What's the toughest back in the hobby?

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Leon

Are you talking about only W502s?
If not, I will go with D355.....I have seen either 1 or 2 (I think it was the same one)
.

Leon, was that the one missing from your original type collection?

[BobC]

Helmar backed S74-1 white version silks.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by toppcat

Leon, was that the one missing from your original type collection?

Yes.

And DJ, now that you mention it, I remember those D355s. Still very rare at under 5 known...


These are both low pops...

[Al C.risafulli]

. (sorry, posted in wrong thread)

Years ago, I was doing a front/back census on the W502 set and it's amazing how many intricacies there are to it. The "Three Bagger" and "Home Run" backs are deceptively rare. Over the course of a few years I polled Net54 and watched auctions and eBay to try and catalog all the different combinations there were, just to get a feel for relative scarcity.

Ultimately, I think Arthur has a good point about those two backs. We can talk about things like 1921 Herpolsheimer and other E121-related backs, the toughest T206 backs or 19th Century type cards, but when it came to those three bagger and home run backs, there were literally only a handful of examples with either back, after years of watching. About 50% of the W502s out there have blank backs, and a substantial number of the rest were single and double backs, printed with different orientations and messages. But there were only a handful of cards with the triple and home run backs. I'm not talking about a handful of cards with that possible front/back combination, I'm talking about a handful of CARDS, in the entire universe of cards I swept up in my census.

Sadly the whole census got wiped in a hard drive crash, but if I recall, there were single digits of cards with either back. That's pretty tough, relatively speaking.

-Al

[spec]

Originally Posted by Al C.risafulli

. (sorry, posted in wrong thread)

Years ago, I was doing a front/back census on the W502 set and it's amazing how many intricacies there are to it. The "Three Bagger" and "Home Run" backs are deceptively rare. Over the course of a few years I polled Net54 and watched auctions and eBay to try and catalog all the different combinations there were, just to get a feel for relative scarcity.

Ultimately, I think Arthur has a good point about those two backs. We can talk about things like 1921 Herpolsheimer and other E121-related backs, the toughest T206 backs or 19th Century type cards, but when it came to those three bagger and home run backs, there were literally only a handful of examples with either back, after years of watching. About 50% of the W502s out there have blank backs, and a substantial number of the rest were single and double backs, printed with different orientations and messages. But there were only a handful of cards with the triple and home run backs. I'm not talking about a handful of cards with that possible front/back combination, I'm talking about a handful of CARDS, in the entire universe of cards I swept up in my census.

Sadly the whole census got wiped in a hard drive crash, but if I recall, there were single digits of cards with either back. That's pretty tough, relatively speaking.

-Al

Al,
I went through my set, which is an amalgamation of York caramels, Harrington ice cream and W502s, and found only three extra base hit backs. One home run (Rousch), one three bagger (Sam Jones) and one two bagger (Waite Hoyt). The home run and two bagger state that they are exchangable for baseballs, the three bagger says nothing.

[HasselhoffsCheeseburger]

Originally Posted by spec

Al,
I went through my set, which is an amalgamation of York caramels, Harrington ice cream and W502s, and found only three extra base hit backs. One home run (Rousch), one three bagger (Sam Jones) and one two bagger (Waite Hoyt). The home run and two bagger state that they are exchangable for baseballs, the three bagger says nothing.

The Two Baggers are deceptively difficult, as well. Seems like everything that could be redeemed got redeemed, starting with the Two Baggers.

Arthur

[oldjudge]

Probably Scott Brockelman's

[MMarvelli]

My research from years ago, when I was collecting W502's, has these back options:

Blank Back

ONE BAGGER (faces right)

ONE BAGGER Hold What You Got (faces right)

ONE BAGGER Hold What You Got (faces left)

TWO BAGGER (faces right)***

TWO BAGGER (faces left)

2 TWO BAGGER Return to Storekeeper and Exchange for A Base Ball (faces right)

2 TWO BAGGER Return to Storekeeper and Exchange for A Base Ball (faces left)

THREE BAGGER (faces right)

THREE BAGGER (faces left)

3 THREE BAGGER Return to Storekeeper and Exchange for A Base Ball (faces right)***

3 THREE BAGGER Return to Storekeeper and Exchange for A Sponge Base Ball (faces left)

HOME RUN***

HOME RUN Return to Storekeeper and Exchange for A Base Ball (faces right)

Faces right = Reads Bottom to Top
Faces left = Reads Top to Bottom

*** = still on my want list