Turkey Red cabinet (T3) ad backs

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Posted By: Jerry Spillman

As we know Turkey Red cabinets (T3) were issued from May 1, 1910 to June 30, 1911. There are five different backs. Four are checklists the other is the Turkey Red Cigarette ad.

In the current edition of the Old Cardboard magazine there is an image of a 1910 photograph of the storefront of the Dunbar & Company on the editor’s page. This picture was originally part of the Sporting Life Cabinet article but was edited out due to the magazine’s space limitations.

The picture shows a spectacular window display that includes 29 Turkey Red cabinets. My original description and comments of the display were not included with the picture. In my opinion these were advertising back cabinets and that all ad backs were made distinctly for distribution to customers at the point of sale of their product.

Comments?

If you do not have the OC handy go to:

http://www.freewebs.com/jsw600/dunbar.htm

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

Can you tell from the photo that they are all ad backs? Has anyone ever done a population report to see what percentage of the backs are ad versus checklist? What explains the checklist backs that don't have the info at the bottom? That's a fantastic photo. I saw the 1952 Woolworth's photo with all the 52 Topps in it and it was similarly cool.......

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Posted By: Craig

T3 cabinets displaying the 'ad back' are only found on 2nd series cards (77-126). Many of the cards in the photo are 1st series cards (Wiltse, Krause, McGraw, etc, etc) amd therefor would not carry the 'ad-back'.

To be sure, it's a great photo and certainly very interesting. However, it adds nothing to the conversation regarding T3 back variations.

Through the years I have handled and owned over 1000 Turkey Reds. My own research indicates that the 'ad-backs' arrived at the end of the 2nd series. The lack of a checklist and redemption information slowed the requests for cards as the promotion ran it's course. Lastly, to address Tom's question about the 'no-ad' backs from the 1st series, this reasoning also holds true. The 'no-ad' backs were issued at the end of the 1st series and withheld the redemption information in an attempt to decrease the requests for the 1st series cabinets.

I hope that helps. I'm happy to go into more detail for anyone who may have an interest. Happy collecting!

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Posted By: Jerry Spillman

Thanks for your explanation Craig. That method of timely control the T3 demand makes sense.

So it is more likely that Mr. Dunbar acquired the cabinets for a display/collection and not for distribution. He had good taste.

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Posted By: Jeff Prizner

Craig,
Can you go into a little more detail on which backs are the most rare? I've always heard the 'no-info' checklist back is the most rare, but to what degree?

Thanks in advance!

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Posted By: Craig

Hi Jeff,
The most difficult back is easily the 'no-ad' back, found only in the first series (1-50) of baseball players. Each of the boxers (51-76) can also be found with this back variation.

I'm not realy able to accurately quantify the distribution of this back, but it is certainly quite difficult to find. It should be noted, however, that most T3 collectors over the years have paid little attention to the back variations when determining card value or desirability. Most have always been content to build a set consisting of one example of each front. Quite a task in itself.

As I've attempted to piece together a 'master set' over the last several years (complete at 250 cards), I've been able to accumulate 27 different fronts with the 'no-ad' back variation. As a note, I have 3 'no-ad' duplicates available if anyone has any they'd like to swap.

Lastly, I'd say the Turkey Red 'ad-back', found in the second series (77-126) is a bit more difficult that it's checklist back counterpart. Probably not as scarce as some might feel, but certainly in demand by collectors due to it's unique and attractive design.

Hope that helps.