T206 Back Scarcity, Pricing, and Other Tidbits

[53toppscollector]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Bottom line Pied fact 42 does not get anything close to the premium it should based on rarity alone. That’s probably bc it’s still a Piedmont and most people don’t care about the factory (or series), especially in Piedmont and sweet cap.

Agree, but here is why that is odd to me. Back collectors are a niche within the T206 set. Most people probably don't care about the backs at all, and that is cool. But if you are putting together back runs, you obviously have researched the various backs, you know what goes into it, you understand scarcity. So it is weird that a very scarce back like Piedmont 42 would be so undervalued, relatively speaking.

I sort of equate back collectors to sharp bettors in Vegas. They look below the surface and have requisite knowledge to parse out the rarity and scarcity numbers. I can understand "the public" breezing right past the P42s because "its just a Piedmont back" but back collectors are savvy and understand the different between a Sweet Cap 350/25 and a 30, and they definitely know the difference between a P42 back and a Piedmont 25 back.

Based on my numbers (which are a few months old), there are 526 total examples of P42 backs spread out among the 73 subjects I have data for. Here is how that stacks up with the rarer backs:

Carolina Brights: 883
Broadleaf 350: 619
P42: 526
Lenox Black: 479
Hindu Red: 322
Uzit: 298
Drum: 249
Broadleaf 460: 101

Would you have guessed there were more BL350s out there than Piedmont Factory 42s?