Tag: back runs

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.

T206 Back Run 101

 

gibson-wide

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.