T206 back scarcity question
 

Hi all. I've been an active collector since I was a tot back in the early '70s, but I've only picked up the prewar habit over the past several years.

I've found some great resources here and elsewhere regarding T206 back scarcity, but I had one lingering question.

I see that most resources rate the Sovereign 460s as relatively scarce, harder to find than variants such as brown Hindu, Cycle, Tolstoi, EPDG, and American Beauty. However, based on my limited observations and a scan of price histories, it appears that these sell routinely for less than many of the other more "common" backs listed above.

So are the Sovereign 460s indeed scarce, and their value just hindered by the fact that they are simply variations of a relatively common back, and thus less interesting aesthetically, or is there something else in play here?

Thanks in advance for indulging a noob's curiosity...

Sovereign 460's aren't all that scarce or desirable especially for commons. I think the issue is twofold like you mentioned. 1. Sovereign themselves are relatively common backs and thus this limits the appeal of 460's. 2. The recent "discovery" of apple green backs drew appeal away from other Sovereign subsets. Sovereign is just not a desirable enough set to drive much of a premium from collectors.

Just give it time. With T-206 you are best to quietly collect what is not hot at the time because just like fashion, it will come back around and all of the sudden a spin will be brought up that makes Sov460 the next hot item. T-206 in general is not scarce and most backs are not scarce, even the "scarcer" ones. Buy them cheap now and then stir up some hype later.

Nicely put....I was about to say the same thing. I know a few people who collect Sovereigns with a couple who did it exclusively. I personally find them appealing.

I believe your thought about sov460 prices being dragged down a bit since sovs as a whole are relatively common. That said I also believe they are far from scarce.

I'm attempting to build my monster such that the number of each back in my 520 roughly mimics the percentage of the actual backs in existence.

With very limited effort and no original research (borrowed some numbers from Scot Readers inside t206 and Bill Browns superset spreadsheet- thanks for all your effort guys !), I arrived at the following number of each back as my goal for my 520:

sov150 (8-11)
sov350 (19-22)
sov460 (4-6)
pb (26)
epdg (5-8)
tolstoi (6-8)
cyc350 (5-6)
cyc460 (1-3)
ab350 nf (1-4)
ab350 wf (3-11)
ab460 (1-4)
hindu brown (3-7)

Tony

Tony, you left out the numbers for Piedmont and Sweet Caporal. :confused:

Hi Sean,

I only included those backs the OP mentioned.

Anyway, here is my entire list:


back (target number of each back per 524)
p150 (54-62)
p350-460 25 (24-27)
p350 (153-168)
p350-460 42 (1-2)
sc350-460 42 (3)
sc150 25 (7-8)
sc350-460 30 (9-10)
sc150 30 (25)
sc350 25 (11-16)
sc350 30 (61-65)
sc150 649 op (6-9)
sc350-460 25 (2-3)
sc350-460 42 op (6-10)
sov150 (8-11)
sov350 (19-22)
sov460 (4-6)
pb (26)
om (9)
om sl (15-24)
epdg (5-8)
tolstoi (6-8)
cyc350 (5-6)
cyc460 (1-3)
ab350 nf (1-4)
ab350 wf (3-11)
ab460 (1-4)
hindu brown (3-7)
cb (1-3)
bl350 (1-2)
hindu red (1)
lenox black (1)
drum (1)
uzit (1)
lenox brown (1)
bl460 (1)


Tony

Thanks Tony, I get it now. :)

In my opinion, Sov. 460's are overrated as far as scarcity goes. I actually think Sov. 150's are tougher, at least they have been for me....