From 1909 to 1911 the American Tobacco Company published the most important series of baseball cards of its time, successively announcing 150, 350 and 460 "subjects" on the back. The most popular players are Ty Cobb, John McGraw and Joe Tinker with four different subjects each. For helping the collectors this series is also known as T206.
The backs are advertisings for the various brands of the company : 14 for cigarettes and one for scrap tobacco. 80% of the T206 cards have Piedmont or Sweet Caporal backs.
In the field Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb are arch-rivals. Their attitudes towards the American Tobacco appear to be opposite although the details of their business are not known. Wagner withdraws early his permission to publish his only portrait that becomes the rarest image of the series.
If we consider the combinations of front and back, a card is much rarer : Ty Cobb with Ty Cobb back. The front side is one of Cobb's four common images, with his portrait on a red background. The back does not address one of the 15 brands. It displays in large capital letters "Ty Cobb" King of the Smoking Tobacco World and in tiny letters the address of the plant in North Carolina. No other player has been the subject of a specific T206 edition.
This edition is considered regular but it is indeed mysterious. Compared to the other T206s the cardboard is tougher and the image on front side has remained in bright colors as if it had been protected by a coating. Free from tobacco stains, they have not been packaged unlike the other combinations in the series.
About 22 cards are known. The grouped conditions of the major discoveries in the southern United States, 5 together in 1997 and 7 together in 2016, may suggest that the Ty Cobb back has never been available to the public.
The 2016 surfacing event is named the Lucky 7 Find. They were graded by PSA FR 1.5 (one card), Good+ 2.5 (four cards), VG+ 3.5 (one card) and VG-EX+ 4.5 (one card). The two best specimens have the highest grades awarded for this variety. The low grades attributed by PSA are here related to wear and not to print weakness.
One of the 2.5 with perfect color was sold for $ 240K including premium by Heritage on February 25, 2017. The VG+ card is estimated $ 500K for sale by Heritage in Dallas online on February 24 plus extended bidding, lot 80006.
SOLD for $ 410K including premium
The backs are advertisings for the various brands of the company : 14 for cigarettes and one for scrap tobacco. 80% of the T206 cards have Piedmont or Sweet Caporal backs.
In the field Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb are arch-rivals. Their attitudes towards the American Tobacco appear to be opposite although the details of their business are not known. Wagner withdraws early his permission to publish his only portrait that becomes the rarest image of the series.
If we consider the combinations of front and back, a card is much rarer : Ty Cobb with Ty Cobb back. The front side is one of Cobb's four common images, with his portrait on a red background. The back does not address one of the 15 brands. It displays in large capital letters "Ty Cobb" King of the Smoking Tobacco World and in tiny letters the address of the plant in North Carolina. No other player has been the subject of a specific T206 edition.
This edition is considered regular but it is indeed mysterious. Compared to the other T206s the cardboard is tougher and the image on front side has remained in bright colors as if it had been protected by a coating. Free from tobacco stains, they have not been packaged unlike the other combinations in the series.
About 22 cards are known. The grouped conditions of the major discoveries in the southern United States, 5 together in 1997 and 7 together in 2016, may suggest that the Ty Cobb back has never been available to the public.
The 2016 surfacing event is named the Lucky 7 Find. They were graded by PSA FR 1.5 (one card), Good+ 2.5 (four cards), VG+ 3.5 (one card) and VG-EX+ 4.5 (one card). The two best specimens have the highest grades awarded for this variety. The low grades attributed by PSA are here related to wear and not to print weakness.
One of the 2.5 with perfect color was sold for $ 240K including premium by Heritage on February 25, 2017. The VG+ card is estimated $ 500K for sale by Heritage in Dallas online on February 24 plus extended bidding, lot 80006.
SOLD for $ 410K including premium
The T206 Wagner is the most famous card, but this T206 #TyCobb with the “Ty Cobb King of the Smoking Tobacco World” back is far rarer. There are 50+ Wagners but only 20 of these Cobbs. This PSA 3.5 example, with only one superior, should hit $500k tonighthttps://t.co/FKK6oNWgnd pic.twitter.com/Lu2Jr91pI9
— Heritage Sports (@Heritage_Sport) February 24, 2018
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