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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
