What research is needed on the T206 set?

[BicycleSpokes]

Hi Bill,

Since I started collecting t206, there is one aspect I have found especially interesting:

While these cards have been around for over 100 years old, they still seem to have quite wild fluctuations / bubbles, etc. in their relative demand.

I have only been collecting t206 cards for like a total of 3 active years - I started around 2007 or 2008, and then took about a 5-or-so year break after my daughter was born, before becoming relatively active again this past year. Hence I have had sort of a miniture "Rip Van Winkle" experience. Upon my return, I could easily notice a number of fairly dramatic changes that had occured in the hobby. Among these:

1. True auctions were increasingly rare on ebay (replaced by typically overpriced Buy-it-nows)
2. Rare back brands (and some varieties like cycle 460) had exploded further (this has already been documented by Scot Reader's piece in 2012)
3. The Titus-itus bubble

... and perhaps other more recent trends that I may be missing... Again, these are just well-documented things over the past few years...

A question that could be interesting to research / document / quantify (or maybe is already common knowledge with other more seasoned collectors): Are such wild fluctuations in backs / certain common players only a thing that have occured recently, or have there been other wild price fluctuations / bubbles with certain players/cards in the long t206 history?

At least is one aspect I have found fascinating, personally! The collecting of 100 year old cards is certainly more dynamic than I had expected...

Cheers,
David