Sweet Caporal – That T206 life

Upside-Down T206 Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Overprint Discovered

Luke September 30, 2019

On August 23rd, 2019, a net54 member made a post about this Nap Lajoie (Throwing) with an upside-down Factory 649 Overprint that he recently acquired. He went on to say the card had been in an old collection, stored in an attic for 80 years, along with other T206s.

There was a bit of skepticism at first as this would be the first upside down Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Overprint known if it was indeed genuine. My initial thoughts were that it looked good, but there were a couple things that gave me pause. First, there were a ton of Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Overprints printed. It would be somewhat surprising for the first known upside-down overprint to finally surface now. Secondly, anytime a new rare back or oddity find features a Hall of Famer on the front, I tend to look at the find with increased scrutiny.

Along with some healthy skepticism, I had another thought: The placement of the overprint looked to be an exact match with the Factory 649 overprint on the Greminger Brown Old Mill (below).

Another member soon posted on the net54 thread saying that he had also seen the card in person at a recent card show and felt it was legit. Then I received an email from my friend Pat Romolo who brought up some additional corroborating evidence that had not occurred to me.

My immediate reaction was everything about it looked good to me and the 649 op is about where I would expect it to be. For a while now I have thought for whatever reason the sheets were printed off center from top to bottom with a much larger top border and if that was the case then the op is about where it should be.

If T206 sheets had the huge top border like the Young and Stahl above, it would perfectly explain the placement of this Factory 649 overprint on the Lajoie, as well as the one on Greminger.

On September 20, 2019 the original poster returned to say the card had been authenticated by SGC and was featured in the current Wheatland Auction. As you can see, SGC declined to mention the upside-down overprint on the label.

The auction closed on September 30, 2019 with a hammer price of $4,720.

Why Was Carl Lundgren (Chicago) Printed With So Few Backs? And What Do Hughie Jennings and Sam Crawford Have to do With it?

Luke December 31, 2017 December 31, 2017

Carl Lundgren’s Chicago T206 is one of the more sought-after cards in the set. Lundgren was a very good starting pitcher for the Cubs from 1904 to 1907 (he also turned in solid seasons in 1902 and ’03), but that doesn’t have anything to do with the popularity of his Cubs card.

Here’s What We Know:

Lundgren (Chicago) was pulled early in the 350 portion of 150-350 Series Production. It was printed with El Principe de Gales and Piedmont 350 backs before being pulled from production. Lundgren (Chicago) fits nicely in the “Elite Eleven*” group with other poses that were pulled after being printed with EPDG backs and a small amount of Piedmont 350 backs.

The decision to discontinue the pose makes a lot of sense. In 1907, he went 18-7 with a 1.17 ERA. It was his fourth straight standout campaign. However, in 1908, his innings pitched dropped to 138.2 and he posted a record of just 6-9 to go with an ERA of 4.42. In 1909, when Lundgren (Chi) was printed with Piedmont 150 backs, he appeared in just 2 games before being sold to Toronto of the Eastern League.

We also know Lundgren was not printed with Hindu, Sovereign 150, or Sweet Caporal 150 backs. His is the only pose in the 150-350 Series that was not printed with any Sweet Caporal backs. Let that sink in for a second. That’s just weird. In fact, the only other non Southern Leaguers that weren’t printed with any Sweet Caporal backs are the Demmitt and O’Hara St. Louis cards, which were printed only with Polar Bear backs*.

And Here’s What We Don’t Know:

It’s not known why Lundgren (Chicago) was left off the Hindu, Sovereign 150 and Sweet Caporal print-runs. I do have a theory, but it doesn’t explain everything. Awhile back, I wrote an article about Hughie Jennings (Portrait) and Sam Crawford (Throwing) (which can be read here). Those two poses were also left off the Hindu and Sovereign 150 print-runs. In fact, there are only five poses in the 150-350 Series that appear with Piedmont 150 backs but not with Brown Hindu or Sovereign 150 backs:

Crawford (Throwing)
Jennings (Portrait)
Lundgren (Chicago)
Plank
Wagner, Honus

I theorize that Lundgren is somehow related to Jennings (Portrait) and Crawford (Throwing), both of which were added to the Piedmont 150 and Sweet Caporal 150/30 print runs after production of the 150-350 Series had already started. Both Crawford and Jennings were left off the Brown Hindu and Sovereign 150 print runs (like Lundgren). Both Crawford and Jennings were printed with SC 150/30 backs, but left off the SC 150/25 print run.** The fact that Lundgren was not printed with an SC 150/30 back makes the connection somewhat tenuous, but the three poses do have a lot in common.

Like Lundgren, Jennings was printed with an EPDG back, although Crawford was not. All three poses were printed with Piedmont 350 backs, although Lundgren was pulled early and the others were not. Jennings and Crawford went on to be printed with Old Mill, Sovereign 350, Sweet Caporal 350/25, and Sweet Caporal 350/30 backs.

In my earlier article about Jennings (Portrait) and Crawford (Throwing), I put forth the idea that those two poses could have replaced Plank and Wagner when they were pulled from further production. There’s no way to know for sure, but it does make some sense given the late arrivals of Jennings and Crawford. Where Lundgren might fit into that scenario is not immediately clear.

The biggest unanswered question surrounding this pose is why Lundgren (Chicago) was not printed with Sweet Caporal 150 backs. That he wasn’t is one of the more interesting T206 mysteries. I don’t imagine that question will ever be answered to my satisfaction, but if I come up with the answer, or even a crazy theory, I’ll be sure to let you guys know.

*Southern Leaguers were printed with Old Mill Southern League backs, Piedmont 350 backs, and 34/48 players were printed with a Brown Hindu back.

**Crawford is listed as confirmed with SC 150/25 back on T206resource.com, but I know of a few people who have been looking for one for a few years (if not longer). It either exists in extremely low quantities, or does not exist at all. If one surfaces, it will add a very interesting wrinkle to this puzzle, but for now I am going to assume it was not printed.

The “Dark Ink” Connection Between The T206 Sweet Caporal Factory 649 Subset, 150-350 Old Mill Subset, and the Elite Eleven: Part Two

Luke July 1, 2017 June 25, 2017

A normal looking Sovereign 150 Gilbert on the left, and a “dark ink” Old Mill on the left

In the first part of this series, I introduced the three distinct print qualities that can be found on poses from the 150-350 Series with Old Mill backs. The Gilbert above is a good example of a “dark ink” Old Mill. This “dark ink” phenomenon is not exclusive to Old Mills. It can be observed on the following 150-350 Series backs:

1. Old Mill

2. Piedmont 350

3. Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25

“Dark Ink” Manning Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 25. Sorry about the blurry scan. It was hard to find a scan with this back.

4. Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 30

You’ll notice that the following 150-350 series backs are not a part of the above list:

El Principe de Gales
Sovereign 350 Forest Green

EPDG was the first back printed in the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series. The fact that no EPDGs have been found with “dark ink” on the fronts is interesting, but not too surprising. 150-350 Series poses with EPDG backs look very similar to their 150 Series counterparts because they were printed soon after.

At this point, the jury is still out on whether there are any 150-350 Series Subjects out there with a “dark ink” front and a Sovereign 350 back. I expect that there are, but I haven’t been able to find any scans to prove it.

Where the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset Comes In:

The most hardcore T206 nerds among us may notice that the five poses pictured above all have something in common. They are among the 34 poses that comprise the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset. The common theme with the majority of these “dark ink” cards is that they are poses that can be found with SC 150/649 backs. So far, I have only found a few that feature players who are not a part of the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset. The Keeler Old Mill below is one example.

Two paragraphs ago I mentioned that I have yet to find a “Dark Ink” front with a 150-350 Series Sovereign 350 Forest Green back. The pattern would dictate that they do exist, but there is a reason why they would be tougher to find than a copy with Old Mill, Piedmont 350 or Sweet Caporal 350.

The Old Mill, Piedmont 350 and Sweet Caporal 350 Subsets all contain the majority of poses that make up the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset. The Sovereign 350 Subset only contains 10 poses that are part of the SC 150/649 Subset. Therefore, it is a lot tougher to find examples with Sovereign 350 backs to examine. Here are the 10 poses that exist with both SC 150/649 and Sovereign 350 Forest Green:

Bresnahan Portrait
Davis, George
Goode
Griffith Portrait
Johnson Portrait
Killian Hands at Chest
Liebhardt
Manning Batting
O’Leary Portrait
Sheckard No Glove Showing

Of these 10, I have seen “Dark Ink” cards featuring only Killian, Liebhardt, and Manning. I expect that one or all of those three poses will be found with a Dark Ink Sovereign 350. If you have one or have a scan of one, please let me know.

In Part Three, I’ll explain what the Elite 11 and the “Washed Out” Old Mill, Piedmont 350, and Sweet Caporal 350s can teach us about the 350 portion of 150-350 Series Print Runs.

T206 Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 30 “Big Factory Numbers”

Luke April 1, 2017 April 2, 2017

A fun oddity to keep an eye for are the “Big Factory 30s”. Certain poses from the 150-350 series can be found with a large “30” right in the middle at the bottom of the back, like this Tannehill above. It appears that the large “30” was used to differentiate sheets of Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30 from Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25, and vice versa.

There have not been any of these “Big Factory Numbers” found on Sweet Caporal 150 backs that I know of. My guess is there were some problems in the print shop during 150 series production that lead to them adding these large numbers to the sheets for the 350 series, so that the process of getting them out to the correct factories would run more smoothly. This article focuses on the Big Factory 30s, mainly because we have more data about them. There are 22 different poses that have been found with a “Big Factory 30”, while I only know of two players who have been found with a “Big Factory 25” (Ames portrait and Steinfeldt portrait).

Here are the 22 poses which have been found with Sweet Caporal 350 “Big Factory 30s”. I expect that more will be discovered, but for now this is the known checklist. Thank you to Erick Summers for keeping track of these over on the net54 forum.

Ames (portrait)
Beaumont
Clarke (portrait)
Cobb (bat on shoulder)
Dahlen (Brooklyn)
Dooin
Durham
Gilbert
Hemphill
Johnson (portrait)
Jones, Fielder (portrait)
Keeler (with bat)
Killian (pitching)
Mathewson (portrait)
McGraw (no cap)
Merkle (portrait)
Overall (portrait)
Seymour (batting)
Spade
Steinfeldt (portrait)
Tannehill (“L” on front)
Wagner (bat left)

Erick and others have been keeping track of these oddities for the last few years in this thread on net54baseball.com. If you have or know of any Sweet Caporal 350s with Big Factory Numbers at the bottom (either 25 or 30) please stop by that thread and add your card or scan to the list.

For the most part, each of these checklist entries represents a unique card. However, some of the above poses have been found more than once. I have seen three different Steinfeldts for instance. Because not everyone knows about these cards, there are probably quite a few of them out there that have not been noticed yet. Often the top of the “30” is just barely visible, and doesn’t look like much more than a bit of red ink. This is another reason why these cards tend to fly under the radar.

T206 Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Overprint – An Interesting Subset

Luke February 23, 2017 February 23, 2017

I’m excited to bring you another guest article from fellow T206 aficionado Scott Gross!

T206 Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Overprints are a small (only 34 total cards) back printing sub-set. They were produced in the first printing of T206s in 1909 and are part of Print Group 1 (all Print Groups are based on the fantastic web site t206resource.com). Originally, they were produced as Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 30. The Factory 30 can be seen on some cards where the Red Stripe Over Print was misaligned. In fact, sometimes this back is called “Sweet Caporal Red Stripes.”

Due to Federal Tobacco laws, these cards were shipped from Factory 30 (2^ndDistrict NY) to Factory 649 (1^st District NY). Although there are only 34 cards, there is a nice variety, which includes 7 future Hall of Famers. There are also a few commons that have interesting printing anomalies.

The following table is based on the PSA Population report, which shows the backs that were printed for each player. There are two exceptions: First, PSA has not graded a Bates with a SC 350 / 25 back. It is theorized this card “should” exist, and the other day, a knowledgeable T206 friend of mine said he has seen one. Secondly, whereas PSA has no graded Gilbert listed, he is confirmed on T206resource.com.

EPDG

Hindu

Old Mill

Pied.150

Pied.350

Sov.150

Sov.350

SC 150/25

SC 150/30

SC 150/649

SC 350/25

SC350/30

Alperman

Bates

Bransfield

Bresnahan, portait

Clarke, J.J.

Davis, George

Davis, H.

Delehanty, Wash.

Ewing

Gilbert

Goode

Griffith, Portrait

Johnson, Portrait

Jones, St. Louis

Killian, Pitching

Lajoie, Throwing

Lake, New York

Liebhardt, Glenn

Manning, Batting

Marquard, Hands Thighs

Mathewson, White

McIntire, Brooklyn

McQuillan, ball in hand

O’Leary, Portrait

Owen

Pastorius

Powers

Ritchey

Schlei, Catching

Schmidt, Pitching

Sheckard, no glove

Spencer

Wagner, Bat Left

Wilhelm, Pitch

Let’s look at what these cards have in common. Actually they ALL have a lot in common. ALL can be found with Hindu backs. That would make sense, as Hindus were also produced at Factory 649. They also can ALL be found with the following backs: Piedmont 150, Sovereign 150, Sweet Caporal 150 / 25, and Sweet Caporal 150 / 30.

Cards produced with El Principe De Gales backs are kind of hit-or-miss. The majority of them, 22, have EPDG backs. I can only assume the 12 that do not have EPDG backs just “didn’t make the cut” for this back run.

All but one player (Powers, which will be discussed later) were produced with Piedmont 350 backs. However, only ten have a Sovereign 350 back. Once again, kind of hit-or-miss who made the this cut. On one hand you have very talented and popular (future HOFs) cards like Roger Bresnahan, George Davis, Clarke Griffith, and Walter Johnson, but not Napoleon Lajoie, Rube Marquard, or Christy Mathewson. Commons-wise, Glenn Liebhardt (who was printed with Sovereign 350 back) was a very good minor league pitcher, but nothing to brag about in the majors.

OK, now let’s look at the few anomalies:

First, we have Mike “Doc” Powers. Powers was a medical physician, thus the nickname, and was mainly a back-up catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics. He has no EPDG (as suspected, just didn’t make the printing). More importantly, he has NO 350 series backs. The reason for this: He was one of the very first cards pulled from T206 production. He also has no Old Mill back (which probably was pulled early, also). This is sadly understandable in that he died on April 26, 1909, just after the production began. The romantic version of his death is he died running into the stands after a foul ball on opening day. Partly true; he actually died from complications following surgery resulting from injuries sustained on that day. His full catcher’s-gear image is a favorite of many collectors, including myself.

Three other “odd” cards are Bob Ewing, Tom Jones of St. Louis, and Tubby Spencer. Like Powers, they neither have Old Mill backs, nor do they have Sweet Caporal 350 backs. The explanation is that they were pulled from production early. Not as early as Powers, but right about the beginning of 350 Series production. This timeline is not only based on the absence of Old Mill or Sweet Caporal 350 cards (or Sovereign) but also the fact that they are very short-printed, and extremely tough to find with Piedmont 350 backs. They both fall into the category known as The Elite 11*, which all have the same back distribution.

By the way, I have collected all 34 cards. It took about a year. I can’t say any one is anymore difficult to come by than any other. That includes HOFers, commons, and anomalies. It’s a FUN and doable sub-set, give it a try!!!!!

Written by Scott Gross

* the term Elite 11 was first introduced by collector Ted Zanidakis over on net54baseball.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.

Back Scarcity in the T206 150-350 series Part Three: Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649

Luke February 9, 2017 December 7, 2016

The Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649 subset is quite an anomaly in comparison to other Sweet Caporal backs. The American Tobacco Company obviously wanted to start including cards in their Sweet Caporal product that was coming out of factory 649. It’s interesting that they selected so few cards to be released in this way. The Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649 subset consists of only 34 cards.

I can’t figure out any reason why these particular players were selected. I’d guess it was probably just a matter of selecting a Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30 sheet that was handy. The red bar overprint and the new text reading “FACTORY No 649 1st DIST N.Y.” was printed on the back of the SC 150/30 sheet. At the time, tobacco companies were required by law to indicate which factory any card or other piece of advertising media came from.

Each card in this subset is fairly easy to obtain, although if you are looking for a certain player it may take you a little while to track one down. Like Sovereign 150 backs, they can be quite tough to find in higher grades. The prevailing theory on why this is the case goes like this: Cards released in 1909 were most likely handled by kids much more than cards released in 1911, when production of the set was winding down. In 1911, some of the kids who played with the cards in 1909 may have gotten bored with them. When production stopped in 1911, a lot of the cards probably got put in a drawer and forgotten.

The Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649 subset itself does not offer any rarities, but it does have a strong correlation to some rare Old Mills that were printed soon after. 30 of these 34 poses were printed with Old Mill backs in 1910, and those 30 are some of the toughest Old Mills in the set to find. Any theories as to why would just be speculation, but it’s possible that this sheet was used for the SC 150/649 backs for some period of time while the Old Mill backs were being printed. If so, these 30 poses may have started the Old Mill print run late, resulting in lower Pop numbers for these 30 poses. It’s fun to speculate, but I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly why these 30 poses are more scarce with Old Mill backs than other 150-350 subjects.

There does not appear to be any similar correlation with El Principe de Gales or Sovereign 350 backs. The 4 players who were not printed with Old Mill backs are Powers, who is a 150-only subject, and Ewing, Jones, and Spencer, who are all members of the “Elite 11”, a group of subjects who were pulled very early in the 350 series. It’s interesting that all 30 of the remaining players were selected to be printed with Old Mill back, but only 22/34 were used for EPDG and only 10/34 for Sov350.

Thanks as always to t206resource.com for the use of their checklists.

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.