The other T207 backs

[frohme]

Been on the board off and on since about 2006 - my post count is pretty low for the time I've been here. I think this may be the very first post I've started (outside a couple B/S/T posts). Those of you that know me know there's only one thing it could be about... That said, this was intended to be a follow-up post to the T207 basic backs and general info post, but this one was more interesting.


The T207 set has been collected and discussed well enough that information about the front/back relationships has been established for quite a while. In its shortest form, it goes .. there are two main classes: those that can be found with Recruit (150) and those that can be found with Broadleaf (50). The other backs fall in one class or the other. That's it.

Like its more well-studied siblings T206 and T205, though, there are pockets of mystique (or at least mystery) about a few of those "other" backs and their general populations.

• The Red Cross back has been the odd man out for a long time. Until the recent Louisiana find containing 8 new examples, only a handful were known. Trae R's very recent find of Fournier brought the known player total to 14 (15 cards) all of which are Broadleaf-class cards. How many more will show up? Will all 50 Broadleaf class cards be found?
   
• Blank-backed T207's have been known for a while, with a large group having been brought (back?) into the hobby in the not-so-distant past. Until recently (2015/2016), only Recruit-class cards had been found with a blank back. In 2015 a Broadleaf-class card was found with a blank back. Two more were found earlier this year - the count now stands at 3 (Fournier, Sweeney, Ragan). How many are known? How tough are they really, compared to T205 or T206?
   
• The Anonymous (Factory 3, LA) back has always been somewhat misunderstood as it the only back that can be found on the 50 Broadleaf class cards as well as 50 of the Recruit-class cards. The 50th Recruit with the anonymous back has only recently come to light with the auctioning of Rube Ellis in November, 2024. Prior to that, 49 were sold as part of a larger lot in Heritage's Oct 2012 auction. This back is exceedingly difficult for the Recruit-class - harder even than the Broadleaf-class. Sample sizes are tiny - some cards having only 1 or 2 known copies at this point.
   
• That brings us to the red-headed step-child of the set, the Napoleon back. A Recruit-class only back, the potential fronts total 150 (155 with the known-variations). Based on Net54 surveys revisited only occasionally over the last few (10?) years, it is not clear today that all expected front/back combos exist with the Napoleon back. Given the rarity of Napoleons in general w.r.t. Recruit and the overall apparent lack of interest, its not really a surprise. Readers should not imply that the unconfirmed ones are any more rare or unusual than any other Napoleons - most T207 collectors believe its just a matter of time before these all show up (i.e. once someone notices).

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If you have any of these backs and want to show 'em, don't hesitate. If you have more details, general info, questions, comments or feedback, by all means, pile-on. I'll follow up with a Napoleon confirmation thread to see if we can knock out the ones that remain uncatalogued (at least as far as I know).

As I've said many time previously, I'm indebted to the publications of those that have gone before - notably the VCBC articles of board members Bob M and Tim N. My interest would not have been piqued without their effort as inspiration.

Thanks for reading!
--
Mike