The Monster - Why the T206 Baseball Card Sets Are the Most Important Ever & Why You Should Care
Between 1909 and 1911 the American Tobacco Company printed what later became known as the T206 White Border set. This was a collection of 1+7/16 by 2+5/8 inch cards with a player on the front and an advertisement for one of ATC’s cigarette brands on the back. They were printed using a 6-color lithograph process. The set contains 524 different cards (76 of them being HOF players) making it large even by today's standards. But when you combine that number with the 15 different advertisement backs, you get around 6,000 different combinations (not all cards were printed with each advertising back). The set was produced in 3 groups - 150 Subjects, 350 Subjects, and 460 Subjects.
It’s estimated that hundreds of millions of the cards were produced over the 3 year span, but that only about 0.5% of those still exist. That’s still quite a few pieces of cardboard.
There’s so much more about the T206 set than we’re able to cover here, and others have documented the set extensively. An interesting place to start is ‘Inside T206’ by Scot Reader.
So - why should you care about the set?
They’re absolutely incredible pieces of art. Under $100 for a 115 year old lithograph is an unbelievable value. The art on the common cards in the fielding and pitching poses are spectacular, although the portraits tend to carry a bit more value. The author’s opinion is that the Ty Cobb ‘Bat Off’ card is the best looking card ever produced.
And how many sets can you find this many players that are considered some of the best-ever to play the game: Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Nap LaJoie, Tris Speaker, Johnny Evers, etc….
It’s Affordable & Available - Common combinations of players and advertisers can readily be found for under 100$ in poor, but attractive, conditions. The set contains hundreds of common players in the Sweet Caporal and Piedmont advertising backs. You can find auctions and BIN on eBay daily.
It’s also Valuable & Scarce - The T206 set is also characterized by some of the most iconic, scarce, and valuable cards that we know about. The cards known as ‘The Big 4’ include - the Honus Wagner, which is the most valuable card in existence**. The Eddie Plank and Joe Doyle ‘NY Nat’l’ are some of the most scarce. And the Sherry ‘Magie’ Magee error is one of the most sought-after errors in collectables.
** This is the author's position. Yes, the most expensive sale of all time is an SGC 9.5 1952 Mantle at $12.6 million. But just weeks before that sale a T206 Honus Wagner in an SGC 2 sold for $7.25 million. The Wagner exists in a PSA 8 (there’s some controversy there) and 2 PSA 5’s. It’s not tough to imagine that if one of those were to come up for sale they would easily claim the top spot.
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The uncommon ‘off-back’ advertisers can easily bring thousands of dollars for unknown players and hundreds of thousands for the HOFers.
Long-Term Value
The T206 set has steadily grown in value over the decades since sports cards have become collectible. The market for T206 has followed other vintage sets with steady growth in value for common cards and a significant increase in value in premium, high-demand cards (players, grade, etc..). While this is not financial advice… The T206 set has been one of the safer ‘investments’ in the collectables hobby.
The Different Ways to Collect
One of the most interesting things about this set is all the different ways people collect. The huge number of players and combinations offers tons of options for people to collect how they like. Some of the most common ways are:
The full Monster - Buckle up… 520 (or 524) cards in the checklist, collecting one of each can be done but takes dedication (and a deep wallet).
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The HOF - A slightly less intimidating checklist size with 76 different cards. But you’re still going to have to find the Wagner to complete it…. Good luck.
Players & Teams - A lot of collectors (the author included) will find a player or team to focus their collection around. These collectors tend to try and complete team or advertizing back ‘runs’, or one of each card/player available. This starts out easy enough, but can get very difficult. Team collectors usually run into a scarce issue or HOF player. And then player collectors will run into advertisements like Lenox, UZIT, Broad Leaf, etc… that can get very expensive.
Southern League - One of the more interesting subsets is the Southern Leaguers. This subset depicts minor league ball players from across the many different Southern Leagues. Interestingly, this set has a unique ‘Old Mill’ back available that can only be found on these players.
Errors - The set is full of errors. The ‘Magie’, Doyle NY Nat’l, printers scrap and errors, Murr’y, and many others offer even more variety of unique issues and mistakes, some of which carry significant value.
Or let the cards speak to you - Like the rest of the Hobby, there’s no right or wrong way to collect. Collect the ones you like, the player, the art, the advertiser, whatever…. Just enjoy these 115 year old pieces of art however you like.
Patrick is a lifelong sportscards and collectables fan. He's passionate about the Mets and Eagles (yes, really), pre-war tobacco and caramel cards, and writing. You can follow his often neglected account at @pg.sportscards