Forgotten Set: T205s

[Vintagecatcher]

I have noticed that over the years, while there has been a great deal of discussion as well as research regarding the T206 set with regards to "possible" front/back combinations, there has been very little discussion with regards to the T205 set along these lines.

Lew Lipset mentions in his Encyclopedia of Tobacco cards that "there are 11 different brands advertised on the backs of T205."

My question to the board is: Is it possible to find any player with all 11 backs?



Thanks in advance,


Patrick

[Bosox Blair]

Fine question! I don't know the answer, but I hope someone does because I'd like to know too.

Cheers,
Blair

[frohme]

Counting variations (e.g. factory, color) there are at least 17 different backs for T205s. If you leave out the factory designations, it may well be possible. There are board members that have studied the set for a long time that may provide specifics to that effect.

I'd hazard a guess that for a specific front pose, you'd certainly not find it with all 17 backs as there appear to be exclusivity rules within certain of the backs. SC Fac 42 for example seems to be either black or red, but not both. Not sure what other patterns there are as I've only been tracking a small subset (14 cards) of the set for about 2 years and have still seen only ~ 1/3 of the (theoretically) possible F/B combos.

[Vintagecatcher]

I'm curious as to whether any player can be found with the 11 brands?

I'm not interested in the factories or print color variations of the backs.

Is there any players that can be found with all the the 11 different brands: American Beauty, Broad Leaf, Cycle, Drum, Hassan, Hindu, Honest, Piedmont, Polar Bear, Sovereign, and Sweet Caporal.

Thanks again,


Patrick

[Wite3]

Patrick,
I have studied this set extensively and reported on it here (a simple search might turn up some of my musings)...the answer to your question is no. No front combination comes with all backs. A few come close but none have been confirmed with all 11 advertising backs and honestly, I do not think it is possible.

Hope this helps. Search the archives...t205s do get discussed every few months.

Joshua

[Vintagecatcher]

FYI,

I did a search that produced limited results prior to my posting. I also have been on the board since the early days, and I do read all the "card related" threads.

I was hoping for a response that had a little more factual information.

Thanks anyhow.

Patrick