Looking for a T207 Ferry Anonymous back

[Luke]

Need this card to complete my little back run. Can buy or have a lot of similar cool T207s or T206s to trade.

[frohme]

Hey Luke,

No such beast in T207 - Ferry isn't known with that back. Is with blank back, but not with Anon.

--
Mike

[Luke]

Well, that would mean I'm done. Kind of anticlimactic. I was under the impression that all Recruit series cards were possible with an Anon back. Is this wrong, or would you expect an Anon Ferry to exist out there somewhere (or at least to have been printed)?

[frohme]

Hey Luke,

For some time, the idea that all 150 Recruits are possible with the Anon (Factory 3) back has been falling away. In 2004, based on his survey and analysis as published in VCBC #37,38, Tim Newcomb hypothesized that only 50 Recruit-class cards would be found with that back.

As of today, only 49 have been cataloged:

Boston Amer: Carrigan, Cicotte, Engle, Hageman, Hall, Hooper, Lewis, Nunamaker, Speaker, Thomas, Wagner, Wood
Boston Nat: Gowdy, Kling, McDonald, Perdue, Spratt
Brooklyn Nat: Higgins, Knetzer, Northen, Rucker, Schardt, Tooley
Chicago Amer: Block, Bodie, Collins, Lord, McIntyre, Scott, Sullivan, Zeider
Cinn Nat: Fromme, Mitchell, Smith
Cleveland Amer: Easterly, George
Phila Nat: Graham
Pittsburg Nat: Leach, Leifield, McKechnie
St Louis Amer: Hallinan, Hamilton, Hogan, Stovall, Wallace
St Louis Nat: Steele, Wingo
Washington Amer: Henry, Morgan

Chicago Nat: (none)
Detroit Amer: (none)
New York Nat: (none)
New York Amer: (none)
Phila Amer: (none)

Various theories have been made of which would/might be the 50th... as of yet, none has surfaced. A collection containing all 49 (and all 50 of the Broadleaf-class cards) sold at auction in late 2012.

When looking at which cards might be in or out as candidates for the missing man - for many of the teams, the answer seems startingly clear... the Recruits which show up with the Anon 3 back are printed with the same color and insignia scheme as the Broadleaf class cards - the others (and the ones for which T207 gets its ugly/drab reputation) are not.

Some teams are obvious:

• Boston (both), Pittsburg, Washington have clear color differences
• Some are more subtle ... e.g. Chi-Amer has the Sox logo for most... Clev has the small (black) 'C'...
• Some are just puzzling, and
• Brooklyn really is the odd man out/trend breaker (Rucker, Schardt vs Higgins, Knetzer, Northen, Tooley).

You can look at T207 grouped by team to see some of the above.

Not sure anyone has delved into this before, but there are clear differences between the groups of cards, not only color scheme but quality of both artwork and printing. As if there might nave been either multiple generations (not just print runs) or even multiple lithographers.

--
Mike