[brianp-beme]

I thought it would be fun/interesting to find out the percentage of non-Piedmont and Sweet Caporal backs that T206 collectors (those who have at least a couple of dozen or so) have in their collections. This percentage would involve all T206 in a collector's collection, not just their main set.

My experience, and as far as I can tell from population reports, about 80 to 85% of all T206 cards have either a Piedmont or Sweet Caporal back. As has become evident on the board, the other T206 backs have become very popular over the past several years, with some collectors apparently focusing most or all their efforts toward obtaining them.

If no one paid attention to the backs when collecting, in theory most T206 collections would have percentages of the tougher backs in the range of 11% to 25%.

Personally, only until the last 5-10 years have I taken the T206 backs into consideration when adding to my T206 pile, with economics playing heavily into my decision making (I am a cheap-ass collector, and you probably have to go all the way back to the 1980's to encounter a time when all but the most uncommon backs did not have some sort of premium attached). My percentage, with all this considered, falls in the 11 to 15% survey range, with none of my cards having the real tough backs (Uzit, Lenox, Broadleaf, Carolina Brights, etc.).

It would be interesting to see the results, and read any comments.

Brian