May 2017 – That T206 life

An Interesting Discovery: McCormick Sovereign 350 with Strange Background Shading

Luke May 31, 2017 May 28, 2017

I recently found this McCormick Sovereign 350 with a strange orange/red background. The odd background shading stuck out to me immediately. At first glance, it looks like to me the red ink was brushed or wiped in some way while wet. The problem with that theory is if the ink were disturbed while wet, it would have spread across the white borders, which it obviously didn’t.

I reached out to a couple friends who I thought may have seen something similar over the years. My friend Steve Birmingham replied with some very interesting insight on how the streaking effect was created:

It’s another interesting one, your thought that it was wiped while wet is really close, and you’re right that that should have caused red being spread into the borders.

What that’s from is the pressman wiping the inking rollers while operating. A bit sloppy, and not all that safe but it’s done. If the result didn’t look too bad it probably would have been allowed to slide through. Especially late on a Friday 🙂

Sometimes the ink will be too heavy, or will start to dry on the inking roller leaving bits of dried ink that can cause a bunch of flaws. Usually over-inking just gets adjusted away. Drying ink is a bigger problem, and can come from under-inking.

The exact roller washed in this case would be the final inking roller that transferred the ink to the stone. The ink is in a bin of sorts, and a series of rollers spreads it evenly onto the final roller. Washing the earlier ones wouldn’t usually show up on the final product except as a bit of under-inking; wiping the last roller would get transferred to the plate as a streaky impression like this card has.

We don’t see more of them because that wiping isn’t a regular thing, usually only being at shift/days end, or during a changeover to a different ink or job. Having the ink get too dry to spread is really unusual, I think I only saw it happen once in a bit over 2 years. It has to be a very dry day with a really light ink pass (Either from not having enough flow or if a light coating is required).

The solution to massive over-inking or drying ink is basically the same. The ink flow gets adjusted, and if the problem doesn’t seem to sort itself out the inking rollers need to be washed. Basically wiped down with a rag soaked in solvent. As you can imagine that leaves some really uneven ink until the rollers even it out and things get back to normal.

It’s also done at the end of the day to wash off the rollers for sitting overnight. Pretty much the entire press gets washed. The inking system cleared out and cleaned, plate and blanket cleaned. That way it’s clean and ready for the next day, or next shift or next job or color.

This card would technically be one of those tweener scraps. It shouldn’t have been released. On the other hand it’s a neat insight into the process and practices used at ALC at that time.

A big thank you to Steve for being kind enough to share his expertise with us!

Why Aren’t T206 with Two Different Names on Top and Bottom More Popular with Collectors?

Luke May 24, 2017 May 25, 2017

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.

Spade / Cicotte & Lindaman / Bresnahan portrait

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.

Collecting Star Players Who Are Priced As “Commons”

Luke May 21, 2017 2 Comments

George Mullin is one of the best pitchers in Detroit Tiger history

My last post about my new Ed Killian Tolstoi made me think about an aspect of my collecting approach that I don’t hear talked about much. Whenever possible, I prefer to add T206s that feature star players over players who had a short MLB career, or were career Minor Leaguers. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, just a preference. I have a number of Minor Leaguers and Major Leaguers with nondescript careers in my collection that I love as well.

Heinie Zimmerman was a prolific hitter who won the National League Triple Crown in 1912

I’m not sure how many other T206 collectors share this collecting philosophy with me. I know many people collect the entire set without much regard to how good each player was (or wasn’t). And of course you have your Hall of Fame collectors. It makes sense that collecting star players who are not Hall of Famers would be a less common approach. Finding out which players were stars of the day takes some work, whether it be scouring Baseball Reference, or reading books about the Deadball Era.

George McQuillan was one of the best pitchers in baseball in 1908 but he never reached his potential due to off-the-field struggles

It took me a little while to arrive at this approach. When I first started collection T206, I was in love with the artwork and colors and I just wanted one of each front for my set. I knew about almost all of the Hall of Famers from reading about them as a kid, but I didn’t know anything about the players who were not enshrined.

Sherry Magee was an absolute beast offensively, leading the NL in RBI four times

I collected the set without knowing much about the players for about three years before deciding I wanted to know everything I could learn about not only the T206 set, but baseball from 1909-1911 specifically, and the Deadball Era in general. Baseball-reference.com was a great resource, and the one I used mostly. I also have really enjoyed a couple of books that were released by SABR: Deadball Stars of the American League, and Deadball Stars of the National League.

Ed Reulbach is one of the greatest pitchers in Chicago Cubs history – He went 182-106 with a 2.28 ERA for his career

Nowadays, I get almost as much enjoyment from finding a card of an “almost Hall of Famer” as I do a Hall of Famer. I love that I can get a star like Doc White, Sherry Magee, George Mullin, or Larry Doyle at the same price of a fringe player like Herbie Moran. To me, that feels like a huge spot of inefficiency in the market.

From 1906-1909, Orval Overall went 70-32 with an ERA under 2.00 for the Chicago Cubs

Obviously, supply and demand dictates the market price for the cards we collect. I hope that I can continue to find cards of my favorite players at “common” prices. I’m curious if any other collectors use a similar approach when looking to add new cards to their collections.

Larry Doyle had a great career and won the 1912 NL MVP award

Can You Find a Scarce T206 For Less Than $5.00 ?

Luke May 18, 2017 2 Comments

It turns out this is possible, but only if you’re not too picky about how it looks. This particular front/back combo has only been graded twice by SGC (one 10 and one 50) and not at all by PSA. When I first spotted it on ebay, I was excited at the chance to add a Killian Tolstoi to my collection. It’s a card I’d been hoping to find for a little while. Obviously, the condition leaves something to be desired, but beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to rare 100-year-old baseball cards.

The listing didn’t mention the back, and I was hoping that the front scan would scare most people off and they wouldn’t even click on the listing. Based on the final hammer price of $4.52, it looks like this is exactly what happened. I probably would have won the auction even if it had been listed properly, but I was happy to save a little bit of money due to the back not being mentioned. It’s possible that I’m the only collector who would be excited to own a card this “well-loved”. However, I bet there are some other collectors out there who can see the beauty in it.

It’s fun to have some collecting targets that don’t cost an arm and a leg to acquire. I’d go broke pretty quick if I tried to chase down all of the highest graded examples of the scarce front/back combos I am looking for. Being flexible on condition makes it possible for a smaller budget collector to build an impressive collection over time. Granted, this Killian is below my typical condition preferences. But, the fact that it is so badly mangled kind of makes me like it more than if it was just your run of the mill “beater”.

Besides the fact that this is a scarce combo, I love it because Ed Killian was a great pitcher. His two best season were 1905 (23-14 record, 2.27 ERA) and 1907 (25-13 record and an ERA of 1.78). In 1909 he posted his career-best ERA (1.71) to go with a record of 11-9.

Killian’s T206 Portrait was released in 1910, which was his final season in Major League Baseball. In 8 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, he went 103-78 with an ERA of 2.38.

T206 Hall of Fame Front/Back Combo Power Rankings: The Elite (Top 10)

Luke May 15, 2017 May 14, 2017 2 Comments

I was talking with a friend last week about the Tris Speaker Drum that ended in Memory Lane recently and the phrase “Top 10 front/back combo” rolled off my tongue in explaining how significant a card it is. I had a strong feeling that Speaker belonged in the top 10, but I wasn’t exactly sure what the list actually looked like. So I figured, why not put together a Top Ten list of the most desirable Hall of Fame front/back examples? I’ve chosen to leave Wagner and Plank off the list because they are coveted for their fronts rather than the combination of their fronts and a rare back. I’m also leaving the Ty Cobb back off this list as it is debatable whether that card should be classified as a T206. That is probably a subject for a future article. Without further ado, here it is (in my humble opinion of course):

#1. Ty Cobb Red Portrait Broad Leaf 460

The biggest star in the set combined with the scarcest back (not counting Brown Old Mill and Brown Lenox, which were produced by mistake). There is one copy of this card known in the hobby. I wrote an article about the incredible collection that this card resides in. You may read about it here if you are so inclined.

#2. Ty Cobb Red Portrait Drum

No surprise here. Cobb’s second most desirable front/back combo is the Drum. As of this writing, there are three examples known. Two are graded by PSA and one by SGC.

#3. Ty Cobb Bat off Shoulder Brown Lenox

Another near impossible Cobb card, this one has been graded twice, once each by PSA and SGC.

#4. Walter Johnson Hands at Chest Broad Leaf 460

The Big Train’s most desirable cards comes in fourth on the list. There appear to be two known copies, both incredibly nice. The above SGC 60 and a PSA 4.5. It’s very possible that this is just one card, which has been crossed from the SGC 60 to a PSA 4.5.

#5. Cy Young Glove Shows Broad Leaf 460

There appears to be only one copy of this card, and it is an absolute beauty. SGC graded this card above, and PSA has graded a PSA 5.5. I am guessing this card was purchased in the SGC holder and crossed over to a PSA slab.

#6. Christy Mathewson Dark Cap Broad Leaf 460

Matty’s most sought after card clocks in a sixth. Really, I could arranged Matty, Cy, and WaJo in any order, but I think this order is most in line with the prices that each card tends to sell for. SGC has graded two copies of this combo (both graded “A”) and PSA has not graded any.

#7. Walter Johnson Hands at Chest Drum

There appear to be two copies of this card graded. This one graded by SGC and likely crossed to a PSA 4, and another PSA 1.5.

#8. Christy Mathewson Dark Cap Drum

This combo has not been graded by either SGC or PSA. It is however, confirmed to exist on T206resource.com.

#9. Tris Speaker Drum

The first non-Cobb/WaJo/Young/Matty on the list is Tris Speaker’s most desirable front/back combo. SGC and PSA each show a single entry for this card, and both are graded “1”s.

10. Ty Cobb Bat off Shoulder Uzit

The fourth Cobb on the list and the only Uzit, this combo barely edged out the honorable mentions below. This combo is significantly easier to find than any above. SGC has graded four copies, while PSA has graded six.

Honorable Mentions:

Addie Joss Hands at Chest Broad Leaf 460

Mordecai Brown Chicago on Shirt Broad Leaf 460

Nap Lajoie With Bat Brown Lenox

Frank Chance Yellow Portrait Drum

Sam Crawford Batting Drum

Auction Report: Memory Lane Spring 2017

Luke May 11, 2017

The latest Memory Lane auction concluded on Saturday evening/Sunday morning. It was absolutely loaded with T206s. It appears that an entire set was auctioned off, one card at a time. Many of the cards were in high grade, and the ones that weren’t had scarce backs. Let’s get right to the recap.

Wagner PSA 2 sells for a cool $600,000
You know it’s a special auction when there’s a Wagner up for sale. The grade is a bit of a head-scratcher, but the card is a beauty regardless. Congrats to the new owner!

Plank PSA 4 sells for $76,800
An absolutely beautiful centered copy with a flawless surface. I love this card and I bet the new owner does as well.

SGC 60 Magie Error sells for $40,800

Cobb Bat Off Lenox SGC 40 sells for $41,249
A week after the PSA 6 Uzit Cobb sold in REA for $106k, this copy finds a new home as well. It’s a very strong card for the grade. One of many absolute monster cards in this auction.

Speaker Drum PSA 1 sells for $26,534
One of the top 10 combos in my humble opinion, this card was in the middle of a spirited bidding war. When the dust settled, the hammer was a healthy $26k. In much the same way that the Wagner does not look like a “2”, this card doesn’t look like a “1”. It’s a beautiful card for the grade. The rounded corners and creases above his head don’t detract from the overall eye appeal much.

Carolina Brights Mathewson Dark Cap PSA 3 sells for $12,113
This card is an absolute beauty. The colors are incredible, the surface and back are clean and the centering is solid.

Tinker Bat Off Shoulder Lenox PSA 3.5 sells for $11,011
Another extremely tough card that looks amazing for the grade.

Hindu Johnson Portrait PSA 2 sells for $6,060
Yet another example of a scarce front/back combo in this auction where the eye appeal far exceeded the technical grade. This card looks like a 4 to me, and it looks like the bidders agreed.

Hindu Lajoie Portrait PSA 2 sells for $5,918
Like the WaJo Hindu, this one looks much nicer than a “2”. The price was pretty hefty. I’m surprised that Lajoie went for essentially the same price as the WaJo, especially considering that the WaJo looks like a slightly nicer card in terms of eye appeal.

Autographed Crawford with bat Polar Bear sells for $4,903
This card is an absolute beauty. The signature is clean and the card looks to be in a clean VGEX. The Polar Bear back adds to the appeal of this rare specimen.

Broad Leaf 460 Baker SGC 10 sells for $3,110
It doesn’t get much better than a Hall of Famer with a Broad Leaf 460 back. This card has some obvious issues, and they no doubt kept the price down. This feels to me like a good deal for the winner. It’s definitely not every day you get a shot at a BL460 HOFer.

Kelley Broad Leaf 350 PSA 1 sells for $2,147
Kelley is one of the more scarce BL350s, and the price reflected that. This is a pretty nice looking card for the grade and it could be a long while before another copy comes to market.

Auction Report: REA Spring 2017

Luke May 4, 2017

Another incredible REA auction is in the books. As usual, I’ll be focusing on the T206s that were sold, but they were just a tiny percentage of the amazing offerings in the auction. This auction had a little something for almost everyone. There were pristine Cobbs and rare backs for the high-rollers, and lower grade rarities for the collector-grade folks. In this wrap-up, I’ll try to spotlight a selection from both ends of the spectrum.

Cobb Bat Off Shoulder Uzit PSA 6 Sells for $108,000
This card is absolutely stunning. A high-grade copy of one of the toughest and most sought after rare backs.

Cobb Green Portrait SGC 60 Sells for $9,000
Yet another mid-grade Green Cobb hit the market and did quite well. This one is a beauty.

Four 150-350 Series Proofs Sell for $7,200 – $8,400

Bates $8,400
Alperman $8,400
Jacklitsch $7,800
Wagner $7,200

I was a little surprised that the Alperman didn’t sell for more than the other three. As the only one of the quartet to not feature a name caption, it has much more appeal to me personally. Apparently the guys who actually have the money to bid on these don’t feel the same.

Magie Error PSA A Sells for $5,400
A nice looking card with a slight trim from top-to-bottom.

Cobb Green Portrait PSA 2 Sells for $5,400
Quite the strong price for this one. It’s either a case of someone buying the card, rather than the holder, or someone thinking they can remove the tape residue on the back of the card and elevate the grade to a 3.5 or 4.

Bell Lenox SGC 50 Sells for $3,600
A beautiful example, this one sold for about what you’d expect.

Arellanes Broad Leaf 350 SGC 50 Sells for $3,300
This card is amazing. Love the baby blue background and the back is clean and looks great.

Pelty Horizontal Hindu PSA 5 Sells for $2,700

Stovall with Bat Lenox SGC 30 Sells for $1,920
Another tough Lenox back, this one has great eye appeal for the grade. The only flaws are the spots of paper loss on the back. Luckily, they don’t affect any of the text.

Young Portrait El Principe De Gales PSA 3 Sells for $2,280
This is very strong “3” and it sold for a strong price. Seeing this result makes me wonder what a nice PSA 3 Old Mill or Hindu would fetch at auction.

Dougherty Portrait Hindu SGC 60 Sells for $1,560
Waddell Portrait SGC 40 Sells for $1,320
Walsh Hindu SGC 40 Sells for $1200
Tinker Hands on Knees Hindu SGC 20 Sells for $1,080
I thought these Hindus were a nice value for the new owners. All are really solid examples with great eye appeal.

Magee with Bat Red Hindu Sells for $1,440
This was the only Red Hindu in the auction, and it’s a beauty. I personally value cards of guys like Magee who were stars at the time more than a similar card of a player who had a less notable career. This card seems to have gone for a strong price, and I wonder if his status as a guy who just barely missed the Hall of Fame might have something to do with it.

Brown Chicago on Shirt Piedmont Factory 42 Sells for $840
This was one of my personal favorites in the auction. It’s a great looking “3” and it’s not every day you can find this pose with a tough back.