What's your best "no back scan" surprise?

[Bliggity]

It's always fun when you take a chance on a card where the seller doesn't have a scan of the reverse, and then it arrives with a rare back. I won this T205 toughie a couple days ago, no back scan provided. It arrived today and was a P42, which was a nice surprise. Nothing earth-shattering, I know, but a good deal nonetheless.

What's the best "no back scan" surprise you've received in the mail?

[edjs]

I bought a T213 Coupon that I figured must be a type 2, when it arrived it was a type 3. I sold the card , so no scan to show.

[Exhibitman]

1927 Exhibit Rixey with back coupon stamp. The coupon program started in earnest in 1928 with the PCL and regular sets but you can find the occasional '27 with a coupon on it, probably from a very last gasp stock of the cards.

[Sean]

I bought a T206 Merkle with a Piedmont back. The seller provided a scan of the back, but it was a poor scan. The sales price was about $30. When the card arrived I found out that it was a Factory 42.


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[Blunder19]

Bought a group of about 100 T206's back in 2008 and there were 3 black back Southern Leagues in the lot which were not advertised. I still have one of them. the value of those 3 were worth more then the cost of the entire 100 card group.

[z28jd]

I bought a lot of 40 T206 cards around 2000-01 for $600 and got an upside down Piedmont with parts of four backs. George Davis, who was recently elected to the HOF at that time, was on front. When I asked on a pre-Net54 message board (wasn't the full count board) I got offers in the thread immediately for $250, $400, $800 and two people who said they would top any offer (one offer was before the $800). So I held on to the card figuring it was worth a lot.

[brianp-beme]

Not exactly a lacking back scan story, but it is close, so I am going to cut me some slack. Many a moon ago I purchased on Ebay a R308 Tattoo Orbit card as a type card (these are the self developing unpopular ones). If I remember correctly the listing had no scan of the blank back, but that is besides the point. When the card arrived I had to double check the catalog listing for the card, because it seemed so dang big. Ends up I received the overwhelmingly rare R308-2 large version.

So this is really a scale of scan story, which of course could have been made clearer by the seller if they had included Leon's quarter of yore.

Brian

[Republicaninmass]

A slew of 52 topps Canadian gray backs, almost the whole run

[mechanicalman]

I won an auction for what I thought was an blue E98 Cobb, but turns out it was mislabeled and actually an E94.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by mechanicalman

I won an auction for what I thought was an blue E98 Cobb, but turns out it was mislabeled and actually an E94.

Nice way to triple your money real quick ....I am sure over the years I have had some nice surprises. Collectors before this generation or pre-war collectors didn't count the backs as much as we do today. Many old time collectors only collected/collect fronts of E92s!!