Sovereign – That T206 life

Is Eddie Collins finally getting the respect he deserves from T206 collectors?

Luke September 20, 2018 September 23, 2018

When I got into collecting T206s in 2010, I remember thinking Eddie Collins and Nap Lajoie were priced lower than I would have expected based on their status as all-time greats. It didn’t take too long for me to get acclimated to “the way it is” in the T206 marketplace, and I kind of forgot about that notion for a number of years.

It seems something interesting is happening with Collins’ T206 lately, at least in higher grade. Back in June, a PSA 5 Old Mill Eddie Collins sold for $1,302 in a PWCC auction. It caught my attention because I owned the same card not too long ago. I sold it back in December 2017, for $689. That’s a pretty big price jump in just six months. My price wasn’t crazy low either. I think the card sat in my eBay store for three or four months before it sold. A similar (and arguably nicer) PSA 5 Old Mill sold for $700 on eBay in February 2017.

A similar thing happened with a Collins Sovereign 350. On August 12, 2018 a PSA 5 sold for $1,327, also via PWCC auction. Back in November of 2016, Heritage sold a different PSA 5 Sovereign 350 for just $454. In my opinion both cards are equally nice.

Obviously, two cards selling for surprisingly high prices doesn’t necessarily indicate a trend. However, it does appear that some Piedmont and Sweet Caporal backed examples have followed, at least to some extent. Back in April 2018, a PSA 5 Piedmont 350 sold via Buy It Now on eBay for $850, which is $183 more than the closest sale I could find on VCP. A PSA 3.5 Piedmont 350 sold for $390 on eBay three weeks ago. There’s no recorded sale on VCP that comes close.

So, is this a legitimate trend, or something else? I’m skeptical of the recent PSA 5 Sovereign 350 and Old Mill sale prices, but I do think we’re seeing an increase in value that is long overdue and likely to become the new “way it is” for Collins.

Is the George Davis Sovereign 350 a Hoax?

Luke March 9, 2017 March 5, 2017

For awhile now, I’ve been keeping an eye out for a George Davis Sovereign 350. It’s a front/back combo that has been thought to exist, but to have printed in very limited quantities. The SGC Pop Report lists one Sovereign 350 back for Davis (an SGC 80) and PSA’s Pop Report shows zero copies. In addition, a collector has been actively searching for this card via the Buy/Sell/Trade on net54baseball.com for a few years, with no success.

This recent post by Jon Weil on the net54 forum brought up an interesting question:

I looked through the population reports and found eight cards from the T206 Resource list that both PSA and SGC show no record of having graded. We previously had mentioned the Fred Clarke, Frank Chance red portrait, and Jack Chesbro. Here’s the list of the eight “pop zero” Print Group 1 Sov 350 (forest green) cards that T206 Resource classifies as “confirmed.”

Frank Chance Red Portrait Chi Cubs
Jack Chesbro Portrait NY Highlanders
Fred Clarke Portrait Pittsburgh
Tim Jordan Portrait Brooklyn
Ed Killian Pitching Detroit
Ed Konetchy Glove High StL Cardinals
Tommy Leach Portrait Pittsburgh
Jim Pastorius Ready to Throw Brooklyn

Can anyone out there confirm independently that any of these eight cards exists?

On a related note, SGC’s pop report shows a single graded copy of George Davis, while PSA shows no graded copies. I’m wondering if SGC might have made an error. Has anyone else ever seen a George Davis with a Sov 350 back?

He brings up a lot of good questions here. The theory that the Davis Sovereign 350 could just be a data entry error makes a lot of sense. As a general rule, poses from Print Group 1 that were printed with both Sovereign 150 and Sovereign 350 backs are much more plentiful with the Sovereign 350 back. This has made the Davis somewhat of a curiosity. If it does exist, it’s the only Sovereign 350 back that is a true rarity. Yesterday, Jon was able to ask a representative for SGC if there is any way to double-check their records to make sure the SGC 80 Davis Sovereign 350 was indeed a 350 back. He was told that unfortunately, they do not scan cards they grade and they have no way of going back and looking at the card.

The other cards listed above are also very questionable inclusions in the Sovereign 350 checklist. Since we know that Sovereign 350 tends to be more plentiful than Sovereign 150 for Print Group 1 poses, all of those poses above should be relatively easy to find with a Sovereign 350 back. That is, if they exist at all. So far, no one has come forward in the net54 thread with proof of the existence of any of the above cards with Sovereign 350 backs. We know that T206resource.com has these cards listed as confirmed, with the exception of Fred Clarke portrait. They have Clarke portrait listed as a “Probable No Print” in the Sovereign 350 checklist, but in the T206 Master Checklist, it is confirmed to exist. Hopefully, a deeper look into all nine of these subjects will help us get to the bottom of this. T206resource.com is an invaluable tool for back collectors, and I’m not trying to nit-pick their work. Their checklists are extremely reliable, and they allow collectors to have conversations like this using a common rubric. However, in this case I think it’s fair to wonder if these Sovereign 350s with zero Pops might be data entry errors on their part. The SGC Pop Report below for Art Devlin shows a typical distribution of Sov150 v.s. Sov350:

Personally, I’d be surprised if Davis or the other 8 poses listed above exist with Sovereign 350 backs. I am about 99% sure I’ve not seen any of them, but to be fair I’ve only been actively looking for a few years. If evidence that any of these cards do exist surfaces, I will be sure to write an article with an update. I hope they do show up, so that we have some more scarce cards to hunt after.

If you own any of these cards, or have scans of any, please send me an email at luke@thatt206life.com

The Greatest T206 Back Run Ever Assembled: Ty Cobb Red Background Portrait

Luke February 2, 2017 1 Comment

Completing any back run that includes Broad Leaf 460, Red Hindu, and/or Lenox is a daunting project. Attempting to complete a Ty Cobb Red Background Portrait back run is sheer lunacy. But that’s just what T206 collector Jamie Blundell set out to do in 2013.

The story actually starts in December of 2011. A Cobb portrait with Drum back was auctioned off via ebay and Jamie’s bid held up. Any time you get a Drum, the thought of a back run inevitably comes to mind, since you’ve just added one of the toughest possible backs (at least so I’ve heard, no Drum for me yet). The idea did occur to him, but at that point the rest of the cards he would have to acquire still seemed too far out of reach.

Fast forward to Spring of 2013. Jamie was killing some time scrolling through posts on the net54baseball.com forum. He stumbled upon a test page where another collector had uploaded scans of 17 different Red Background Ty Cobb Portraits, all with different backs. Upon seeing all those different Cobbs lined up together, he was fixated on the idea of putting together a Cobb run of his own. Jamie made the following checklist of every Red Background Ty Cobb:

SC 350 25
SC 350 30
SC 460 25
SC 460 30
SC 460 42
SC 460 42 OP
Pied 350
Pied 460 25
Pied 460 42
Sov 350
Sov 460
Old Mill
Polar Bear
Tolstoi
Cycle 350
Cycle 460
American beauty 350 Frame
EPDG
Carolina Brights
Red Hindu
Black Lenox
Drum
Broadleaf 460
Blank Back
T213 Type 1
T213 Type 2
T213 Type 3
T213 Type 3 Overprint
T214 Victory
Cobb back

To say that list is intimidating would be a severe understatement. However, he already had one of the toughest cards on the list, and was about to add another. In April 2013 a Cobb portrait with Lenox back showed up on ebay, but it was in a GAI holder, and it sat there for a few days despite a low Buy It Now price. Jamie decided to take a gamble on it and immediately sent it to SGC, who agreed with GAI’s assessment that the card was authentic and unaltered.

“That was the defining moment.. my first two Cobbs were the Drum and the Lenox… and at that point I decided to make a run at it.”

Over the course of the next 5 months, he added 14 more to the run including the very tough Cycle 460.

April 2013 – Polar Bear
May 2013 – SC 350-460 Fact 25, SC 350-460 Fact 30, SC 350-460 Fact 42 w/ Overprint, T213 Coupon Type 2
June 2013 – Tolstoi, Piedmont 350, SC 350/25, SC 350/30, SC 350-460 Fact 42
July 2013 – Sovereign 350, Old Mill, Cycle 460, Piedmont 460 25

September 2013 was an absolutely huge month for the back run:

Sept 2013 – Cycle 350, Red Hindu, T213 Coupon Type 1, American Beauty 350

The Cycle 350 is a tough card in its own right, but it was overshadowed by three extremely rare combos. The T213 Coupon Type 1 and American Beauty were acquired in separate private transactions with fellow net54 forum members. The Red Hindu trade is my favorite story. Here it is in Jamie’s own words:

“I was emailing with another collector who I knew had three Cobb Red Hindus. Yes you read that right. Only 6 known to exist, and this collector had three. I really thought the Red Hindu was one I would never get. But this collector was willing to perhaps trade me for several of my errors and rare backs. The only problem: We would have to meet face to face. No trade of this magnitude can be done remotely. As fate would have it I had a work appointment within a one-hour drive of this collector. So we agreed to meet to see if a trade was possible. I flew out a day early, met with him
and traded 15 of my cards (which included a Brown Lenox back, many tough front-back combinations, blank backs, mis-cuts, and ghost images) for one very clean PSA 1 Red Hindu Cobb. I flew home in disbelief that I’d just combined the Drum, the Lenox and the Red Hindu. I knew the Red Hindu was on the checklist of 30, but it was off of my mental checklist. I just assumed I would not get it, and if I did, it would be a very long time before I would see one for sale. The opportunity to own one so early in my quest was fantastic. So, I literally flew across country for that card.
So now I am 5 months into the back run and I have reached 20 backs. I was thrilled with my progress, but I also knew it was about to get much tougher if I wanted to continue. In my mind I was happy to reach 20. That was my personal goal. Why not keep going…”

In November 2013, after taking a short pause to breathe, Jamie began to search for the ultra-rare Broad Leaf 460. There is only one copy of this card known to exist, graded SGC 10. Finding the card was quite a challenge. Jamie scoured the internet looking for clues as to the card’s whereabouts. Eventually, he found a post on a forum from 2003 that led him to the card’s owner. He had owned it since 2005 and was understandably hesitant to part with it. In time, he decided the card would find a good home in Jamie’s epic back run. The two collectors settled on a price, and Jamie became the proud new owner. This card is the pinnacle of this incredible collection.

“This was, and still is to this day the most expensive card I have ever purchased. I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to put the Broad Leaf, Drum, Red Hindu and Lenox together in the same collection.”

Dec 2013 – Piedmont 460 fact 42, Sov 460, EPDG

The train kept rolling in December. Jamie traded a Blank Back Southern Leaguer and cash for the very tough Piedmont Factory 42 Cobby. Next up was the scarce and underrated Sovereign 460. A friend was working on the Sovereign 460 subset but decided to split it up and send the Cobb to Jamie for his back run.

Feb 2014 – Blank Back

“60 days after my last Cobb, and a blank back comes up for auction. This is one of two known!!! Once I confirmed the card was authentic I knew I had to acquire it. It might be my last chance at a Blank Back. As the auction wound down, I made a bid, but was outbid at 2:00 A.M. I woke up to the outbid email. Good thing because my next bid is what won the card! Went back to bed after bidding and woke up crossing off another card I never thought it would be possible to attain.”

At this point, Jamie had 25 of the possible 30 backs on his checklist. The last 5 were some of the toughest and most coveted cards in the hobby: Carolina Brights (the only card left on the checklist that is universally considered a T206), T214 Victory, T213 type 3, T213 type 3 with Factory 8 overprint, and the iconic Ty Cobb back. Some time passed, and then:

March 2015 – Carolina Brights, bought privately from a Net54 board member
August 2015 – T213 Type 3 with Factory 8 Overprint

“A huge breakthrough. I found a Type 3 Coupon. Two weeks later, I traded it with additional cash to a collector who I knew owned the only T213 Type 3 with factory 8 overprint… A true 1 of 1. I crossed off the Coupon type 3 Factory 8 Overprint but had to give up the T213 normal type 3 to get it. So that left me still needing the normal Type 3 Coupon. I figured it would be easier to find another Type 3 Coupon and needed to secure the factory 8 overprint. So I was happy to make the deal.”

At this point, the run was only missing 3 cards: Ty Cobb back, T213 Type 3, and T214 Victory. As you can imagine, it was getting extremely tough to find the cards Jamie needed. 11 months passed, and then he found another:

July 2016 – T213 Type 3

“Two net54 board members were at a regional trade show and saw one for sale. Knowing I might be interested they contacted me, bought it for me, and sold it to me. The type 3 completed the T213 Coupon run of all 4 possible backs: T213 Type 1, 2, 3 and 3 with OP.”

This brought the run to a staggering 28 cards. I have no qualms with declaring this the greatest T206 Back Run that has ever been assembled. In terms of T206 Cobbs, many people would argue that the run is complete. Collectors are kind of split as to whether the Ty Cobb back should be considered a T206 or not. I personally don’t consider it a T206 so to me, the T206 portion of Jamie’s run is complete.

This is where his collection sits today. There are still two cards on Jamie’s want-list, and they are TOUGH. Jamie plans to loan his Cobbies to the Detroit Tigers for a year or two so that they can display them, but he’s hoping to land the T214 Victory first. There are only two copies known, so it’s not going to be easy. But if this project has proven one thing, it’s that anything is possible.

What do Lou Criger and Red Dooin Have in Common?

Luke January 6, 2017

Among 150-350 subjects, Criger and Dooin share an interesting distinction. They are the only two poses that were printed with El Principe de Gales back but not with Hindu or Old Mill. Jiggs Donohue, the subject of a recent article, is similar. He was not printed with Hindu or Old Mill, but was also left off the EPDG print run as well.

I find it fun to try and collect the toughest back for each pose. In the 150-350 series, that generally means you end up looking for a lot of Hindu and Old Mill backs. Criger and Dooin are refreshing in that their toughest backs are either EPDG or Sovereign 150. It’s kind of a toss-up as to which back is more desirable. EPDG backs typically sell for more than Sovereign 150 backs, but it’s close.

I think the Sovereign 150 back is the scarcer of the two backs for Dooin and Criger. Normally, it would pretty easy to figure it out using the PSA and SGC Pop Reports, but it can be tough to get a good gauge on Sovereign 150 backs. PSA combined all Sovereign backs under one generic heading for the first few years that they cataloged backs. For both Criger and Dooin, their Sovereign 350 back is much more plentiful than Sovereign 150, so the generic Sovereign listing doesn’t help us much. The SGC numbers are easier to read, but they don’t help us reach any conclusions:

Criger EPDG – 6 in SGC Pop Report
Criger Sov150 – 4 in SGC Pop Report
Dooin EPDG – 4 in SGC Pop Report
Dooin Sov150 – 6 in SGC Pop Report

So, my gut says the Sov150 is tougher to find for each of them, but I don’t have any way to prove it. Either way, as you can see from the SGC Pop Report, the two backs are pretty close in terms of scarcity. It’s nice to have a couple poses to search for where the toughest card won’t break the bank like a Hindu might. Also, it likely won’t take years to find one like it can when searching for a specific Old Mill.

Collecting T206: Choosing a Focus

Luke December 4, 2016 December 3, 2016

Figuring out exactly how you want to approach the set is easier said than done. It will most likely take some trial and error before you feel confident that you know what you want to collect. That being said, it definitely can’t hurt to go into it with an idea of how you want to get started. There are a ton of different ways to collect the T206 set. Let’s take a look some of the more common approaches:

Collect all 518 (or 520) fronts:
This is pretty self-explanatory. You pick a general condition preference, and work on getting one of each front. Some people stop at 518 cards, and others make it 520 which includes the St. Louis variations of Demmitt and O’Hara.

Collect all of the Hall of Famers:
Also quite simple. There are 76 cards in the T206 set that depict a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Most of us can’t afford a Plank or Wagner, so that drops the number to 74.

Collecting just one back:
Some people decide they just love the look of one particular back and try to get every card that was printed with it. I have a friend who has a complete Polar Bear set and another who is getting pretty close on an entire Tolstoi set.

Collecting one team or city:
This is a great way to enjoy the set. It makes a lot of sense if you are from or reside in one of the cities represented in the set. Some collectors take it a step further and try to collect their favorite team with a variety of backs.

Back collecting:
This can mean trying to find one copy of each back, or multiple copies of certain backs. The common denominator for back collectors is that they tend to prefer the uncommon backs, sometimes to the point that they have little interest in common backs.

Collecting a player back run:
The idea is to take one pose, figure out all the possible backs that exist for it and try to acquire them all. This can be a really fun way to collect and learn about the set. One collector has an epic back run of the Cobb red portrait. He has more than 20 different red Cobbs, all with different back advertisements.

Collecting a subset:
This is similar to collecting just one back, but deals with one specific series and/or factory number. For example, a collector I know has a complete Sweet Caporal 350-460 factory 25 subset.

Most of the time, a new collector will fall into one of these three categories:

Just wants a few stars and/or notable players
Wants to collect a team or city
Wants to collect the entire set

Starting with a smaller goal can be a great way to get your feet wet and see what appeals to you. However, if you plan to tackle The Monster in its entirety, know this: Attempting to complete the set is a monumental task. Most people who start never finish. Completing the set requires a lot of money, patience and determination. Perhaps more importantly, it requires that your focus remains constant. I know quite a few collectors who set out to complete the set and and their focus never wavered. For others (me included), the journey isn’t quite so smooth.

When I began collecting the set, I wanted to complete it in right around Good Condition. I got up to about 175 cards and then one day I realized that I was just plodding along, checking off cards on my checklist, but not really enjoying it. What happened was I had started to be attracted to the tougher backs, but I couldn’t afford to buy any if I wanted to complete the set in the next 10 years. My budget was pretty small and I was adding a common once a week or so. I felt like it was going to take me forever to complete the set, and I wasn’t enjoying the journey much. Once I realized that my focus had changed, I sold off most of the commons and started over with a new plan. Nowadays, I am mainly a back collector and I don’t have any plans to complete the set anytime soon.

A change in focus isn’t a bad thing. After all, the only reason to collect anything is if you enjoy it. If you ever find yourself losing interest in your collecting goals, take a little break. Be aware that your wants may change as you learn more about the set and handle more cards. It could be as simple as your condition preferences changing along the way. It’s also possible that your collecting journey will take you to unexpected places. When I first caught the T206 bug I thought the fronts of the cards were really cool and figured I’d try to get one of each. I never expected that I would be collecting them based on the tobacco ads on the back. I also never imagined I’d love it so much that I’d end up writing about the set and sharing the fun with other collectors. But, here we are.