Posted By:
BobJohn- I happened to notice Tom's post and it got me thinking, did you mean color variations or printing variations for the paper backs on the pins? I had the complete set minus 3 but never noticed any difference in what was written on the back so I assume you are talking about color. I know it may be the toughest color but the white and red paper backs seem to be the most coveted although I have no clue how many of the pins exist with which backs.
As far as the pins go, Scott Mosley and I have for years tried to convince anyone from SCD on down that the Mullin (Mullen) large letter pin with black hat is a phantom and has never existed. I believe someone accidentally called a small letter black hat a large letter black hat (PSA does this all the time) and thus the fallacy was born. There is a small letter black hat and large letter white hat. I believe Bob Lemke finally agreed the last year he was with SCD and it is now gone. The pin was a phantom, much like the blue letter on the hat T207 Davis, a different story for a different day.
The five toughest pins to find, IMHO, are Pelty, Scanlon, Maclean large letters, Abbatichio and Doyle large letters but everyone disagrees on all but the Pelty. It may be that his pin is tough but because he was Jewish it makes it almost impossible to find, much like the T207 Pelty.