T206 Blue Old Mill

[atx840]

Maybe faded or chemical, ABs have turned blue.

[barrysloate]

Chris- are you saying a chemical could be applied to change the color of the ink?

[atx840]

Chemicals have changed the fronts, certain backs likely could, not sure about black though.

[canjond]

Back...

[felada]

Black/ brown can degrade to blue however it depends on the composition of the ink

[Blunder19]

how fast will that hit an auction house... lol... I say 30 days

[z28jd]

Unless these pictures aren't doing the blue justice, I would think there could be plenty of these out there and no one ever noticed. If no one mentioned this was a blue back and just posted the scan, I don't think anyone would've known. Hopefully it looks more blue in person, otherwise it just looks like a variation in color that you see with almost every back. You could make a paint chart out of the different shades of blue you see with piedmonts

[Wite3]

Is there paper loss on the back? Because Old Mill backs do not have a break in the line under "Cigarettes"...if there is paper loss, I would understand...if not, then I am not sure what is going on with this card. Maybe a scrap and they fixed the line?

Joshua

[jimross]

In fact, this OM blue variation "find" is not surprising at all, there are brown Tolstoi backs out there also. I know one collector on this board has at least one specimen of it. I can guarantee if that card ever get graded it won't be in a PSA holder since he doesn't get along with them.

It is just a matter of time for him to speak up.

[bbcard1]

What's that? The sound of 1000 advanced back collectors all saying,"Damn" at exactly the same time...

[vintagetoppsguy]

The borders look too wide. Hand cut printer's scrap?

[CobbSpikedMe]

Absolutely amazing. And Ed Walsh no less. I can't believe we've never seen one before. I guess these things happen at the National huh?

[ValKehl]

I am always dubious whenever I see a card whose corners appear to be so evenly and badly rounded, especially when the remainder of the card shows relatively less wear.
Val

[teetwoohsix]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

I am always dubious whenever I see a card whose corners appear to be so evenly and badly rounded, especially when the remainder of the card shows relatively less wear.
Val

This is another thing that has me on the fence about this card.

A friend and fellow board member who also attended the National and looked at the card and said it looks real. It's hard for me to have so many knowledgeable collectors say it's real and for me to still feel so skeptical

Just wondering- anyone own a PB backed Ed Walsh?

Sincerely, Clayton

[obcmac]

Originally Posted by teetwoohsix

This is another thing that has me on the fence about this card.

A friend and fellow board member who also attended the National and looked at the card and said it looks real. It's hard for me to have so many knowledgeable collectors say it's real and for me to still feel so skeptical

Just wondering- anyone own a PB backed Ed Walsh?

Sincerely, Clayton

If you showed me the front, without the back...I would have said...probably not real...but a good fake. A blue old mill back doesn't help the cause. I'm still in the skeptic corner.

Mac

[Leon]

Originally Posted by obcmac

If you showed me the front, without the back...I would have said...probably not real...but a good fake. A blue old mill back doesn't help the cause. I'm still in the skeptic corner.

Mac

I have to admit I have a bit of skepticism after seeing the photos of cards beside each other, taking into account what Val said (and I agree about the massive corner rounding and lack of wear otherwise).......I thought it real this whole time but now am not in the 100% camp. I have to think SGC really put it through the ringer but still.....

[Runscott]

Curious how, if fake, they added the factory designation. I would like to see an actual hi-res scan of that area, to compare to a known real example.

[t206blogcom]

There are t206s with slight color variations that occurred after printing. For example, color changes from glue and paste or from exposure to sunlight. Who's to say this card didn't receive exposure to sunlight that faded the black ink? No real way of knowing for sure.

Or who's to say the level of black ink was running low on that particular day of printing? Since we haven't seen other legitimate blue Old Mill backs, this probably wasn't the case. Unless of course the print run was scrapped due to poor quality and a printer took one home for his kid. No real way of knowing for sure.

Perhaps we're all being taken on a ride by a really good scammer who's testing the waters with a new counterfeiting method? Think about it. Out of the blue at the most popular card show of the year, there's a discovery of a new T206 back - one of the most popular types of baseball cards. Discoveries of new T206 errors/variations in the past have brought mega price tags (e.g. Doyle 'error'). The blue Old Mill made headlines on Net54, was passed around to well known collectors and to a respected TPG company to be legitamized. Now folks are saying it would bring not a 4 figure price tag, but a 5 figure price tag. To me, everything seems too convenient and I'll remain a skeptic.

Or perhaps it's a once in a lifetime find and I don't know left from right.