Posted By:
Frank WakefieldBill Cornell has put it out there for you...
Mr. Lipset's Encyclopedia refers to those little numbers, often overlooked. He says that 12 through 15 are the numbers that are most difficult. 52 cards, 47 have numbers from 2 to 9 and then 12 to 15. A guess of mine is that the 5 without numbers would be '1's if they had had numbers.
All of those 15's are tough to locate. I bid on that Lelivelt, and was left in the dust. I'd like to own a T222 Lelivelt one day.
I spoke with a fellow once who collected them as a kid. He said he had about 300 of them, many duplicates, but never could finish the set. He thought the set was 100 cards, as mentioned on the back. He said his mom threw them away when he went to college. I'd guess that was in the very late 20s, I think he graduated in the early 30s. When I spoke with him he was elderly, retired in southern Alabama. I didn't have the heart to tell him that there were only 52 different, and that he may well have had a set.
They are great images. Given the passage of time, those "pictures" will fade. Light accelerates that. If you get some T222s, don't leave them laying around in sunlight. And when you have a choice about buying one over another, I'd lean toward a darker better image as opposed to a slightly higher numerical grade.
Just 'cause they're difficult isn't a reason to collect a few. Finishing T206 isn't actually easy, but some of us still chase them.
Good luck with it. A really neat set of cards.
Frank.