How rare is the "Ty Cobb Back" card relative to other rare backed Cobbs?

[Archive]

Posted By: Richard

If I am a Ty Cobb collector and wanted to collect the rarest Red Portrait Ty Cobb cards, where would the "Ty Cobb Back" rank considering just T206 backs? Ignore T213, T214 and T215 for now.

The total pop of Cobb with Cobb back is currently 12. Certainly the Brown Lenox and Drum Red Portrait Cobbs are rarer. What about the other backs? Broadleaf, Uzit, Red Hindu, etc?

[Archive]

Posted By: Wesley

With twelve or thirteen known Cobb w/ Cobb backs out there, it is safe to say there are fewer examples of each and every one of the T206 Cobbs with the rare backs that you have listed above than the "rare" Cobb w/ Cobb back.

Of course, it is impossible to know how many of each of these exist, since many collectors are so private about the contents of their collections. Also, since many collectors do not believe in grading, the graded population reports may not be an accurate reflection of the scarcity of these cards.

According to the thread about the recent brown Lenox discovery, there are only two brown Lenox backs known. I have heard of only two Broadleaf 460s. My guess is one of these two backs are the hardest ones to find.

I would be very interested to hear the thoughts of other Ty Cobb or T206 or rare back collectors.

[Archive]

Posted By: JimB

I think the question is a bit misleading. For people who want an example of every brand associated with the T206 set, the Ty Cobb brand is probably 20 times tougher than any other brand. And it has Cobb on it! Sure, there are rarer Cobbs, as you mentioned, but this has always been the premier Ty Cobb card in the hobby, whether or not one considers it to be a T206 or T206-1.

JimB

Edited to add: Richard, Sorry. I read and responded too quickly.

[Archive]

Posted By: Wesley

Richard is asking a different question than the one asked in the other threads. We already know there is debate as to whether the Ty Cobb back should be a part of the T206 set. I think Richard is asking for known populations or estimated populations for the rare Ty Cobb cards.


Cobb back (13 known)
BL 460 (2 known)
Lenox brown (2 known)
Drum (?)
Red Hindu (?)
Uzit (?)

[Archive]

Posted By: NYHighlanderFan

Who officially made this back part of the t206 set anyhow? Was Ty Cobb tobacco part of the ATC? Was it around before the deregulation?

[Archive]

Posted By: JimB

Jefferson Burdick, who coined the classificatory term "T206" in his American Card Catalog included the Ty Cobb back as one of the T206 backs. Burdick used the T206 label for all white border baseball subjects printed from 1909-1911 with the advertising backs of the sixteen ATC brands listed in the catalog. Recent evidence seems to indicate that the Ty Cobb brand was some sort of a limited test brand of the ATC in 1910. Articles published in 1910 describe the launch of the Ty Cobb brand. There has been a very interesting thread on this topic recently. Maybe someone can post the link. The other potential inclusion that Burdick missed is the Coupon type 1s.
Jimb

[Archive]

Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

I just popped to the top the recent Ty Cobb thread you referred to.

TED Z

[Archive]

Posted By: Eric B

Burdick also listed Hustler as one of the T206 backs.

[Archive]

Posted By: leon

In the last version of the ACC Burdick didn't list Ty Cobb back or Hustler back, as T206. He might have in previous editions, as I don't have them to check, but they didn't end up being included. HOWEVER, one of his colleagues and best friends, Walt Corson, did classify them as T206. I still don't think T213-1 or T206 Cobby back is T206.....but that's just me....

[Archive]

Posted By: Scott Levy

Wesley,

I know of 2 legitimate T206 Cobb Red Portrait DRUM and 2 rebacked (fakes). There may well be more of them out there.

Regards,
Scott