That T206 Life Blog – Page 15

How to Use the PSA Pop Report

Luke November 23, 2016 November 19, 2016

I hope this post will be helpful to any and all collectors, but T206 collectors in particular definitely need to know this stuff. When you are dealing with some of the more scarce T206 backs, it can be very helpful to take a look at the Pop Reports.

The term “Pop Report” is short for “Population Report” and population just means all of the cards that PSA has graded. It’s a powerful tool which can help you understand the relative scarcity of a given card.

It is important to note that the PSA Pop Report only shows the cards that have been graded by PSA. It doesn’t show cards graded by SGC, BVG, or any other company and it doesn’t show ungraded cards. So, for one individual front/back combo, the Pop Report certainly does not tell you the whole story. But when you look at a lot of different cards and compare the data, you are going to have a very good idea about relative scarcity of your sample.

I think the best to way to show you how to use the report is with an example. I recently picked up this T206 PSA 3 Ossie Schreck with Cycle 350 back. Pretty sweet huh? Now, I want to know how many Schreck Cycle 350s have been graded and what is the highest graded copy.

Continue reading How to Use the PSA Pop Report

Understanding the T206 American Beauty backs: Overview (Part 1/4)

Luke February 9, 2017 November 16, 2016

Understanding the American Beauty backs can be a challenge, so I’m going to go into detail here and hopefully answer any questions that you may have. As always, please send me a message via the “contact” button if you have any questions or suggestions.

There are three distinct and different American Beauty backs:

-American Beauty 350 with frame (AB350w/f)
-American Beauty 350 no frame (AB350nf)
-American Beauty 460 (AB460)

The three backs represent distinct portions of the T206 print run, and are almost always mutually exclusive. This means that when a certain pose exists with one American Beauty back, it will not exist with any others (there are 19 exceptions to this rule within the AB350nf and AB460 checklists, which I will get to in Part Three).

Pricing:

In general, AB460 backs sell for the most, followed by AB350nf and then AB350w/f. I’ll explain why and talk about exceptions to the rule.

Scarcity:

This is how they rank on the T206resource.com back scarcity list:

Where each back lies in scarcity rankings is largely due to the size of each checklist. It makes sense that there are less AB350nf backs out there than AB350w/f, simply because the latter were printed with 5 times as many fronts. As you can see from the graphic below, AB460 is more scarce than AB350nf despite being printed on twice as many fronts (75 AB460 to 37 AB350nf). The reason for this is that there are some truly rare cards in the AB460 checklist. The same cannot be said for the AB350nf subset.

It’s important to note that this is a broad overview, and that individual cards within these series can range from very scarce to somewhat common. I will go into more detail in the rest of this series, but here is an example to show what I mean:

Gabby Street’s portrait can be found with a AB350w/f back. Gabby Street’s catching pose can be found with a AB350nf back. If you just looked at the overall scarcity rankings, you would assume that the catching pose would be the tougher card to find. In this case, that would be incorrect. PSA lists 8 Street catching with AB350nf backs and only 5 Street portraits with AB350w/f backs.

Stay tuned for Parts 2 through 4 of this series where I’ll build upon this framework by taking an in-depth look at each American Beauty back.

Thanks to Ted Z. for pointing out an error in the first draft of this article.

Thanks as always to the guys at T206resource.com for allowing me to use their checklists.

T206 Brown Hindu: The Case of the Missing Red Ink

Luke February 9, 2017 November 13, 2016

If you’ve looked at enough T206 scans, you’ve probably come across some Hindus that look a little weird. Many, like this Beaumont above, were printed with very faint red ink. Others appear to be missing red altogether. This phenomenon is most pronounced on cards with red backgrounds, though it does affect other cards as well. If you take a look at my example scans, you can see that most of these cards appear to have an orange background. Some have more red than others, but all of them are noticeably more orange than a typical example with a different back.

If you take a close look at other cards with Hindu backs, you can see that red is missing, even when red didn’t figure prominently in the card’s design. These two Bradley portraits have a subtle difference; the color of the lips.

I have never heard any theory about why so many Hindus are missing red ink. It would stand to reason that quality control was not a huge concern at American Lithographic Co. where the cards where produced. After all, the cards were to be given away for free as advertising. That said, the overall quality of production across the entire set is quite high in my opinion. Most cards are well-centered with nicely aligned fronts and backs. Colors and shading can vary a bit from one example of a card to another, but rarely to the level we are looking at here.

Here’s my theory: Hindu backs were produced early in the T206 production run. My guess is that at the beginning, quality control was a little bit lax. Most of the Hindus were probably printed, even though the red was not as dark as they wanted. Once the cards were released they became a cultural sensation. People loved them, and as a result the American Tobacco Company may have wanted to ensure that subsequent printings would be of higher quality. It’s also possible that the printers didn’t realize that the design called for more red, because they hadn’t seen enough copies of the cards to be able to tell what they were meant to look like.

Back Scarcity in the T206 150-350 series Part Two: Brown Hindu

Luke February 9, 2017 November 10, 2016 2 Comments

In Part One of this series, I took a look at the checklist of the 150-350 series. We’ve seen that not all poses were printed with the same backs. The Piedmont, Sovereign 150 and Sweet Caporal print runs used the majority of the 159 player checklist. The other backs that comprise the 150-350 series did not. In the next few posts of this series, I’m going to take a closer look at the individual backs, beginning with Brown Hindu.

Brown Hindu backs were printed in 1909 at the beginning of T206 production. 102 Major Leaguers were printed with Brown Hindu backs. This is a bit odd because the Sovereign 150 backs were printed right about the same time. It begs the question, “If ATC had access to all 150 subjects that were used to create the Sovereign 150 print run, why did they choose not to print 48 of them with Hindu backs?” It likely has something to do with the inclusion of 34 Southern Leaguers into the Brown Hindu print run. We’re not likely to know the exact reason, but it seems likely that they wanted to include the Southern Leaguers and just removed some Major Leaguers from the print run to make it possible. To make things more murky, one of the Hindu Cigarettes newspaper advertisements (the one at the top of this post) included pictures of 3 cards that were not actually printed with a Hindu back. Along the bottom of the ad, you can see Waddell throwing, Lobert and Dooin at about 4 o’clock.

You might expect that the biggest stars would be included and the more obscure players would be omitted. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Stars such as Ty Cobb and Hal Chase were omitted from the print run while fringe players such as Wilbur Good and Al Shaw were included.

This is the list of the 48 Brown Hindu “no prints” from the 150-350 series

Abbaticchio, Ed (Brown Sleeves)
Ball, Neal (New York)
Bender, Chief (Portrait)
Camnitz, Howie (Arms Folded)
Chase, Hal (Portrait – Pink)
Chase, Hal (White Cap)
Chesbro, Jack
Cicotte, Ed
Cobb, Ty (Portrait – Green)
Cobb, Ty (Bat On Shoulder)
Conroy, Wid (Fielding)
Covaleski, Harry
Crandall, Doc (Portrait No Cap)
Criger, Lou
Criss, Dode
Donlin, Mike (Seated)
Donohue, Jiggs
Dooin, Red
Doolin, Mickey
Durham, Bull
Hahn, Ed
Hemphill, Charlie
Jacklitsch, Fred
Jordan, Tim (Portrait)
Karger, Ed
Keeler, Willie (Portrait)
Keeler, Willie (With Bat)
Kleinow, Red (New York – With Bat)
Lobert, Hans
Lundgren, Carl (Chicago)
McGraw, John (Finger In Air)
Mullin, George (Throwing)
Murphy, Danny (Throwing)
Nicholls, Simon (Hands On Knees)
Niles, Harry
Oldring, Rube (Fielding)
Rucker, Nap (Portrait)
Schaefer, Germany (Detroit)
Seymour, Cy (Batting)
Shipke, Bill
Smith, Frank (F. Smith)
Stovall, George (Portrait)
Tannehill, Lee (L. Tannehill On Front)
Turner, Terry
Waddell, Rube (Throwing)
Weimer, Jake
Williams, Jimmy
Young, Cy (Bare Hand)

As you can see, level of stardom doesn’t seem to have been taken into consideration. Likewise, geographic location of the teams doesn’t seem to have been a factor. 14 of the 16 Major League teams were included in the omissions and the distribution appears normal. Overall, it doesn’t seem that the omissions fit any kind of pattern.

Scarcity and Value

Hindu backs consistently sell for the highest prices of any 150-350 series back. In a general sense, Hindu backs are more scarce than any of the other backs that comprise the 150-350 series. This is because Hindu was only printed in the 150 series, while Old Mill and El Principe de Gales were printed on the backs of cards in the 350 and 460 series, making those backs more plentiful overall. In most cases, Hindu is the second or third toughest back to find for a given player, with Old Mill being the toughest. For players that were printed with both Hindu and EPDG backs, scarcity will be about the same for both.

Thanks to Mark at rustywilly.com for allowing me to use the newspaper advertisements.

The Easiest T206 Back Run: Jiggs Donahue

Luke February 9, 2017 November 4, 2016

So, what’s the easiest back run to complete in the 150-350 series? Chicago White Sox first baseman Jiggs Donahue. Donahue (mis-spelled on his t206 as Donohue) is the only player from the 150-350 series that was not printed with a Hindu, El Principe de Gales or Old Mill back. All other subjects were printed with at least one of those backs, and often more than one.

Here is the complete checklist for Donahue:

Piedmont 150
Sovereign 150
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 25
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30
Piedmont 350
Sovereign 350
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30

Donahue had a fairly nondescript career, and it helps to understand why he was not included in the aforementioned print runs. He played a little outfield and catcher in his first 3 seasons, but by the age of 22, was solely a first baseman. In 1904, his first year with the White Sox, he topped 100 games played for the first time. His career batting average (.255) and WAR (13.5) are very solid, but he rarely ranked among the top 10 in any category. In 1905, he was 7th in the A.L. in WAR for position players. He hit .287 that year, which was the 7th best average in the A.L. In 1907 he led the A.L. in games played and at bats. He never approached that number of games again. In 1908 he played just 93 and followed it up with 86 in 1909, his final year.

When production began in 1909, there was no way to know that it would be Donahue’s last year in Major League Baseball. He was just 29. So, his initial inclusion in the set makes sense. He was a young regular on one of the premier teams in the league. It also makes sense that he was omitted from the Hindu print run. For reasons unknown, only 102 of the 150 series subjects were printed with a Hindu back. So, 48 players were left off the Hindu print run. After his part-time duty in 1908, he seems like a logical candidate to be omitted. In 1910, when it came time to choose which players would be used for the EPDG and Old Mill print runs, Donahue was out of baseball and he was not printed with either back.

The thing that really doesn’t make sense is, “Why was he printed with a Sovereign 350 back when he was omitted from all of the other non-Piedmont/Sweet Caporal runs?” Only 80 subjects from the 150-350 series were used for the Sovereign 350 series. That means they chose not to use about half of the players from Print Group One. Many players who were still in the big leagues were printed with a Sovereign 150 back, but not with a Sovereign 350 back. Some players such as Bill Bergen, Wid Conroy, and Doc Crandall were left off the Sovereign 350 print run and then had another pose released later on in T206 production. So clearly, some players were left off the Sovereign 350 print run who were still popular Major Leaguers. It’s a mystery why Donahue was one of the players chosen for inclusion in the Sovereign 350 print run. Vive Lindaman, whose career ended in 1909 as well was pulled from production in 1910 right after being included in the EPDG print run, and right in the middle of the Piedmont 350 run.

Every front/back combo on Donahue’s checklist is readily available, making it a good choice for an easy introduction into collecting a back run. The card itself is one of the most beautiful from the 150-350 series in my opinion. Heck, maybe that is the reason they decided to continue to include it in 1910 print runs? We’ll probably never know the reason, but it is fun to speculate.

T206 Back Run 101

Luke November 17, 2016 November 2, 2016

Back runs are a fun way to collect tobacco cards and early caramel cards. Because there are so many different front/back combinations in T206, it’s a set that really lends itself to a back run (or two). Working on back runs is a good way to learn about the set in a hands-on way. It can also add some variety if your collection mostly consists of common backs. When your goal is to get one of each card, regardless of back, the main constraint is money. If you had enough money, you could collect the entire set in a month (Wagner and Plank would be tough, but there is a Plank on ebay as I write this) just by buying cards from ebay. Looking for certain front/back combos can take a lot more time that you might expect. A common back like Sweet Caporal 150 factory 25 can take forever to show up with the player you are looking for. This isn’t just a random example. I am currently working on a Dode Criss back run, and that particular back is giving me fits. Back runs teach you patience, which is a very good trait to have as a tobacco card collector.

So, if you wanted to give back runs a try, where should you start? Great question. More than any other collecting focus, choosing a back run is dependent on your budget. The most difficult subjects to complete a back run with are players from the 460 series. The reason is that the rarest and most valuable backs were printed at the end of the T206 print run in 1911. Subjects from the 350 series who were printed with a Drum back are also very tough to complete, and very expensive. If you can afford a Broad Leaf 460, Uzit, and Lenox back, then working on a back run of a 460 series subject could be an extremely fun project for you.

If your budget won’t allow for all of those backs, it doesn’t mean you can’t collect a back run. Players from the 150-350 series are a good choice because they consist of common to semi-tough backs. The Sovereign 150, EPDG, Hindu, and Old Mill backs for your run may take some searching to track down, but with some patience you can acquire them all. A player from the 350 series who was not printed with a Drum or Broad Leaf 350 back (Gray and Groom to name a couple) could also be a good choice.

The largest back run of a 150-350 series subject will consist of 12 front/back combos (Walter Johnson portrait and Clark Griffith portrait are a couple of examples). The smallest in term of front/back combos is Carl Lundgren Chicago. He was only printed with Piedmont 150, Piedmont 350, and El Principe de Gales. Lundgren may have the fewest cards to track down, but is by no means the easiest. The Piedmont 350 is tough to find, and expensive when you do.

Most other 150-350 subjects have between 9 and 11 possible combos. The reason for the disparity comes down to the Hindu, EPDG, and Old Mill backs. Some subjects like Frank Chance red portrait were printed with all three. Others were printed with just two of the three, or even just one. The Criss back run I mentioned earlier consists of 9 different backs. The reason it is 9 rather than 11 is that Criss was not printed with a Hindu or EPDG back. If you want to start with a simple project, choose a player from the 150-350 series with only 9 possible backs. Or, if you want to pick the easiest back run, choose the player that I will highlight in my next post.

Auction Report: REA

Luke November 17, 2016 October 31, 2016

Another fun REA auction has come to a close. Tons of amazing T206s are going to new homes. Let’s take a look at some of the most notable cards that sold last night:

Ty Cobb Red Portrait with Ty Cobb back goes for $192,000

The Fall edition of REA ended last night. This Cobb from the recent Lucky 7 find was the headliner as far as T206s go. Not everyone agrees that this card should be cataloged as a T206 however. There has long been a debate amongst T206 historians as to whether it should be included under the T206 umbrella, or given a slightly different distinction. The main reason for this is that Red Cobbs with Ty Cobb back all have a glossy finish on the surface of the cards. Whatever you want to call it, this is a spectacular card and I imagine the new owner is very pleased.

Burch 150 series proof goes for $10,200

There were two proofs from the 150 series in this auction. This Burch and Red Kleinow, which went for $8,400. Both are amazing cards, but the Burch in particular is stunning. There have been a few proofs on the market recently, and these two went for right about what I would expect.

Broad Leaf 460 Willis SGC 50 goes for $8,400

I thought this one went for a bargain price. Some similar BL 460s have sold for more recently. A Danny Murphy SGC 55 sold for $10,200 in last year’s Fall REA auction. I’m a little surprised, but not completely. Collectors don’t seem to care (or maybe even notice) that Vic Willis is in the Hall of Fame. I’ve thought for awhile that he doesn’t get the respect he should, and this is another example.

Sovereign 150 Cobb bat on shoulder PSA 8 sells for $54,000

A stunning card in all respects, I think this one went for a very strong price. The tough back probably played a part in that. Certainly one of the finest Cobbs in existence.

Drum Purtell SGC 82 sells for $10,200

This was one of my favorite cards in the auction. It would have been mine if only I was rich. I think the buyer got a nice deal, but I’m not too surprised. Recently, on net54baseball.com, Purtell was voted the ugliest card in the T206 set. If this had been another player, the price may have gone a bit higher.

Red Hindu Baker PSA 7 goes for $7,200

The new owner of this one has to be thrilled. While I can’t say that this was a bargain, it is an absolutely beautiful card. Hall of Fame examples with Red Hindu back don’t come up for sale very often. The “Exclusive 12 Subjects” are an exception to that rule. Wheat, McGraw and Duffy are fairly easy to find with Red Hindu backs.

Back Scarcity in the T206 150-350 series: Part One

Luke February 9, 2017 October 28, 2016

In this series of blog posts, I’m going to take an in-depth look at the different backs that make up the 150-350 series (also referred to as Print Group 1). The truly rare backs were not printed until the 350 series (Broadleaf 350 and Drum) and 460 series (Broadleaf 460, Lenox, Red Hindu, and Uzit). Because the 150-350 series is made up of backs which are considered relatively common, many very tough front/back combinations fly under the radar.

Cards from Print Group 1 can be found with the following backs:

Hindu
Piedmont 150
Sovereign 150
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 25
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649
El Principe de Gales
Piedmont 350
Sovereign 350 Forest Green
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30
Old Mill

Many of the most iconic portrait cards in the T206 set were printed in the 150-350 series. Finding a card with one of these backs is easy, but finding a specific front/back combo can sometimes be quite difficult. For example, if you want a Green Background Ty Cobb portrait with the scarcest back, you need to find one with an Old Mill back. It might seem like this should be an easy task because Old Mills seem pretty common, but it could take you a few years to locate one.

I’m going to start with a very broad overview and drill down into the individual backs to see if we can find any patterns that will help us understand the 150-350 series better.

By the Numbers

There are 159 cards in the 150-350 series. Here is the checklist (thanks to the fine folks at t206resource.com).

Below is a breakdown of the backs that make up the 150-350 series (also known as Print Group 1 and abbreviated here as PG1):

As you can see, the vast majority of PG1 is represented with these backs:

Piedmont 150 (98%)

Sovereign 150 (94%)

Sweet Caporal 150 factory 25 (96%)

Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30 (96%)

The percentage is a bit less with these backs:

Piedmont 350 (91%)

Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25 (83%)

Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30 (84%)

Old Mill (81%)

The percentage is much lower with these backs:

Hindu (64%)

Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649 (21%)

El Principe de Gales (51%)

Sovereign 350 Forest Green (50%

In some cases, the reasons for differing percentages are known. Often, certain players were traded or they retired during production of the set. These players were removed from subsequent printings. For the most part, this is why players are missing from Piedmont 350 and both Sweet Caporal 350 print runs.

In other cases, the reasons are not known. Hindu backs were issued in 1909 near the start of T206 production. They had access to the same 150 subjects that were used for the Sovereign 150 printing, but only used 102 of them. For the the El Principe de Gales print run beginning in 1910, only 81 poses from PG1 were used. Likewise, only 80 PG1 players were used for the Sovereign 350 print run.

Were these omissions chosen randomly? Or is there a pattern? Let’s find out.

Intro and what’s to come

Luke November 23, 2016 October 19, 2016 1 Comment

First of all, thank you for stopping by and taking a moment to look around. This first post is going to be a brief overview of who I am and what I hope to accomplish with this blog.

My name is Luke, and I love baseball. I’m an avid T206 collector and researcher. For the past few years, I have spent around a dozen hours a week buying, selling, and researching the set. Over time, my interest has grown, and I’ve set out to learn as much as I can.

I anticipate that the vast majority of my posts will cover one of two overarching themes. First, the set itself. This will include things like the printing process used to create the cards, back advertisements, players depicted on the cards, timeline of production, print groups, individual player scarcity, back scarcity, and other such topics. Second, the collecting of the set. These type of posts will cover things like how to get started, different ways of collecting the set, making hobby friends, reacting to market trends, trading, new acquisitions, etc. I may occasionally stray into other topics such as current events in the hobby or other deadball era baseball card sets, but I will only do this when I have a compelling reason.

I decided to start a blog for a couple reasons. First, I have learned a lot over the last 7 years that I have been collecting T206s. I wanted a place to document and organize all of my thoughts and the new things I learn along the way. Also, I really enjoy talking with and interacting with other collectors. I think a blog is a great way to share knowledge and start a conversation. Working on a personal collection of anything is inherently a solitary endeavor. I have found that sharing it with others is what really gives meaning to a collector’s journey. I plan to post twice week and be active on social media and email. I hope you’ll stop by and be a regular visitor.