This week we’re going to take a look at one of the truly rare backs of the T206 set. Carolina Brights backs hold a special place in the hearts and minds of T206 collectors because of their combination of visual appeal and scarcity. Attempting to rank T206 backs in terms of scarcity can often lead to disagreements among collectors. However, when it comes to ranking Carolina Brights along the spectrum of T206 back scarcity, there doesn’t seem to be any argument.
Carolina Brights backs are clearly scarcer than the trio of Tier One Mid-Tier Backs (Cycle 460, American Beauty 460, and Piedmont 350-460 Factory 42) and more plentiful than Broad Leaf 350. This allows us to slot them in on the bottom rung of the “Rare Back” ladder.
Leaving out the backs that were never intended to be released to the public in packs of tobacco/cigarettes, these are the “Rare Backs” in order from scarcest to most plentiful*
- Broad Leaf 460
- Drum
- Uzit
- Hindu (Red)
- Lenox (Black)
- Red Cross Type 1**
- Broad Leaf 350
- Coupon Type 1**
- Carolina Brights
T206resource.com lists 127 confirmed poses with Carolina Brights backs and four remaining poses that have not been confirmed, but are suspected to exist. The four unconfirmed poses are Art Fromme, Hunky Shaw, Ed Willett (bat), and Lucky Wright. All but six of the poses in the Carolina Brights Subset are from the 350 Series (Print Group 2). The other six are the “Super Prints”****
Here is the complete checklist, courtesy of T206resource.com
Though Carolina Brights backs are rare, most poses that were printed with Carolina Brights back were also printed with Drum 350 and/or Broad Leaf 350 backs. As a result, Carolina Brights is seldom the rarest back for a given player or pose. Take for instance, Topsy Hartsel. He was printed with Drum 350, Broad Leaf 350, and Carolina Brights backs. The Drum is the scarcest, followed by the Broad Leaf 350, with Carolina Brights coming in a somewhat distant third in terms of scarcity.
However there are some poses for which that pattern doesn’t hold. The following players/poses have not been found with a Broad Leaf 350 or Drum 350 back. In other words, for these poses, Carolina Brights is the scarcest known back.
- Barger, Cy
- Collins, Eddie
- Collins, Jimmy
- Demmitt, Ray (New York)
- Evans, Steve
- Gray, Dolly
- Groom, Bob
- Lundgren, Carl (Kansas City)
- Mattern, Al
- McLean, Larry
- Puttman, Ambrose
- Shannon, Spike
Carolina Brights backs tend to sell for slightly less than Broad Leaf 350s and quite a bit more than any of the Mid-Tier backs.
Stay tuned for next week’s article Carolina Brights Power Rankings: The Top Ten Combos.
* This leaves out the Ty Cobb back, Brown Old Mill Southern League back, Brown Lenox, and Blank Backs.
** Catalogued as T215 Type 1, this back probably ought to be considered a T206. Because it was catalogued differently many years ago, most collectors view it as its own set.
*** Catalogued as T213 Type 1, this back should probably also be considered a T206 back.
****The “Super Prints” are the following six poses:
- Chance, Frank (Portrait – Yellow)
- Chase, Hal (Portrait – Blue)
- Chase, Hal (Black Cap)
- Cobb, Ty (Portrait – Red)
- Evers, Johnny (Chicago On Shirt – Yellow Sky)
- Mathewson, Christy (Dark Cap)