T206 backs, 20 years ago

[trdcrdkid]

Last night I was looking through the December 1995 issue of The Vintage & Classic Baseball Collector, and was interested to see an article called "T206 Back Collecting: A Closer Look", which discusses the various T206 backs in terms of their relative scarcity and market value at the time. I was into T206 back collecting in 1995, even though I didn't have much money, since I was living on a $9-an-hour job in the University of Chicago library, and was also actively collecting trade cards. I had been a type collector since childhood (in 1976 I sent away for one Topps card from each year, 1952 through 1975, for $2.95 plus 25 cents postage), so that once I got back into collecting in the early '90s, the variety of T206 backs were an attraction for me. Some of them were fairly tough to find, then as now, but they didn't cost that much more than Piedmont or Sweet Caporal-backed T206s, so they were within my reach. On my limited budget, I put together a modest but decent collection of T206 backs, and made a display of 18 of them in a plastic sheet, which I posted here a few months ago:



Below is a scan of that article, which accords pretty well with what I remember from that time. You could get EPDG and Tolstoi backs for basically no premium, American Beauty and Cycle for maybe a little bit of a premium, but well within my range. So I would look through the ads in Sports Collectors Digest, keeping an eye out for people selling T206s with tough backs at reasonable prices. I also got some tough backs, as well as many other type cards, from David Festberg's auctions in SCD, which I think ended every Wednesday. I got the Broad Leaf 350 in the above picture in one of those Festberg auctions in 1994 or 1995 for $65, which was a lot of money for me then, one of the only times I spent more than $50 for a card. (I had gotten the Lenox in the early '80s from a neighborhood kid, one of five T206s -- two of them Lenoxes -- that I had in high school.)



That same December 1995 issue of VCBC has a full-page ad from David Bryan selling T205s and T206s, scanned below, which gives a pretty good idea of the prices that were prevalent. Notice he was selling a Lenox T206 in VG condition for $125, and two blank backs for the same price. Among the commons, he had several American Beauties and an EPDG for the same prices as the other cards, including an American Beauty Titus in EX+ condition for $27. (A PSA 3 AB350 Titus sold in Goodwin last year for $1464.89.) Kind of makes me wish I had a time machine, though I'm glad I was able to get what I did back then.

[ullmandds]

Cool stuff...but my memories are somewhat different. I was a similar collector as you were back from 92-95 ish...I was big into rare backed t206's.

In 92 I won 2 red hindu t206's at an armory auction in silver spring for $100 each...they were both exish.

Around the same time...92ish...I picked up my drum hofman for $37 from an unsuspecting dealer also at the armory but at a show in silver spring, md.

I remember the first time I saw a tolstoi back...I paid $70 for it because I had never seen 1 before.

I remember buying my first brown hindu at house of cards in wheaton, md for around $40.

I wasn't savvy enough to be looking for piedmont fact 42's back then but I'd guess they were everywhere...as well as scrap...since noone wanted em!

At a pennsylvania show around 92-94 I saw a bl460 for 400 that I passed on...way too much $$$$$.

I purchased my lenox from a guy off the prodigy message board for $250...it was an ex abbatichio. This guy was ill and said he had a lot of rare back but most were hof'ers and out of my price range.

I picked up a vg red hindu at a shop in cleveland...while applying for dental school...for $250.

I did not go to a ton of shows...but I received all the major hobby publications at the time...as well as maxwell capputo monthly auctions which were loaded with rare backs and occasionally proofs...those were the days!!!!!

[trdcrdkid]

Pete -- I don't think our memories are that different. Red Hindus were recognized as very scarce even back then, as the article states, and commanded a pretty big premium. That's why I couldn't afford one back then on my budget, and I still don't have one. Same with BL460s and Drums. $40 for a brown Hindu sounds about right, and that's probably around what I paid for the one in the picture. $50 was about my limit, but I went above that for the Broad Leaf because I knew it was very tough to find. I always had a Tolstoi (Brashear) from my teenage collection (two Lenoxes, a Tolstoi, and two Polar Bears), so I never got too excited about them, but I did get a few more in better condition. (The one in the picture is Camnitz arm at side, which I got in 92-95.)

I still have all my SCDs from back then. I'll have to get them out of storage sometime and look at the ads, which probably still have my annotations. I could probably figure out when I got some of my cards and what I paid for them.

[mrvster]

great stories guys! I love hearing these

[ullmandds]

haha...i suppose u r right!!!

Originally Posted by trdcrdkid

Pete -- I don't think our memories are that different. Red Hindus were recognized as very scarce even back then, as the article states, and commanded a pretty big premium. That's why I couldn't afford one back then on my budget, and I still don't have one. Same with BL460s and Drums. $40 for a brown Hindu sounds about right, and that's probably around what I paid for the one in the picture. $50 was about my limit, but I went above that for the Broad Leaf because I knew it was very tough to find. I always had a Tolstoi (Brashear) from my teenage collection (two Lenoxes, a Tolstoi, and two Polar Bears), so I never got too excited about them, but I did get a few more in better condition. (The one in the picture is Camnitz arm at side, which I got in 92-95.)

I still have all my SCDs from back then. I'll have to get them out of storage sometime and look at the ads, which probably still have my annotations. I could probably figure out when I got some of my cards and what I paid for them.

[Wildfireschulte]

Great post David. It was fun talking T cards with you at the National - you were one of the more knowledgable collectors that came by the booth.

[judsonhamlin]

First of all, I can't believe that it has been 20 years since I wrote that article. Barry Sloate (hi, Barry) encouraged me to write that for VCBC. The prices from those days were so relatively low that I still cringe for not picking up more Hindus and Carolina Brights at the time. I still remember calling dealers and having them go through t206's over the phone because few actually listed the backs. In the pre-eBay/internet days, there were still any number of dealers who were not attuned to scarcity, so buying a Drum for 18.00 and SL Hindu cards for 40.00 was actually possible.
Nice to see that article from a fun publication.

[trdcrdkid]

Kevin -- it was fun to talk to you at the National, too! Thanks for selling me all those VCBC magazines, including the one with this article, and for the deals you gave me on some T206s.

Judson -- I should have checked to see if you were a member of this board! Yeah, it's pretty amazing how much the way people look at T206 backs has changed. I wasn't really thinking about potential price appreciation, just collecting them because I thought it was fun and something I could do without spending too much extra money. I would sometimes get T206s at shows, but I don't remember getting many tough backs there -- it was mostly through ads in SCD, and through those David Festberg auctions.

[Wildfireschulte]

I'm pretty confident that those Festberg auctions were never shilled.