T206 Cobb which ones better...

[Archive]

Posted By: Jamie

Trying to decide on which one of these to buy.. can someone help me out with which one is better and how much would you say they are worth in this condition... i have never seen exapmles this rough before... thanks..

[IMG][/IMG]

[Archive]

Posted By: Matt

In this condition, there is no objective "better" - it's a question of which of the flaws bothers you the least.

[Archive]

Posted By: Jamie

ok.. but if you were about to buy one how much should you buy it for.. high and low ballpark?.. thanks...

[Archive]

Posted By: Matt

I wouldn't pay more then $50 for either of them.

[Archive]

Posted By: LetsGoBucs

Assuming they are real I'd say about $30 for either one if needed to fill a set...but honestly might simply pass and use the $30 for something else.

[Archive]

Posted By: Jamie

thanks matt

[Archive]

Posted By: Steve

They're real. Now which one has the Uzit back?

[Archive]

Posted By: Paul S

...I'd go for the one on the right -- still has 3 of 4 corners and no gaping holes. And I'd spend the $30 on it if I couldn't afford anything in better condition. That's just me, of course.

[Archive]

Posted By: Mike Mccullough

I wouldn't buy these as they look trimmed..

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian Lindholme

The card on the right has slightly better eye appeal to me.

But, I think the question comes down to WHY you are considering buying.
If you are buying this Cobb for resale, it's probably not a great choice for either.

If you are Buying a Ty Cobb card because you like it and want to show your friends and family how cool it is to own a 100 yr old piece of both American History and Baseball History...you'll get a good example from one of these two.

Rambling alert:

I think that we are quite fortunate that in our hobby we could actually make money on resale, but maybe that's not so good afterall...it changes the way we look at our cards. They become commodities.

I have an old buddy whose hobbies are to drink beer, play pool, maybe go fishing(with beer) or go to the racetrack. All of those hobbies can't be slabbed, graded, auctioned or resold. He enjoys it as much as I do card collecting...maybe more so.

I don't like it when I have to explain to my non-collector friends how much I paid for a certain card or how much money my collection could get if I sold it. Why doesn't anyone ask things like..."That's cool, do you have any Cy Young cards or Lou Gehrig?...Those guys are legends!!"

My buddy doesn't worry about those things when he's on beer 7 and tells his fishing stories...

oh well....I'm a hypocrite...pay $80 for both of those cards and I'll give you $50 for the one you don't want !!! hahahaha


Brian L
familytoad
Ridgefield,WA

[Archive]

Posted By: Jamie

Brian... I am buying it for a filler as I try to get to 520... so I guess it would fall under the category of owning a 100 year old really cool card of ty cobb...

[Archive]

Posted By: Deb Johnson

I should have introduced myself sooner to this board, and I apologize for that. I'm the lady that Frank Ward was helping to get information on the E125 American Caramels about a month ago, and since then I have very much enjoyed going back through countless weeks, months, and years of your threads learning about T206's as I am now in charge of a partial collection. I just introduced myself to Leon the other day, but I think he's away this weekend so we have not spoken.

Anyway, to explain the pictures that Jamie posted, the cards come from a Katrina-damaged scrapbook, two strikes against, and then for a little extra, the original owner, on many cards, put a small slash mark behind the team name, I guess to mark duplicates, strike three. Many of the cards are in fine shape, but obviously these Cobbs were hit hard. I'm aware that some collectors sometimes need filler cards, so have followed up with some posts on the BST this weekend to raise funds to have cards graded. And that has brought us here.

Regarding your estimates of their value, I'm laughing at myself for pulling the neophyte mistake of overvaluating. This was my thinking: For one of the Cobbs: The lowest SGC 10 price sold on T-206.com was $212, the lowest PSA 1 price sold was $230. The T206 database base price for a poor is $275. If I cut the 'poor' multiplier in half (doubly poor), it spits out 137.50, so I was going to use that as a starting point. I guess my major mistake was not realizing these fell into the bottom 10% of 'poor'. This is why I am Merkle's friend, for boner's like this.

Today's part of my education was pretty public, but I do appreciate the ongoing and highly educational service you provide, and will gladly take my lumps to be allowed to continue.

Regards,
Deb Johnson

[Archive]

Posted By: Joann

Jamie,

I think the one on the right is better. It has more intensity and focus in the face area. The major condition problems are on the relatively unimportant area of the sleeve (where it does not show as much) and the upper left corner. Many cards have pieces of corners and borders missing, but holes completely through them are less common and seem to offend more, appeal-wise.

I also think that $50 is a bit low for the one on the right. Most T206 Cobbs go for more than that even when they are completely hammered and maybe not even in one piece. I don't know if it would be a whole lot above $50, but somewhat higher in my opinion. A poster in this thread currently has a "rare" Polar Bear backed Cobb on ebay with a corner chunk missing that is not too much smaller than this one, and that card is almost at $300. Granted, the rest of the card is in good shape and it does have the "rare" Polar Bear back, but it does show that a corner missing does not totally kill a card.

Obviously both are hammered, but the one on the right is not so far into the weeds as to hit "holy cow" territory. Although in all likelihood it could not get a number grade because of the amount of material missing, I've seen 1's that are a whole lot worse looking than that one. The face area is pretty clear, and overall I've seen a much worse.

I'd pay $50 for it in a heartbeat.

J

[Archive]

Posted By: leon

You sent that email to my work address and I rarely check it on the weekend...as well as I took the day off on Friday to go out of town. Welcome to our board, have fun and if there is anything I can ever help you with let me know...take care

[Archive]

Posted By: Darren

I bet that both cards are fake and have been artificially aged.

[Archive]

Posted By: Frank Wakefield

The one on the right. Less hole problems. And if you got that for $50 I think that would be a good deal for you. The unworn top right corner is a bit of a concern, and makes me wonder about authenticity. The caption type looks correct, though. Still, I'd hit it with a black light. Have you actually held it? Are you satisfied it's an authentic card?

[Archive]

Posted By: Jamie

Frank whats the black light test all about? how does it work... what does it check for..

[Archive]

Posted By: Deb Johnson

but since I'm new, would have no problem with sending a sampling of cards (including these Cobbs) to a member of the board of Leon's choosing for checking. I'm confident about them because I've known the original family all my life, (I'm middle-aged, over 50, yikes!), and know that they did not know of the existence of the scrapbook until Katrina.

Regarding size: the 'corner-off Cobb' (Piedmont 150) is 2.546 x 1.453. The 'holey Cobb' (Piedmont 350) is 2.625 x 1.468.

Leon -- thanks for the welcome -- it's a privilege to be here.
Deb

[Archive]

Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Most of the post WW II paper has brighteners added during manufacture. These brighteners fluoresce, or glow, when illuminated with ultraviolet light. the white border tobacco cards, T206s, don't fluoresce. Some modern cards do. T206 reprints glow big time.

If you're going to buy many old cards, get a black light. I have a really good (but bogus) Remar Bread PCL card I bought that fluoresced when I got it. My others from that year didn't. I emailed the seller, and he said keep the card and he replaced my Paypal payment. In looking at his past auctions I got the feeling that he was a forthright fellow who didn't realize it was a reprinted card. I've kept it so that when I attempt to show young collectors about the use of a black light I have a good demonstration.

The one I have I bought from a nice member of this board, who got several and sold them to us. I see similar ones on eBay for $12 to $15.

[Archive]

Posted By: Jamie

For the record this seller is top notch and I never questioned the cards authenticity... this post was merely to help with the value of the card ...