Possible newly discovered T205 variation

[marcdelpercio]

I believe that I may have discovered a T205 variation that I have not previously seen discussed. On the back of some Doc White cards, the first "Doc" is in quotation marks. On other cards, it is not.

To this point, I have been able to find this card with four backs...Piedmont, Hassan, Honest and Polar Bear. On both of the Polar Bear backs that I own, the Doc is clearly NOT in quotation marks. I don't feel that this is simply due to light ink registration or anything like that as the ink is very dark on the rest of the text and the "Doc" four lines from the bottom is clearly in quotation marks. On the Piedmont, Hassan, and Honest cards I have seen, the first "Doc" is clearly in quotation marks.

Even if it turns out that only Polar Bear backs feature this variation, I do still feel that it is a legitimate variation just as some of the other widely accepted print variations (Wilhelm "suffered", Hoblitzel, etc) appear with only one back as well. I will post scans of a Polar Bear and an Honest backed card. I apologize for the slightly blurry scan on the Polar Bear card. I have yet to figure out how to get a completely clear scan on an SGC holdered card. It should be clear enough however to distinctively see the difference in the cards. I would appreciate any other feedback/scans from others who own this card, especially any rarer backs.

[Matt]

Marc - I'd like to see a clearer scan for confirmation, but if it is confirmed, it is every bit the variation that the others are. Nice find! I hope you stockpiled the PB backs before you went public

[marcdelpercio]

I have tried every possible setting on my scanner to get a clear scan through the SGC slab but it always seems to come out blurry. Any tips would certainly be appreciated. I have been researching this for several months and have picked up a few of both of the variations but the Polar Bears seem to be fairly uncommon.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by marcdelpercio

I have tried every possible setting on my scanner to get a clear scan through the SGC slab but it always seems to come out blurry. Any tips would certainly be appreciated.

My guess is that you have a CIS scanner which can't do depth well. If you can pickup a scanner with CCD technology which handles things not directly up on the glass.

Originally Posted by marcdelpercio

I have been researching this for several months and have picked up a few of both of the variations but the Polar Bears seem to be fairly uncommon.

A quick search shows at least 3 PB backed Doc Whites sold in the last few months on eBay, including an SGC 70, but none available at the moment

[marcdelpercio]

I bought an SGC 50 and an SGC 30 on eBay over the past few months. I don't recall seeing the 70. Perhaps somebody got a steal and didn't even realize it I also posted on the BST and never got a reply.

[Wite3]

This variation has been known for awhile by a few collectors and was never really outed until now. I have charted it for about 9 months...It only occurs on the Polar Bear cards. I have seen 13 Doc Whites in the last 9 months. 4 with Polar Bear backs all of which were missing the quotes...9 with other backs that had the quotes. Small sample size but interesting. I do not think this will command a huge premium but maybe a slight premium like the Latham cards. I have to say that I have seen more Polar Bear Whites (29) than the other three backs (Piedmont 22, Hassan 649 17, Hassan 30 11, and Honest Long Cut 13) in the last few years.

I am happy this was on a Doc White and not Kirb...then we may be looking at a Wilhelm/Gray/Moran situation.

Joshua