Author: Luke

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

When you’ve handled enough T206s, certain patterns start to take shape.  It starts by noticing something small that seems a little odd on a certain card.  Most of the time these slight variations between cards are due to the inexact nature of the printing processes and don’t point us toward a larger pattern.  However, after you see the same oddities a few times with the same card, or a group of cards that can be linked together in some way, that’s when some interesting patterns can start to take shape.

Typically the articles that I write are completely researched before I publish them, but this group of articles will be a little different.  With this subject matter, it’s hard to “prove” anything, so I am content to just throw the idea out there for now.  One huge obstacle in trying to put together the pieces of this puzzle is that these 150-350 Series Old Mills are scarce.  Connecting the dots necessarily requires putting faith in the conclusions drawn from examining a small set of examples.  But, I figure I have handled more 150-350 Old Mills than just about anyone, so I feel qualified to throw out a new theory regarding them.  I’ll be interested to see what other people think, and I will continue to delve into the topic in the future.

This series of articles is going to take a look at the three backs noted above, but it feels natural to start with Old Mill, even though they were printed last.  I’ve studied T206s with Old Mill backs more extensively than any other back, and it was looking at Old Mills that lead me down this train of thought.

There are three distinct print qualities that I have observed on dozens of cards from the 150-350 Series Old Mill Subset:

1. Clean, crisp images that look more like 150 Series images than 350 Series
Sullivan Old Mill that is neither overly dark nor “washed out” in appearance
2. “Dark Ink” cards that are much darker and more heavily inked than other cards
Schlei Catching Old Mill with a noticeably darker appearance than a copy from the 150 Series
3. “Washed Out” images that lack the clarity of #1 and tend to be a bit lighter as well
Overall Portrait with Old Mill back and a “washed out” appearance

These three distinct “looks” of Old Mills from the 150-350 Series lead me to one obvious conclusion, and one that may not be so obvious.  First, because these Old Mills can be classified into three distinct groupings, clearly that means each group was printed separately.  What it doesn’t tell us is whether there is any pattern to be found.  It’s very possible that different runs on the press were just inked to varying degrees, which created the different results that we can see above.

I think there were three or more different print runs for 150-350 Series Old Mills.  I also think the different print runs were made up of a different set of players/poses on the sheets.  There seem to be some players that were not printed on the “washed out” sheets, and likewise with the “dark ink” sheets.  In Part Two, I’ll delve into the “dark ink” 150-350 Series Old Mills and we’ll see what patterns and theories we can infer from them.

A Look at the T206 Red Hindu Subset: Part Two

In the first part of this two-part series (which can be read here), we looked at the Red Hindu checklist, as well as a little background on which print groups the poses come from.  We also identified the 12 Red Hindu poses which are more common than the other 34 poses.

For Part Two, I went through the SGC and PSA Population Reports and compiled all the data into a single table.  Unfortunately, the results aren’t as easy to digest as I would have liked.  The PSA Pop numbers are all very straight-forward, but the SGC results are sometimes ambiguous.  When a player is featured on a 150 series card with a Brown Hindu back and also a 350-460 series or 460 series card with a Red Hindu back, it can be impossible to read the SGC Pop Report with certainty.

The table below shows all of the Hindu entries for Mordecai Brown.  As you can see, the top listing is a generic “Hindu” listing which could really be any combination of his three poses that have Hindus backs (Portrait-Brown Hindu, Cubs on Shirt-Brown Hindu, & Chicago on Shirt-Red Hindu).  Since we have no way of knowing which poses are actually out there with the generic label, I just recorded the range of possibilities in my combined Population Report table.  We can see from the Brown Pop Report that 4 Red Hindus are listed.  Then there are the 5 Hindus listed under the generic heading.  It’s very unlikely that all 5 of those would be Red Hindus as they are rarer than the Brown Hindus.  So, even though we can’t be sure, it is safe to assume that of the possible 5, probably only 0, 1 or maybe 2 are Red Hindus.  So on the far right of my combine Pop Report Table, where it says “between 10 & 15” for the Mordecai Brown entry, it would be safe to assume that there are 10,11, or 12 graded Mordecai Brown Red Hindus out there, and likely not 14 or 15.

Without further ado, here is the combined Pop Report Table for Red Hindus.  You’ll notice that Mathewson, McIntyre and Reulbach each have a combined Pop of zero.  These are the 3 poses which should exist (or at least have been printed with) Red Hindu backs, but have not yet been confirmed per T206resource.com.  Elberfeld and Rucker also have combined Pops of zero.  These 2 poses must have been confirmed by T206resource in raw form at some point.  You’ll also notice that I have highlighted the Exclusive 12 poses in Purple.  Most of them would stick out anyway due to their high Pop Report numbers, but it makes it easier to identify them.

As evidence by the above table, there are some truly scarce Red Hindus.  It seems very likely that Mathewson, McIntyre, and Reulbach were printed with Red Hindu backs, but all copies have been discarded and lost to history.  On top of that Elberfeld and Rucker each have Pops of zero, and 5 other poses have Pops of exactly 1 each (Chase black cap, Doyle with bat, Murphy with bat, Street catching, and Willis throwing).

A Look at the T206 Red Hindu Subset: Part One

Red Hindu is the 7th Scarcest T206 back, slightly more plentiful than Uzit, and slightly scarcer than Black Lenox.  The Red Hindu subset is a small one, featuring only 43 known cards, although according to T206resource.com‘s checklist below, they believe that 3 additional cards should exist, which would bring the total to 46 cards.

The Red Hindu subset consists of players from three separate print groups:

  • The 350-460 series (also referred to as Print Group 3)
  • The 460 Only Series (also known as Print Group 4)
  • The “Super Prints” (aka Print Group 5)

Interestingly, all 34 poses that exist with Broad Leaf 460 backs also exist with Red Hindu backs (with the possible exception of Mathewson Dark Cap, McIntyre Brooklyn & Chicago, and Reulbach No Glove Showing – though all three were likely printed with Red Hindu backs).  You’ll notice that the Red Hindu Subset lists 46 poses.

Red Hindu shares an interesting phenomenon with the American Beauty 460 subset.  Most of the poses above are extremely scarce, but 12 of them are much more common.  This pattern was first written about by Ted Zanidakis who dubbed it “The Exclusive 12” in a post on net54baseball.com.

These twelve poses are significantly more plentiful than the others on the list above:

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

Finding one of these twelve Red Hindus is fairly easy, but if you are looking for a Red Hindu that is not a member of the “Exclusive 12” it could take years for a copy to come to market.  In Part Two, I’ll use the PSA and SGC Population Reports to show the disparity between Exclusive 12 populations and the rest of the Red Hindu subset.

Summer Programming Note

First off, I want to say thanks to everyone who has been stopping by the site and reading my work.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it!

With summer upon us, I have been having trouble finding time to put out two articles each week. I’ve rushed a few just to get something published, and that isn’t really the way I want to run this site.  So, for the next few months, I’m going to dial it back to just one new article per week.  I’ll publish the new articles on Sunday.

I may still write shorter blog entries that are less time consuming during the week if something interesting happens in the world of T206.

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!

An Interesting Discovery: McCormick Sovereign 350 with Strange Background Shading

I recently found this McCormick Sovereign 350 with a strange orange/red background.  The odd background shading stuck out to me immediately.  At first glance, it looks like to me the red ink was brushed or wiped in some way while wet.  The problem with that theory is if the ink were disturbed while wet, it would have spread across the white borders, which it obviously didn’t.

I reached out to a couple friends who I thought may have seen something similar over the years.  My friend Steve Birmingham replied with some very interesting insight on how the streaking effect was created:

It’s another interesting one, your thought that it was wiped while wet is really close, and you’re right that that should have caused red being spread into the borders.

What that’s from is the pressman wiping the inking rollers while operating. A bit sloppy, and not all that safe but it’s done.  If the result didn’t look too bad it probably would have been allowed to slide through. Especially late on a Friday 🙂

Sometimes the ink will be too heavy, or will start to dry on the inking roller leaving bits of dried ink that can cause a bunch of flaws. Usually over-inking just gets adjusted away.  Drying ink is a bigger problem, and can come from under-inking.

The exact roller washed in this case would be the final inking roller that transferred the ink to the stone. The ink is in a bin of sorts, and a series of rollers spreads it evenly onto the final roller. Washing the earlier ones wouldn’t usually show up on the final product except as a bit of under-inking; wiping the last roller would get transferred to the plate as a streaky impression like this card has.

We don’t see more of them because that wiping isn’t a regular thing, usually only being at shift/days end, or during a changeover to a different ink or job. Having the ink get too dry to spread is really unusual, I think I only saw it happen once in a bit over 2 years. It has to be a very dry day with a really light ink pass (Either from not having enough flow or if a light coating is required).

The solution to massive over-inking or drying ink is basically the same. The ink flow gets adjusted, and if the problem doesn’t seem to sort itself out the inking rollers need to be washed. Basically wiped down with a rag soaked in solvent.  As you can imagine that leaves some really uneven ink until the rollers even it out and things get back to normal.

It’s also done at the end of the day to wash off the rollers for sitting overnight. Pretty much the entire press gets washed. The inking system cleared out and cleaned, plate and blanket cleaned. That way it’s clean and ready for the next day, or next shift or next job or color.

This card would technically be one of those tweener scraps. It shouldn’t have been released. On the other hand it’s a neat insight into the process and practices used at ALC at that time.

A big thank you to Steve for being kind enough to share his expertise with us!

Why Aren’t T206 with Two Different Names on Top and Bottom More Popular with Collectors?

Beaumont with Seymour batting on top

As you know if you’ve been reading my stuff for awhile, I love to delve into the minutiae and oddities of the T206 set.  T206 collectors love print goofs and errors, but for some reason, cards with two different names on top and bottom (let’s call them “two namers” from here on out for the sake of brevity) have been given the cold shoulder by collectors.

Walsh with Seymour batting on top

In my opinion, these cards are incredibly cool.  They offer insight into how the cards were laid out on the sheets when they were printed.  To date, no complete uncut T206 sheets have ever been found.  As a result, it’s been left up to T206 researchers to try and figure out how those sheets may have looked.

McGraw with Chesbro on top

One thing we know is that cards with the same name on top and bottom (we’ll call these “double namers” are much, much more common than two namers.  What this tells us is that the sheets were printed with multiple copies of the same card stacked vertically.  To be totally honest, I can’t remember what the general consensus is on how many of the same card were stacked vertically.

Snodgrass with Maddox on top

It has been awhile since I have seen anyone debate it.  As is often the case, this article may lead me to research that topic and write an article on that subject.  It is important enough to be worthy of it’s own article in my opinion.  I seem to remember people talking about there possibly being nine of the same pose printed in a row vertically.  This makes sense when you look at the ratio of DOUBLE NAMER : TWO NAMERS.  I’ve also read the theory that some cards which seem to be short-printed may have just been printed in quantities smaller than nine.  To me this theory has always made a lot of sense.  I would think that ATC and the printers would want to have more copies of the popular players than the lesser known players.

Lundgren with Ball New York on top
Bergen with Dooin on top

As you can see with these scans, the degree to which the second name shows varies widely.  The few copies that look like the Beaumont at the top of this article tend sell for strong prices, while the examples with only part of the second name showing do not fetch nearly the same premium.  In many cases, collectors won’t pay any premium at all for one of these cards.  This baffles me honestly.

 

 

Rossman with McBride on top
Hinchman with Stovall portrait on top

I understand why collectors prefer examples with the full name on top, but I think even the ones with just a sliver of a second name are cool.  Just personal preference, but I’d much rather have a two namer with just a bit of the second name than a card with a mis-aligned back, even though the “back mis-cuts” sell for a much larger premium.

Spade / Cicotte    &    Lindaman / Bresnahan portrait
McGinley with Speaker on top

There are collectors who will pay a few thousand dollars for a T206 Murr’y, simply because a bit of the brown ink for the name was not applied, but two namers get no love.  To me, the two namers are a much more interesting anomaly.  This Chance with Fiene on top recently sold at auction for the minimum bid of $200.  In this condition, I’d imagine the card would be worth right about $200 without the second name.

Chance with Fiene on top

I know of only a few guys who have been collecting two namers over the years.  I expect that some day these cards will get more respect, and when they do, people will realize just how few of them are out there.  And, the guys who have been hoarding them will be rewarded.  Time will tell of course.  As we know, rarity doesn’t equal value.  In my humble opinion, it’s hard to understand why these cards aren’t in higher demand.

Powell with O’Leary on top

Collecting Star Players Who Are Priced As “Commons”

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George Mullin is one of the best pitchers in Detroit Tiger history

My last post about my new Ed Killian Tolstoi made me think about an aspect of my collecting approach that I don’t hear talked about much.  Whenever possible, I prefer to add T206s that feature star players over players who had a short MLB career, or were career Minor Leaguers.  This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, just a preference.  I have a number of Minor Leaguers and Major Leaguers with nondescript careers in my collection that I love as well.

Heinie Zimmerman was a prolific hitter who won the National League Triple Crown in 1912

I’m not sure how many other T206 collectors share this collecting philosophy with me.  I know many people collect the entire set without much regard to how good each player was (or wasn’t).  And of course you have your Hall of Fame collectors.  It makes sense that collecting star players who are not Hall of Famers would be a less common approach.  Finding out which players were stars of the day takes some work, whether it be scouring Baseball Reference, or reading books about the Deadball Era.

George McQuillan was one of the best pitchers in baseball in 1908 but he never reached his potential due to off-the-field struggles

It took me a little while to arrive at this approach.  When I first started collection T206, I was in love with the artwork and colors and I just wanted one of each front for my set.  I knew about almost all of the Hall of Famers from reading about them as a kid, but I didn’t know anything about the players who were not enshrined.

Sherry Magee was an absolute beast offensively, leading the NL in RBI four times

I collected the set without knowing much about the players for about three years before deciding I wanted to know everything I could learn about not only the T206 set, but baseball from 1909-1911 specifically, and the Deadball Era in general.  Baseball-reference.com was a great resource, and the one I used mostly.  I also have really enjoyed a couple of books that were released by SABR:  Deadball Stars of the American League, and Deadball Stars of the National League.

Ed Reulbach is one of the greatest pitchers in Chicago Cubs history – He went 182-106 with a 2.28 ERA for his career

Nowadays, I get almost as much enjoyment from finding a card of an “almost Hall of Famer” as I do a Hall of Famer.  I love that I can get a star like Doc White, Sherry Magee, George Mullin, or Larry Doyle at the same price of a fringe player like Herbie Moran.  To me, that feels like a huge spot of inefficiency in the market.

From 1906-1909, Orval Overall went 70-32 with an ERA under 2.00 for the Chicago Cubs

Obviously, supply and demand dictates the market price for the cards we collect.  I hope that I can continue to find cards of my favorite players at “common” prices.  I’m curious if any other collectors use a similar approach when looking to add new cards to their collections.

Larry Doyle had a great career and won the 1912 NL MVP award

Can You Find a Scarce T206 For Less Than $5.00 ?

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It turns out this is possible, but only if you’re not too picky about how it looks.  This particular front/back combo has only been graded twice by SGC (one 10 and one 50) and not at all by PSA.  When I first spotted it on ebay, I was excited at the chance to add a Killian Tolstoi to my collection.  It’s a card I’d been hoping to find for a little while.  Obviously, the condition leaves something to be desired, but beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to rare 100-year-old baseball cards.

The listing didn’t mention the back, and I was hoping that the front scan would scare most people off and they wouldn’t even click on the listing.  Based on the final hammer price of $4.52, it looks like this is exactly what happened.  I probably would have won the auction even if it had been listed properly, but I was happy to save a little bit of money due to the back not being mentioned.  It’s possible that I’m the only collector who would be excited to own a card this “well-loved”.   However, I bet there are some other collectors out there who can see the beauty in it.

It’s fun to have some collecting targets that don’t cost an arm and a leg to acquire.  I’d go broke pretty quick if I tried to chase down all of the highest graded examples of the scarce front/back combos I am looking for.  Being flexible on condition makes it possible for a smaller budget collector to build an impressive collection over time.  Granted, this Killian is below my typical condition preferences.  But, the fact that it is so badly mangled kind of makes me like it more than if it was just your run of the mill “beater”.

Besides the fact that this is a scarce combo, I love it because Ed Killian was a great pitcher.  His two best season were 1905 (23-14 record, 2.27 ERA) and 1907 (25-13 record and an ERA of 1.78).  In 1909 he posted his career-best ERA (1.71) to go with a record of 11-9.

Killian’s T206 Portrait was released in 1910, which was his final season in Major League Baseball.  In 8 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, he went 103-78 with an ERA of 2.38.

T206 Hall of Fame Front/Back Combo Power Rankings: The Elite (Top 10)

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I was talking with a friend last week about the Tris Speaker Drum that ended in Memory Lane recently and the phrase “Top 10 front/back combo” rolled off my tongue in explaining how significant a card it is.  I had a strong feeling that Speaker belonged in the top 10, but I wasn’t exactly sure what the list actually looked like.  So I figured, why not put together a Top Ten list of the most desirable Hall of Fame front/back examples?  I’ve chosen to leave Wagner and Plank off the list because they are coveted for their fronts rather than the combination of their fronts and a rare back.  I’m also leaving the Ty Cobb back off this list as it is debatable whether that card should be classified as a T206.  That is probably a subject for a future article.  Without further ado, here it is (in my humble opinion of course):

#1.  Ty Cobb Red Portrait Broad Leaf 460

The biggest star in the set combined with the scarcest back (not counting Brown Old Mill and Brown Lenox, which were produced by mistake).  There is one copy of this card known in the hobby.  I wrote an article about the incredible collection that this card resides in.  You may read about it here if you are so inclined.

#2.  Ty Cobb Red Portrait Drum

No surprise here.  Cobb’s second most desirable front/back combo is the Drum.  As of this writing, there are three examples known.  Two are graded by PSA and one by SGC.

#3.  Ty Cobb Bat off Shoulder Brown Lenox

Another near impossible Cobb card, this one has been graded twice, once each by PSA and SGC.

#4.  Walter Johnson Hands at Chest Broad Leaf 460

The Big Train’s most desirable cards comes in fourth on the list.  There appear to be two known copies,  both incredibly nice.  The above SGC 60 and a PSA 4.5.  It’s very possible that this is just one card, which has been crossed from the SGC 60 to a PSA 4.5.

#5.  Cy Young Glove Shows Broad Leaf 460

There appears to be only one copy of this card, and it is an absolute beauty.  SGC graded this card above, and PSA has graded a PSA 5.5.  I am guessing this card was purchased in the SGC holder and crossed over to a PSA slab.

#6.  Christy Mathewson Dark Cap Broad Leaf 460

Matty’s most sought after card clocks in a sixth.  Really, I could arranged Matty, Cy, and WaJo in any order, but I think this order is most in line with the prices that each card tends to sell for.  SGC has graded two copies of this combo (both graded “A”) and PSA has not graded any.

#7.  Walter Johnson Hands at Chest Drum

There appear to be two copies of this card graded.  This one graded by SGC and likely crossed to a PSA 4, and another PSA 1.5.

#8.  Christy Mathewson Dark Cap Drum

This combo has not been graded by either SGC or PSA.  It is however, confirmed to exist on T206resource.com.

#9.  Tris Speaker Drum

The first non-Cobb/WaJo/Young/Matty on the list is Tris Speaker’s most desirable front/back combo.  SGC and PSA each show a single entry for this card, and both are graded “1”s.

10.  Ty Cobb Bat off Shoulder Uzit

The fourth Cobb on the list and the only Uzit, this combo barely edged out the honorable mentions below.  This combo is significantly easier to find than any above.  SGC has graded four copies, while PSA has graded six.

 

Honorable Mentions:

Addie Joss Hands at Chest Broad Leaf 460

Mordecai Brown Chicago on Shirt Broad Leaf 460

Nap Lajoie With Bat Brown Lenox

Frank Chance Yellow Portrait Drum

Sam Crawford Batting Drum

Auction Report: Memory Lane Spring 2017

The latest Memory Lane auction concluded on Saturday evening/Sunday morning.  It was absolutely loaded with T206s.  It appears that an entire set was auctioned off, one card at a time.  Many of the cards were in high grade, and the ones that weren’t had scarce backs.  Let’s get right to the recap.

Wagner PSA 2 sells for a cool $600,000
You know it’s a special auction when there’s a Wagner up for sale.  The grade is a bit of a head-scratcher, but the card is a beauty regardless.  Congrats to the new owner!

Plank PSA 4 sells for $76,800
An absolutely beautiful centered copy with a flawless surface.  I love this card and I bet the new owner does as well.

SGC 60 Magie Error sells for $40,800 

Cobb Bat Off Lenox SGC 40 sells for $41,249
A week after the PSA 6 Uzit Cobb sold in REA for $106k, this copy finds a new home as well.  It’s a very strong card for the grade.  One of many absolute monster cards in this auction.

Speaker Drum PSA 1 sells for $26,534
One of the top 10 combos in my humble opinion, this card was in the middle of a spirited bidding war.  When the dust settled, the hammer was a healthy $26k.  In much the same way that the Wagner does not look like a “2”, this card doesn’t look like a “1”.  It’s a beautiful card for the grade.  The rounded corners and creases above his head don’t detract from the overall eye appeal much.

Carolina Brights Mathewson Dark Cap PSA 3 sells for $12,113
This card is an absolute beauty.  The colors are incredible, the surface and back are clean and the centering is solid.

Tinker Bat Off Shoulder Lenox PSA 3.5 sells for $11,011
Another extremely tough card that looks amazing for the grade.

Hindu Johnson Portrait PSA 2 sells for $6,060
Yet another example of a scarce front/back combo in this auction where the eye appeal far exceeded the technical grade.  This card looks like a 4 to me, and it looks like the bidders agreed.

Hindu Lajoie Portrait PSA 2 sells for $5,918
Like the WaJo Hindu, this one looks much nicer than a “2”.  The price was pretty hefty.  I’m surprised that Lajoie went for essentially the same price as the WaJo, especially considering that the WaJo looks like a slightly nicer card in terms of eye appeal.

Autographed Crawford with bat Polar Bear sells for $4,903
This card is an absolute beauty.  The signature is clean and the card looks to be in a clean VGEX.  The Polar Bear back adds to the appeal of this rare specimen.

Broad Leaf 460 Baker SGC 10 sells for $3,110
It doesn’t get much better than a Hall of Famer with a Broad Leaf 460 back.  This card has some obvious issues, and they no doubt kept the price down.  This feels to me like a good deal for the winner.  It’s definitely not every day you get a shot at a BL460 HOFer.

Kelley Broad Leaf 350 PSA 1 sells for $2,147
Kelley is one of the more scarce BL350s, and the price reflected that.  This is a pretty nice looking card for the grade and it could be a long while before another copy comes to market.