Tag: back collecting

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.

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.