I've got a bat on my shoulder and a hole in my head!!

[frankbmd]

Nice card.
The hole is perfectly round, a NM hole, with no irregularities or powder burns.
Tinker's nose is well preserved in NM-MT condition despite its proximity to the hole.
Both the entrance and exit wounds are equally clean.
The exit through the top half of the V only in no way interferes with the legibility of the text on the reverse.
I have considered the possibility of the hole being a distraction to divert my attention from a trimming of the card, but the card measures correctly and the edges and corners do not appear tampered with in any way. I conclude therefore that this must be a rarely seen factory hole.
There appears to be a small insignificant crease/wrinkle or two outside the left shoulder. A 2 point deduction for this defect in my opinion.
Since the owner of this card is a nice guy, helpinghumans, and since he paid for this assessment, I'm going to recommend a grade of 5MC with a suggested retail value of $199.99.

My name is (see below) and I approve of this message.

[Leon]

Nice comments guys. I thought it was interesting myself. Great work Frank, on your analysis and denotation of 5MC.

Val- If it had been a song, and I chuckled at that, it would have been "I have a bat on my shoulder and a hole in my heart, crying in my beer with my horse at my side ."

[HercDriver]

I prefer to call my Hofman the "Full Moon" variation.

Take Care,
Geno

[Bocabirdman]

Annie Oakley, one of the greatest trickshot specialists in history, used to end each show by shooting a cigarette from her husband's mouth. As she slipped into middle age, her vision slipped a bit and she needed a target a tad wider to shoot at. A cigarette card seemed a likely next step. As both the Tinker and the Hoffman examples illustrate, she tended to pull off "high-right but still hit the target. Still, quite remarkable

[JSteele]

Finally, I can contribute something meaningful to a thread! You want holes, I got holes. I'm thinking at Christmas time I'll wire up a red light bulb to Wildfire's card and rename him "Rudolph". The only thing I can say about Castleton is "nice groupings"?

[Bocabirdman]

Originally Posted by JSteele

Finally, I can contribute something meaningful to a thread! You want holes, I got holes. I'm thinking at Christmas time I'll wire up a red light bulb to Wildfire's card and rename him "Rudolph". The only thing I can say about Castleton is "nice groupings"?

Schulte again demonstrates the pull to the upper right quandrant. Castleton is an even later example when Annie needed to switch to a shotgun . Mr Oakley was none too happy.....

[bbcard1]

through the years I have had A LOT of small hole punched T206s...some worse than others...anyone have any idea why people did this? it is frequent enough for me to believe it was not the work of just a couple of people.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by Bocabirdman

Schulte again demonstrates the pull to the upper right quandrant. Castleton is an even later example when Annie need to switch to a shotgun . Mr Oakley was none too happy.....

Neither was Mr. Castleton.

I believe that Mr. Schulte's middle name was Rudy. Sources to the contrary are blatantly false. His lighted nose was mistaken for a "wildfire" one evening by a myopic neighbor and the nickname stuck, (better than the light bulb in his nose). The reindeer story came later.

Rudolph the famous reindeer was actually named after Schulte..............and now you know the rest of the story. PH