How Many Signed T206 Cards Exist?

[T206Collector]

A Net54 member recently asked me to estimate how many different signed T206 poses have been signed by their subjects and are currently in existence in someone's collection.

I own 39 different poses, if you count Mrs. Blanche McGraw and Mrs. Jane Mathewson on their husbands' respective cards, 37 otherwise:

HOF
1. Clarke (Batting)
2. Crawford (Batting)
3. Crawford (Throwing)
4. Flick
5. Johnson (Pitching)
6. Marquard (Portrait)
7. Marquard (Hands at Sides)
8. Marquard (Throwing)
9. Wheat
10. Young (Portrait)

FRONT SIGNED COMMONS
11. Barbeau
12. Carrigan
13. Doyle (Batting)
14. Doyle (Portrait)
15. Doyle (Throwing)
16. Jones (Davy)
17. Leach (Bending)
18. Leach (Portrait)
19. Leifield (Batting)
20. Leifield (Pitching)
21. McBride
22. Myers (Catching)
23. Meyers (Portrait)
24. Parent
25. Snodgrass (Batting)
26. Snodgrass (Catching)
27. Warhop

BACK SIGNED COMMONS
28. Blackburne
29. Bridwell (Portrait Cap)
30. Bridwell (Portrait No Cap)
31. Fiene (Portrait)
32. Fiene (Throwing)
33. Hoblitzell
34. Knabe
35. Livingston
36. Myers (Batting) [Signed Front & Back]
37. Rucker (Portrait)

In addition to these, I have seen scans of the following seven (7) additional poses from Jeff Morey's collection:

38. Bush
39. Cravath
40. Lajoie (Batting)
41. Lobert
42. Zimmerman
43. Wiltse (Portrait No Cap)
44. Rucker (Throwing)
45. Cobb (Green Portrait)

And I have seen credible proof of the following 10 additional poses:

46. Cobb (Bat On)
47. Cicotte
48. Clarke (Portrait)
49. Walsh
50. Phillippe
51. Chance
52. Speaker
53. Bresnahan (Batting)

So that's at least 53 different T206s signed by their subjects. I have heard claims about Stanage, Moriarty, and Schmidt signed poses from a Net54 collector, but I have never seen a scan so it is hard for me to credit the representation.

Other respected collectors own T206s that they believe were signed by McGraw, Jennings, and Bender -- but none of these have been authenticated by JSA or PSA/DNA or another respected third-party authenticator.

Renowned autograph dealer Phil Marks says that a bunch of signed T206 Bresnahans exist in private collections, but I have only seen the one batting pose on my website. I have never seen another, or the portrait pose.

Also, Shaw and Pattee lived into the 1970s -- in fact Shaw was the 3rd-to-last T206er to pass away, survived only by Livingston and Marquard -- and should thus be reasonably possible. But, I've never seen a scan of either.

So, I would guess conservatively that maybe 60 or so exist in total. I could buy into a more aggressive theory that maybe as many as 70 exist. But, I would bet the under on 75. Since the advent of scanned online auction images in the major auction houses over a decade ago there have been no other sightings than those listed here.

Still, it is exciting to imagine what could be out there lurking in private collections. One famed collector of T206 cards once sent me an email to tell me that he owned about 25. But, he never responded to my follow-up email about which ones he had. If only all collectors of signed T206 cards would post scans of their treasures, the world would be a better place for us all.

Please post here or email/message me if you know of any other signed T206 poses out there that I have missed out on seeing.

And, as always, post any signed T206 cards that you'd like to share here. I'll post my most recent acquisition:

[Danny Smith]

I have one, a front and back signed Davy Jones.

[insccollectibles]

Here are a couple of mine.

[t206hound]

I posted these in a separate thread about a month ago when I visited the Elliott Museum in Stuart Florida. All were displayed raw and probably haven't been authenticated. I cannot attest to their authenticity, but they are displayed in the museum's baseball gallery:ImageUploadedByTapatalk1376436242.824107.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1376436255.540422.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1376436267.503619.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1376436334.541722.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1376436351.211412.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1376436364.012736.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1376436380.024338.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1376436393.246308.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1376436406.242670.jpg

[Bpm0014]

My one and only (just sold the strip card yesterday....)

[Cardboard Junkie]

I don't have any, (never collected autos) but if I could pick the green Cobb might be the one.......that is if no wajo portrait signed exists. Dave.

[vintagecpa]

I suspect with the premium they sell for, we will be seeing more of them. I would be more curious how many submissions get rejected by JSA.

[T206Collector]

I hope we do see more of them. Thanks again to Erick for sharing his photos of his Elliott Museum trip. Could all of those be real? Wow.

I have had JSA reject a few over the years that I thought were good, including a Bender, and a Cicotte, which just about broke my heart. But most of my collection comes from two sources, the Pittsburgh Find of 2007, and Jeff Morey's collection. Morey's were all certified good, of course, and the Pittsburgh Find was also more or less all good, except for a secretarial Covoleski.

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by Bpm0014

My one and only (just sold the strip card yesterday....)

Nice Doyle's Brendan! Do you mind me asking where you acquired those? Larry Doyle is a distant relative of mine. I wasn't sure if he ever did many signings but I have seen a few signed index cards and maybe one other T-206. But I don't really follow auto's too closely so there may be quite a few of his out there. Anyway ... thanks for posting those!

PS: Too bad Doyle has never been elected to the HOF. He put up some good numbers!

[packs]

The only one I have left:

[milkit1]

FINALLY someone posted pics from that museum, thanks eric!
Isnt it weird though that they just have hofers?

[t206hound]

Originally Posted by milkit1

FINALLY someone posted pics from that museum, thanks eric!
Isnt it weird though that they just have hofers?

There were some commons as well. Don't know if I missed some either a my kids were bugging me to move to the next exhibit.

[bender07]

Originally Posted by obcbeatle

Nice Doyle's Brendan! Do you mind me asking where you acquired those? Larry Doyle is a distant relative of mine. I wasn't sure if he ever did many signings but I have seen a few signed index cards and maybe one other T-206. But I don't really follow auto's too closely so there may be quite a few of his out there. Anyway ... thanks for posting those!

PS: Too bad Doyle has never been elected to the HOF. He put up some good numbers!

Cool that you're related to him, he was a great player. His autograph is plentiful on an index card.

[T206Collector]

I am a huge Larry Doyle fan. He was one of the best players of that era, and one of the most prolific signers of T206 cards.

[Bpm0014]

Thanks Jerry! The t206 signed Doyle I acquired earlier this year. By far my favorite T206 card! The other signed Doyle, the strip card, I just acquired last week as part of a trade for a Honus Wagner signed check I had. Although I think it is really neat, it just doesn't fit into my collection and I just got rid of it yesterday. That's awesome that you are a distant relative!

[willworkforT206]

I personally don’t own any, but I remember seeing a signed Cobb (Bat On) at a Chicago area card show in the late ‘80s. I was pretty young at the time and remember being blown away by the sight of a Cobby autograph on a T206. The card was in pretty rough shape, heavily damaged with a large chunk missing from one of the upper corners (top left if I remember correctly). Cobb’s standard green ballpoint pen signature ran across the front at an upward angle.

Not sure if this is the same signed Cobb (Bat On) you already know exists, but thought I’d mention it just in case you don't already know about it.


I would love to see that card again.

Steve

[T206Collector]

Thanks. There are a few signed T206s of Ty Cobb featured on my website in the "Signed T206 Wantlist" section. I separate the scans of signed T206s on my site between cards I own, and cards I want. Sadly, all of the Cobbs I have seen are in the "want" column and not the "own" column....

[Bpm0014]

T206 collector... You have, what I think, is the most impressive collection on this board (along with Ed's "Howe McCormick" stamped collection and the other member (?) that collects the extreme T206 freaks). Anyone with money can go out and buy expensive cards such as a Drum, or Lenox, or Old Mill Brown, or even a Plank or Wagner. But to narrow it down to something so unique, as you guys do, is truly somethng special. I absolutely never get tired of seeing yours and Ed's and the other member who collects the T206 freaks (?), cards. Thanks for always showing them!

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by Bpm0014

T206 collector... You have, what I think, is the most impressive collection on this board (along with Ed's "Howe McCormick" stamped collection and the other member (?) that collects the extreme T206 freaks). Anyone with money can go out and buy expensive cards such as a Drum, or Lenox, or Old Mill Brown, or even a Plank or Wagner. But to narrow it down to something so unique, as you guys do, is truly somethng special. I absolutely never get tired of seeing yours and Ed's and the other member who collects the T206 freaks (?), cards. Thanks for always showing them!

Thanks so much for the nice comments. I definitely feel a kinship with Ed and his "Howe McCormick" collection, and I am proud to say that I have contributed Howe-stamped T206 cards that I have found to it. My understanding is that many Net54'ers have Howe-stamped cards in their collection that they would willingly trade to Ed if he had a substitute card. In some cases we're talking about a rare Hindu back, so there is some difficulty; but, frankly, I do not really understand why most who have one of those cards doesn't just ship them to Ed for a nominal return. Consider it collecting karma. In most collections, the stamp reduces the card's intrinsic value anyway.

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by Bpm0014

T206 collector... You have, what I think, is the most impressive collection on this board (along with Ed's "Howe McCormick" stamped collection and the other member (?) that collects the extreme T206 freaks). Anyone with money can go out and buy expensive cards such as a Drum, or Lenox, or Old Mill Brown, or even a Plank or Wagner. But to narrow it down to something so unique, as you guys do, is truly somethng special. I absolutely never get tired of seeing yours and Ed's and the other member who collects the T206 freaks (?), cards. Thanks for always showing them!

Agree 100%. It is great that those who own such diverse collections make photo's available and share info because it opens up some new areas of interest (I think) to many collectors (to think out of the box so to speak). For example ... until recently I didn't know that Larry Doyle signed any of his tobacco (or candy?) cards. Plus Net54 introduced me to the hobby of original photographs. Prior to that I was in the mainstream of collecting 50's/60's Topps/Bowmans and occasionally T-206's/T-205's. Net54 has opened my eyes to many new areas of collecting. There are so may other different types of baseball memorabilia out there that have piqued my interest recently after reading these forums. So now I feel like maybe I can diversify my collection into something more interesting over the long term. And the Deadball Era has always been one of my favorites!

[Bpm0014]

I've sent 3 to Ed myself I believe. In all instances telling Ed to send me something similar whenever he had a chacne to. Was indeed a good feeling helping him out. Karma. haha

[Bpm0014]

Jerry, I beleive (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that Larry Doyle and Rube Marquard were the 2 most prolific signers of T206 cards....

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by Bpm0014

Jerry, I beleive (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that Larry Doyle and Rube Marquard were the 2 most prolific signers of T206 cards....

I think that's right. Second easiest tier would probably be Snodgrass, Livingston, McBride, and Leifield.

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by T206Collector

I think that's right. Second easiest tier would probably be Snodgrass, Livingston, McBride, and Leifield.

That's very cool. Larry Doyle was my great-great Uncle. So a very distant relative :-) My Mom and Dad went to Cooperstown in 1999 to research Doyle. They were in the midst of doing other family genealogy and they sent me a packet of Doyle's info and photo's from the HOF Museum. That is when I became interested in Larry. But I just never seem to have the time to research his career and memorabilia further. I do have a few of his T cards. Anyway ... now I know that he and some of his teammates were signers of their T-206 cards!