T205 American Beauty Back Question

[bbeck]

Is there anything unusual about a green American Beauty back (factory 42-4th District North Carolina) on a t205 or is that just a basic American Beauty back? All other American Beauties I see on ebay have a darker back. Any input appreciated.

They are either Black or Green and both come from the same factory. Neither command a premium over each other but since this is an area I love I will tell you I am willing to pay a bit more for the greens. So far all the AB's I have found are the same back color for the player. There also seems that the AB's are the only T205 back without an "error or variation."

[bbeck]

Appreciate the input-I have a Marquard with the green back

[tedzan]

From my experience in collecting T205's, the American Beauty (AB) backs are quite tough. Surveys indicate that no more than 2% of the T205
population is found with the AB back.

That places the AB cards a little scarcer than the T205 Cycle cards (3% of pop.). But certainly not as scarce as the Broad Leaf (0.3% of pop.).


TED Z

[Zach Wheat]

I agree with the above...and would further add that it seems that Hindu backs are the rarest with Drum backs not far behind. Both seem to be more difficult to find than Broadleaf - at least in my experience. However, I am not a back collector so i end up with a lot of Piedmont & Sweet Cap backs.

MWheat

[Ease]

Originally Posted by Pup6913

So far all the AB's I have found are the same back color for the player.

Good stuff. I too have yet to see the same player with both a green and black AB back. Would love to know if anyone else has.

[nebboy]

This brings up a good question. With all the great work in that past on T206 combos. Is there a survey/checklist for T205 confirmed list of player/back combination for the harder to find backs. Did Burdick or anyone ever put together research for T205s. Ive done quite a bit of searching but have not found any. Any help?

Drum
Hindu
Broad Leaf (both)
Piedmount 42
Am Beatuty (both)

[Leon]

Originally Posted by nebboy

This brings up a good question. With all the great work in that past on T206 combos. Is there a survey/checklist for T205 confirmed list of player/back combination for the harder to find backs. Did Burdick or anyone ever put together research for T205s. Ive done quite a bit of searching but have not found any. Any help?

Drum
Hindu
Broad Leaf (both)
Piedmount 42
Am Beatuty (both)

We have had this discussion several times and I still put Hindu as the rarest T205 back, then Drum. Drums will probably always have more value because of the status they have with T206. Just my opinion on that...


As for Burdick.... I can help out a little bit. I plan on doing a major, in depth article some time in the future concerning the whole ACC and cataloging of cards but for now here is a very first page of the Tobacco Cards from the 1939 "The US Card Collectors Catalog" by Burdick and the last version he did in 1967, called "The American Card Catalog"...(note no T205 (520) Hindu, ever, but a Drum did pop up ). Hope this helps.....much appreciated.....

[Wite3]

It always amazes me when I get three emails in one day about t205s and need for my "guidance" on the board...not my words!!

I will answer a few questions for you...I think Ted is using old formula for T205s that I put together a few years back and it is still pretty close to the truth.

First, American Beauty backs come with a Brownish/Blackish color and a Green color. Neither seems rarer. I have confirmed 3 more subjects with the Black back than the green back but I suspect that it is a fairly even distribution. NO players are confirmed as being featured on both color backs.

With a few Drum finds in the recent years, I do have to say that Hindu is now rarer. I have confirmed roughly that there are close to twice as many confirmed Drum subjects currently in the hobby...now the weird part...I have seen three different Hindu cards of the same player. Until very recently, I has never seen a duplicate Drum back. I have a feeling that the Hindus might have had a higher print run but less are out there currently but who really knows? Not I.

I do have a fairly extensive checklist of front/back combos and I know I have been promising collectors (Ted, Matt, Mac, Lyman, Geno, etc.) for awhile that I will publish it "soon" but just have not had the time like I used to. Although, this summer I am off of work for the first time in nearly 10 years so maybe I will get to it.

Hope this helps.

Joshua Levine