A Net54 member recently asked me to estimate how many different signed T206 poses have been signed by their subjects and are currently in existence in someone's collection.
I own 39 different poses, if you count Mrs. Blanche McGraw and Mrs. Jane Mathewson on their husbands' respective cards, 37 otherwise:
HOF
1. Clarke (Batting)
2. Crawford (Batting)
3. Crawford (Throwing)
4. Flick
5. Johnson (Pitching)
6. Marquard (Portrait)
7. Marquard (Hands at Sides)
8. Marquard (Throwing)
9. Wheat
10. Young (Portrait)
FRONT SIGNED COMMONS
11. Barbeau
12. Carrigan
13. Doyle (Batting)
14. Doyle (Portrait)
15. Doyle (Throwing)
16. Jones (Davy)
17. Leach (Bending)
18. Leach (Portrait)
19. Leifield (Batting)
20. Leifield (Pitching)
21. McBride
22. Myers (Catching)
23. Meyers (Portrait)
24. Parent
25. Snodgrass (Batting)
26. Snodgrass (Catching)
27. Warhop
BACK SIGNED COMMONS
28. Blackburne
29. Bridwell (Portrait Cap)
30. Bridwell (Portrait No Cap)
31. Fiene (Portrait)
32. Fiene (Throwing)
33. Hoblitzell
34. Knabe
35. Livingston
36. Myers (Batting) [Signed Front & Back]
37. Rucker (Portrait)
In addition to these, I have seen scans of the following seven (7) additional poses from Jeff Morey's collection:
38. Bush
39. Cravath
40. Lajoie (Batting)
41. Lobert
42. Zimmerman
43. Wiltse (Portrait No Cap)
44. Rucker (Throwing)
45. Cobb (Green Portrait)
And I have seen credible proof of the following 10 additional poses:
46. Cobb (Bat On)
47. Cicotte
48. Clarke (Portrait)
49. Walsh
50. Phillippe
51. Chance
52. Speaker
53. Bresnahan (Batting)
So that's at least 53 different T206s signed by their subjects. I have heard claims about Stanage, Moriarty, and Schmidt signed poses from a Net54 collector, but I have never seen a scan so it is hard for me to credit the representation.
Other respected collectors own T206s that they believe were signed by McGraw, Jennings, and Bender -- but none of these have been authenticated by JSA or PSA/DNA or another respected third-party authenticator.
Renowned autograph dealer Phil Marks says that a bunch of signed T206 Bresnahans exist in private collections, but I have only seen the one batting pose on my website. I have never seen another, or the portrait pose.
Also, Shaw and Pattee lived into the 1970s -- in fact Shaw was the 3rd-to-last T206er to pass away, survived only by Livingston and Marquard -- and should thus be reasonably possible. But, I've never seen a scan of either.
So, I would guess conservatively that maybe 60 or so exist in total. I could buy into a more aggressive theory that maybe as many as 70 exist. But, I would bet the under on 75. Since the advent of scanned online auction images in the major auction houses over a decade ago there have been no other sightings than those listed here.
Still, it is exciting to imagine what could be out there lurking in private collections. One famed collector of T206 cards once sent me an email to tell me that he owned about 25. But, he never responded to my follow-up email about which ones he had. If only all collectors of signed T206 cards would post scans of their treasures, the world would be a better place for us all.
Please post here or email/message me if you know of any other signed T206 poses out there that I have missed out on seeing.
And, as always, post any signed T206 cards that you'd like to share here. I'll post my most recent acquisition:
