T206 Reference / Reflections.....Tuesday Nite Trivia

[tedzan]

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...... Piedmont ...... Sweet Caporal ..... Polar Bear_____The "House" that created these Tobacco cards_____Sovereign ........... Hindu ........ American Beauty


OK guys....switching back to the main track regarding the subject matter....Joe Doyle. Here's a story which you may find interesting.

Imagine pulling a Joe Doyle Nat'L card from a Piedmont pack when you were a teenager. Or, your Dad's visit to Atlanta in 1910 acquiring a Ty Cobb/TY COBB card for you ? ?

One of the most unique T206 collections in the hobby is on display at the University of Georgia (Athens). Former Georgia Senator Richard Russell's collection of approx. 1000
tobacco cards were donated to Georgia U. in 1983 (along with Russell's historical papers).
Russell was an avid BB fan as a teenager. At the age of 13 (1910), he started smoking cigarettes (Piedmont was the available brand in his area of Georgia). He pulled 1000's
of T206 cards from the packs he purchased. His T206 set has 497 different cards. However, no Wagner or Plank in his collection. Not unusual, since these two gems were not
marketed with Piedmont backs.

His teenage smoking habits came to an abrupt end in Fall of 1911, when his parents enrolled him into Gordon Military Institute. It is my impression that his BB card collecting
also ended at that point (judging from the few number of T205 cards in his collection).

P.S.
In 2008, I became quite interested in this story regarding Richard Russell's collection, since I acquired a number of cards (duplicates) from his original collection. A relative of
his had consigned approx. 200 cards (mostly T206's) to a dealer in Atlanta (who listed the cards on ebay). He was selling many of his duplicates which were found in a box in
a desk drawer from Russell's estate. The group of T206's which I acquired were all Piedmont 350 backs, including 7 of the the rare "Elite 11" cards.

So, the point of this story is....before Larry Fritsch discovered the Joe Doyle Nat'L card, it was an unknown rarity, just waiting to be discovered.



TED Z

T206 REFERENCE....convenient access to T206 checklists
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