Toughest 20th Century tobacco issue advertising back

[Mikehealer]

With Jim's excellent work on his t206 scarce backs list, I was wondering what
do all of you think is the toughest 20th Century tobacco issue advertising back.

[rman444]

T213 Fans Cigarettes
T208 Cullivan's Fireside
T214 Victory Tobacco
T216 Virginia Extra
T207 Mono
T216 Mino Cigarettes

[ethicsprof]

T231 Fan

best,
barry

[Anthony S.]

Think you meant T231.

[jerseygary]

What about those Pirate backed cards? I was always fascinated by them, in the 2008 REA Auction catalogue it says that supposedly they were issued in packs of tobacco sold to servicemen overseas in the Pacific.

[ethicsprof]

they are mighty tough.
i have the pirate pack but no card!

best,
barry

[Leon]

Even with the internet and thousands of "finds" of, what we used to think were rare cards, this one is still holding it's own...
.

[collectbaseball]

I've always thought the Ty Cobb back was one of the rarest.... but I'm not too familiar with less mainstream type cards

[E93]

Originally Posted by collectbaseball

I've always thought the Ty Cobb back was one of the rarest.... but I'm not too familiar with less mainstream type cards

In raw numbers, it is one of the rarest backs. There are only 14-15 known. That would make it much tougher than Pirates in the sense that there are over 100 Pirates. The difference is that for any given Pirate backed card, there are only 1-3 examples of the front image, whereas all the Cobb backs are red portrait Cobbs. But if we are only looking at backs, the Ty Cobb brand definitely ranks.
JimB

[Leon]

If I had to give a rank of the top 3 rarest 20th century tobacco backs, today, I think there could be an argument for (most rare to least rare)...

1. T231 Fans
2. Ty Cobb back Cobb
3. T216 Virginia Extra

[barrysloate]

Has anyone mentioned the T206 Old Mill with the overprint back?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Has anyone mentioned the T206 Old Mill with the overprint back?

From the recent threads it seems this might be a printing error/issue and not a seperate back. If it is a completely different back it would probably be 1-2....Aren't there only 2 known?

[Frank A]

I would think Plow Boy's should be on that list. Not very easy to find.

[barrysloate]

I figured the Old Mill overprint would not qualify for that technical reason, but wasn't sure.

[Leon]

One last one....with no more than approximately a handful known this would make the list of the top 10....(as a back collector this thread was made for me ) There will be a common in the next REA auction. It will be interesting to see what it goes for.

[drdduet]

Hi Mike,

Good question, given that this is a baseball card board I'm assuming you meant on a baseball card....right?

There are many other rare advertising backs on nonsports cards and other sports cards...

[canjond]

Not technically tobacco but what about JuJu Drums - I feel like these do not come up for sale too often... Likewise AWA and AWH. Again, not tobacco, but 20th century advertising backs nonetheless

[Leon]

Originally Posted by canjond

Not technically tobacco but what about JuJu Drums - I feel like these do not come up for sale too often... Likewise AWA and AWH. Again, not tobacco, but 20th century advertising backs nonetheless

If we go into backs other than tobacco, even for just pre-war baseball, we can find quite a few that are really rare. E286's are rare but I doubt they make the top 20 overall (including the tobacco ones), imo. regards

[teetwoohsix]

Hi Leon-

Just wondering-That Frank Baker T231 is awesome!!When I look up this T231 in Lew's book,it says the only known T231 was of Carson Bigbee.
I know the book is decades old,but am just wondering if there was a "find" of these cards,or have maybe only "a couple" of them popped up in recent years?

BTW,you are very Luckey to have that card

Sincerely,Clayton

[Leon]

Originally Posted by teetwoohsix

Hi Leon-

Just wondering-That Frank Baker T231 is awesome!!When I look up this T231 in Lew's book,it says the only known T231 was of Carson Bigbee.
I know the book is decades old,but am just wondering if there was a "find" of these cards,or have maybe only "a couple" of them popped up in recent years?

BTW,you are very Luckey to have that card

Sincerely,Clayton

I actually got my T231 from Lew several years ago but much after he wrote/published the Encyclopedia. It is the 2nd one known other than a photocopy of the Bigbee. I am also told there is another one in the hobby but have not confirmed it. It is from a reliable source but there is always a small chance he could be mistaking about having it.

[ChiefBenderForever]

That T231 is a sweet card. With any luck a little old lady will find one in a book somewhere, get on Leno, hype it up and auction it off for 100k !

[teetwoohsix]

Thanks Leon-

What's really cool about that Baker T231 is that with the Bigbee only being a photocopy,and the other one not really being confirmed yet,you may have the ONLY one in existance,that is actually confirmed.

The Bigbee may not even still be around..............

At any rate-to have this card,and it being Frank Baker to top it off.....WOW!!!

Sincerely,Clayton

[t213]

a T214