The complexities, nuances, beauty, and sheer magnitude of the American Tobacco Companies revolutionary T206 baseball card series have captivated collectors for nearly a century. It is the seminal issue of the era and a cornerstone to the hobby of card collecting. Assembling the enormous 520-plus card set piecemeal is a task of monumental proportions, requiring considerable resources of time, patience and money. Offered here is the culmination of one such pursuit. Loaded with over 75 Hall of Famers plus the scarce Demmitt and O’Hara variations, the offered near set averages VG/EX-EX in overall appearance.
We have determined that approx. 203 cards in the set have had very small numbers written in pencil on the lower right corners on the card backs that have been erased. In most cases this is almost imperceptible to the naked eye, with only a light impression visible under magnification. Key cards in this category include; Chance (yellow port.), Chase (holding trophy), Chase (white cap), J. Collins, Huggins (hands at mouth), Jennings (one hand), Lajoie (w/ bat), Marquard (port.), Marquard (hands at side), Marquard (pitching), Mathewson (dark cap), McGraw (port.), McGraw (port. w/ cap), McGraw (glove at side), McGraw (finger in air), McGinnity, Tinker (hands on knees), Wallace, Wheat.
Additionally we have identified 42 cards with varying degrees of paper loss on the backs, with the majority being very minor. Key cards in this category include; Baker, M. Brown (port.), Chance (blue port.), Clarke (port.), Crawford, Duffy, Evers (Cubs shirt), Tinker (bat off), Tinker (bat on), Waddell (port.), and Walsh.
We have submitted 21 cards from the set to PSA for grading. They are: Bender (port.) VG-EX+ 4.5, Chase (pink port.) GD 2 mk, Cobb (red port.) Altered, Cobb (bat off) Altered, Cobb (green port.) Altered, Cobb (bat on) VG-EX 4mk, Demmitt (St. Louis) GD 2, Evers (port.) VG-EX 4, Evers (Chicago on shirt) EX-MT 6, Jennings (port.) VG-EX 4, Johnson (port.) Altered, Johnson (hands at chest) Altered, Joss (port.) EX 5, Lajoie (port.) VG-EX 4, Lajoie (throwing) VG-EX 4, Mathewson (port.) GD+ 2.5, Mathewson (white cap) Altered, O’Hara (St. Louis) GD+ 2.5, Young (port.) Altered, Young (bare hand) Altered, and Young (glove shows) VG-EX 4.
Many more cards are present that warrant grading including HOFers and some very strong looking Southern Leaguers and Minor Leaguers. Given the size variations and factory miscuts this issue is known for, one should expect a certain percentage of cards submitted to be designated as Altered. We have included high res images of some of the more prominent raw cards here to give greater perspective.