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T206CollectorThis is the Plank from the April 2007 Mastro auction:
http://www.mastroauctions.com/index.cfm?action=DisplayContent&ContentName=Lot%20Information&LotIndex=70940
Encapsulated and assessed "Authentic/Altered" by PSA. Presented is a professionally restored example of one of the most valuable cards in the hobby. The offered card would pass the scrutiny of most of the hobby's leading dealers, as only under careful examination could restoration be detected. Paper fibers of the same age and material have been added to the corners, though this is not detectable even under 10-power magnification or with a black light. Only a few tiny, spotty areas of the deep, rich blue background have been in-painted to restore continuity to the piece. The restoration was performed at the highest level of expertise and was not done with the purpose of passing the card off as completely original. The card presents apparent Excellent to Mint condition. If not restored, this certainly could claim to be one of the finest Eddie Plank cards in the hobby, having the boldest, richest image with perfect clarity. The dot patterns, seen only under magnification, are completely intact on 99.9% of the card. The Sweet Caporal ad reverse is fully unimpaired and no inpainting of text is evident under magnification. While we were not witness to the card's original state, we were informed that the card was in Very Good condition prior to restoration, with significant corner wear and very minor surface wear. Post-restoration assessments concur with this evaluation. The tale of the Plank card still perplexes our hobby nearly 90 years after it was issued. As it rode on the coattails of the famous Honus Wagner card since the beginning of the organized hobby, Jefferson Burdick didn't know of Wagner's or Plank's existence at the time of his first 1939 edition of the American Card Catalog (he listed only 521 cards in the set of T206), forever attributing to them a place of reverence among advanced collectors. No credible explanation has ever surfaced to explain its rarity. Some ascribe it to the same reasoning behind Wagner's scarcity—an aversion to tobacco smoking—but this is as unlikely for Plank as it was for Wagner. Did Plank follow suit with Wagner and demand payment for the use of his image by the tobacco companies? Possibly, but doubtful. Did the printing plate break? Not very likely. The absence of Plank's card is most evident in sophisticated hobby circles, and few high-grade examples have been seen. Coupled with the fact that the T206 "Monster" set of cigarette cards is one of the most desirable in the hobby, the scarcity of Plank only adds to a collector's frustration and fuels the fires of its value. While the value of the offered, restored version of Plank pales in comparison to an unaltered copy with a similar appearance, an unrestored card in Excellent to Mint condition could approach the $100,000 mark. This Eddie Plank card is absolutely exceptional, and affords the collector the chance to add a spectacular-"looking" key card to his or her T206 set—at a fraction of the typical cost. Our minimum bid reflects the value of the card prior to restoration and does not reflect the tremendous expense of the professional restoration (about four times our minimum bid). A one-of-a-kind opportunity!