable Mentions

All backs not mentioned in Tiers 1 through 3 fall just below my “Mid-Tier” backs in terms of scarcity (or lack thereof).  These backs are:

-Old Mill Southern League
-Polar Bear
-Sovereign 350 Forest Green
-All Sweet Caporal backs other than SC 350-460 Factory 25 (which is mentioned above in Tier 2)

*The number could be 281-284.  There is a bit of confusion about the exact number of cards in the EPDG subset.  There are 3 players who either were not printed, or they haven’t been graded by either SGC or PSA yet (Pastorius, Hunky Shaw, and Ed Willett with bat).  It’s easy to imagine how Shaw may have been mistakenly confirmed by someone who had an Al Shaw EPDG, and same with Willetts/Willett.  Pastorius doesn’t have an easy rationale however.  It’s also very possible that another EPDG could show up and need to be added to the checklist.  But for now, these are the numbers we are working with.

**Stephens and Danny Hoffman were found this year and added to the “confirmed list” of Tolstoi backs

A Look at the “Mid-Tier” T206 Backs: Tier 1

There is a lot of confusion and misinformation out there about what exactly constitutes a “T206 Rare Back”.  If you do an eBay search for T206s right now, you’ll find dozens of listings using the word “Rare” to promote a card that really isn’t.  If you’ve been collecting T206s for a number of years, you probably have a pretty good handle on the respective scarcities of the various T206 backs.  Like most aspects of the set, the best way to learn the intricacies of the different backs is by handling a bunch of cards and spending a little bit of time most days looking at online listings and auctions.  For me it took 4 or 5 years before I felt like I had a good understanding of aggregate and relative back scarcity.

This two-part article will be more helpful to new collectors than seasoned ones, but I think there is a little something for even the most advanced collectors.  For collectors who are just becoming interested in the rare and mid-tier backs, the Back Scarcity Rankings that can be found online can be very helpful, but they only tell part of the story.  These lists are designed to show you which backs are the scarcest, in an aggregate sense.  For the most part, they deliver very useful information.  For instance, it’s very important to know how rare a Uzit or Lenox back is, so that if you happen to find one, you will know that you should try to pick it up because it might be years before you have another shot at one.

However, those types of scenarios are more pipe dream than reality.  The more likely scenario is something like this:  Someone posts a bunch of T206s on ebay.  Most of them have a Piedmont back, but one has an American Beauty 460 back and another has a Tolstoi back.  Going by the Back Scarcity Rankings, you’d assume that the American Beauty 460 would be the card to acquire (assuming you can’t get both).  But in reality, it could go either way.  There are common American Beauty 460s and rare Tolstois.  In this article, I’ll attempt to shed some light on relative scarcity and scarcity within each back subset.

These are the “Rare Backs” of the T206 set:

  • Brown Old Mill
  • Brown Lenox
  • Broad Leaf 460
  • Drum
  • Uzit
  • Red Hindu
  • Black Lenox
  • Broad Leaf 350
  • Blank Back
  • Carolina Brights

There is a pretty big gap between the rarity of Carolina Brights and the next rarest back.  I believe Cycle 460 is the next rarest back (and I will delve further into this in a couple weeks) but you could argue for American Beauty 460 as well.

Here are the “Mid-Tier” backs, separated into three tiers based on rarity.  Within each tier, they are listed in alphabetical order:

Tier 1:

American Beauty 460
Cycle 460
Piedmont 350-460 Factory 42

Tier 2:

American Beauty 350 No Frame
Brown Hindu
Sweet Caporal 350-460 Factory 25

Tier 3:

American Beauty 350 with frame
Cycle 350
El Principe de Gales
Old Mill (Base Ball Subjects)
Sovereign 150
Sovereign 350 Green Apple
Sovereign 460
Tolstoi

Tier 1:

American Beauty 460

There are either 74 or 75 cards in the American Beauty 460 Subset*.  The subset is comprised of poses from the 350-460 Series as well as the 460 Only Series.  In an aggregate sense, AB460 is one of the three scarcest Mid-Tier backs, but the individual distribution has an odd twist to it.  12 of the poses are pretty easy to find, while the others range from scarce to near impossible-to-find.  These 12 poses are plentiful in comparison to the others:

-Crandall with cap
-Devore
-Duffy
-Ford
-Gandil
-Geyer
-Hummel
-McGraw glove at hip
-Pfeffer
-Sheckard glove showing
-Tannehill on front
-Wheat

These 12 poses tend to sell for less than other American Beauty 460 poses.  There are some AB460 poses that haven’t come to market in a number of years,  Prices can be very strong for the rarest front/back combos.

Cycle 460

There are 109 poses in the Cycle 460 Subset.  This is in my opinion the scarcest of all the Mid-Tier backs.  This article is meant to set the stage for a number of more research intensive pieces that will be published in the near future.  Look for an in-depth series on Cycle 460s to come in the next few weeks, entitled “T206 Cycle 460 Backs: Overlooked and Undervalued”.  In this series, I will show in detail, why I believe Cycle 460 to be the rarest of all Mid-Tier backs, slotting in just behind Carolina Brights on the overall Back Scarcity Rankings.

Cycle 460 backs appear to follow a normal distribution.  That is, some poses are more plentiful than others, but it is likely just due to chance and the randomness of which cards survived all these years.

Piedmont 350-460 Factory 42

This is clearly one of the scarcest Mid-Tier backs, but it is hard to study them because the grading companies have not recorded them until recently.  Someone who has been collecting backs and paying attention to the market for the last 20 years would have a much better idea of their aggregate scarcity than I do.  My strengths lie in analyzing the data that is available to us, mainly in the form of Population Reports.  I feel that Piedmont 350-460 Factory 42 backs are slightly scarcer than Brown Hindu, but it’s probably very close either way.  Piedmont Factory 42 is the least scarce of the Tier 1 backs, and Brown Hindu is the scarcest back in Tier 2.

A big thanks to the guys at T206resource.com for the use of their invaluable checklists.

*There is a question of whether Ames Hands Above Head was actually printed with an American Beauty 460 back or not.

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.

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

A normal looking Sovereign 150 Gilbert on the left, and a “dark ink” Old Mill on the left

In the first part of this series, I introduced the three distinct print qualities that can be found on poses from the 150-350 Series with Old Mill backs.  The Gilbert above is a good example of a “dark ink” Old Mill.  This “dark ink” phenomenon is not exclusive to Old Mills.  It can be observed on the following 150-350 Series backs:

1.  Old Mill

2.  Piedmont 350

3.  Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25

“Dark Ink” Manning Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 25. Sorry about the blurry scan. It was hard to find a scan with this back.

4.  Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 30

You’ll notice that the following 150-350 series backs are not a part of the above list:

  • El Principe de Gales
  • Sovereign 350 Forest Green

EPDG was the first back printed in the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series.  The fact that no EPDGs have been found with “dark ink” on the fronts is interesting, but not too surprising.  150-350 Series poses with EPDG backs look very similar to their 150 Series counterparts because they were printed soon after.

At this point, the jury is still out on whether there are any 150-350 Series Subjects out there with a “dark ink” front and a Sovereign 350 back.  I expect that there are, but I haven’t been able to find any scans to prove it.

Where the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset Comes In:

The most hardcore T206 nerds among us may notice that the five poses pictured above all have something in common.  They are among the 34 poses that comprise the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset.  The common theme with the majority of these “dark ink” cards is that they are poses that can be found with SC 150/649 backs.   So far, I have only found a few that feature players who are not a part of the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset.  The Keeler Old Mill below is one example.

Two paragraphs ago I mentioned that I have yet to find a “Dark Ink” front with a 150-350 Series Sovereign 350 Forest Green back.  The pattern would dictate that they do exist, but there is a reason why they would be tougher to find than a copy with Old Mill, Piedmont 350 or Sweet Caporal 350.

The Old Mill, Piedmont 350 and Sweet Caporal 350 Subsets all contain the majority of poses that make up the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset.  The Sovereign 350 Subset only contains 10 poses that are part of the SC 150/649 Subset.  Therefore, it is a lot tougher to find examples with Sovereign 350 backs to examine.  Here are the 10 poses that exist with both SC 150/649 and Sovereign 350 Forest Green:

  1. Bresnahan Portrait
  2. Davis, George
  3. Goode
  4. Griffith Portrait
  5. Johnson Portrait
  6. Killian Hands at Chest
  7. Liebhardt
  8. Manning Batting
  9. O’Leary Portrait
  10. Sheckard No Glove Showing

Of these 10, I have seen “Dark Ink” cards featuring only Killian, Liebhardt, and Manning.  I expect that one or all of those three poses will be found with a Dark Ink Sovereign 350.  If you have one or have a scan of one, please let me know.

In Part Three, I’ll explain what the Elite 11 and the “Washed Out” Old Mill, Piedmont 350, and Sweet Caporal 350s can teach us about the 350 portion of 150-350 Series Print Runs.