[Archive]

Posted By: TBob

The Napoleon backs are somewhat of a puzzle to me. Although it has long been conceded that they are found only on the common cards, they are much, much tougher than the Recruit backs which are normally found on commons. In fact, I see fewer Napoleon backs than I do Red Cycle, Broadleaf and Anonymous backs. If you are strictly a back collector, Napoleons may be a heck of a deal when you can find them. The Red Cycle, Broadleaf and Anonymous (more on them later) can only be found on the tougher cards, never on the commons, thus their scarcity because the tougher cards are just that tough!
Now on to the most confusing and often erroneous subject- the Anonymous backs. They were once thought to be the toughest of the Big 3 backs but I find that they (Red Cycle, Broadleaf and Anonymous) are all about equally tough. I won't even get in to the subject of Red Cross backs of which only 5 are known to exist. Here is the thing about Anonymous backs- you need to be careful in distinguishing between Anonymous Factory No. 3 from Louisiana and Factory No. 25 from Virginia. It is still thought by some that the Factory 3 cards are in fact Coupon cards, although no one will ever know for sure. The Factory No. 3 cards can THEORETICALLY be found on the back of every single card in the T207 set. Thus if you have a card with an Anonymous No. 3 back you can NOT assume it is a rare card. On the other hand, if you have a Factory No. 25 card, you can. They are found ONLY on the rare cards, just like Red Cycles and Broadleafs.
Clear as mud?