Are T206 Tolstoi's really more rare than A. Beauty?
 

Based off the below breakdown of T206 back scarcity, Tolstoi ranked 17th and American Beauty 350 frames are ranked 20th. However, when I look at the population report of Tolstoi versus all American Beauty backs (350, 460, no frames) there are 948 Tolstoi and 897 American Beauty backs graded by PSA.

I know using the population reports of TPGs isn't foolproof, but I've personally found it also "rarer" to find American Beauty's than Tolstoi's on ebay and auction sites.

Is Tolstoi in fact rarer than A. Beauty?


1. Old Mill brown
2. Lenox brown
3. Broad Leaf 460
4. Drum
5. Uzit
6. Hindu red
7. Lenox black
8. Broad Leaf 350
9. American Beauty 460
10. Blank -might want to take this one off the list all together
11. Carolina Brights
12. Hindu brown
13. American Beauty 350 no frame
14. Sovereign 460
15. Cycle 460
16. Piedmont 350-460 factory 42
17. Tolstoi
18. Sweet Caporal 350-460 factory 25
19. EPDG
20. American Beauty 350 frame
21. Sovereign 350 apple green -350-460 series cards only (66 cards)
22. Sweet Caporal 350-460 factory 42
23. Cycle 350
24. Old Mill south
25. Sovereign 150
26. Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649 overprint
27. Sweet Caporal 350-460 factory 42 scroll
28. Old Mill
29. Polar Bear
30. Sovereign 350 series forest green
31. Sweet Caporal 150 factory 25
32. Sweet Caporal 350-460 factory 30
33. Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30
34. Piedmont 150 factory 25
35. Piedmont 350-460 factory 25
36. Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25
37. Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30
38. Piedmont 350 factory 25

Depends on the player

It does depend on player but in my experience there are a lot more American Beauty collectors than Tolstoi. So the AB's may just be sitting in collections.

That's a good point, there does seem to be a lot more A. Beauty collectors out there. It's a beautiful back, especially when you get a framed centered one. To me Tolstoi is the ugly stepchild of Piedmont.

But I'm still interested as to what made Tolstoi rank higher on the list than A. Beauty. What's the reasoning?

American Beauties are sure priced and sold at prices I think are at a minimum 30-40% higher than Tolstoi's and thats for the AB 350 framed backs. In higher grade i think that pricing disparity is even more pronounced.

Admittedly, it is a strange goal but I'm trying to assemble different backs within a Cardinal team subset. (On a budget) Opportunities to acquire either have been rare. In my very, very small universe...I'd rank American Beauty as more difficult.

AB at 30-40% over Tolstoi sounds right to me - AB's don't stay on the BST shelf long. What standard premium would you apply to Tolstoi's (commons) over common Pieds or SC's?