Piedmont, because the blue is attractive and design is elegant. But mostly because it brings back one of my best hobby memories.
Back in the mid-late 1970s, there was a collector named Ralph Nozaki who collected errors and variations. I had purchased my friend's brother's card collection of 1962s, and found a Hal Reniff variation where the card number was wrong. It meant nothing to me, but Ralph was interested in trading for it.
I had never owned or even seen a tobacco card, let alone a T206. I had a Sports Hobbyist magazine with a large black and white image of the Wagner, so for all I knew, T206 cards were that large, similar to modern cards. I sent that Reniff card to Ralph and told him I would be happy with any T206 card in trade.
Soon afterwards, I got a nice letter from Ralph with a T206 enclosed. I expected, and would have been very happy, with it being a common, but instead he sent me a card of a fellow named Christy Mathewson, pitching pose with white cap. It had a Piedmont back.
I kept that card until 1991, when I was building my house (which I still live in,) and decided to sell it along with a large (70 or so) collection of T3 cards I had subsequently collected, in order to add two fireplaces to my home building budget.
I love those fireplaces - I use them all the time in sometimes sub-zero Minnesota winters - and I also love the memory Ralph gave me all those years ago.
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