Is the Ty Cobb back still the scarcest T206 back?

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Sean

The estimates that I recall hearing were as follows:

18-20 Old Mill Brown
24 Cobb backs
25-30 Lenox Brown

Old Mill is the most rare, but as the OP pointed out, they are scrap and were not distributed in packs.
We don't know how Cobb backs were distributed. They may have been handed out as promotional items. It seems that they were not packed into Cobb tins, because they were produced in 1910. The tax stamp on Cobb tins indicated a date of 1912 as I recall, so the dates don't line up. I think that it was assumed that they were packed in the tins because some cards and a tin were found together in an old collection.
So the Lenox Brown might be the most rare T206 distributed in packs of cigarettes. But the Lenox Brown is almost certainly a mistake, making the Broadleaf 460 the rarest T206 back that was intentionally produced and distributed. For whatever that's worth.

How do we know they were produced in 1910? I have always believed that they were printed later.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by rats60

How do we know they were produced in 1910? I have always believed that they were printed later.

Evidence of the 1910 issue date of the Ty Cobb / Ty Cobb card was noted in this Net54 thread back in 2009 (post # 89)……
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...bb+back&page=9


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Evidence of the 1910 issue date of the Ty Cobb / Ty Cobb card was noted in this Net54 thread back in 2009 (post # 89)……
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...bb+back&page=9


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

That is the Ty Cobb tobacco brand. I don't see any reference to a Ty Cobb card with a Ty Cobb back advertising that brand.

[tedzan]

One of the excerpts from the Macon Weekly Telegraph (Feb 1910) states....

"TY COBB, JR. SENDS OUT CARD TO HIS ADMIRERS"

The above News clipping....and the fact that Senator Richard Russell, who collected his tobacco cards in 1909-1910,
and acquired a Ty Cobb / Ty Cobb card in his youth is sufficient evidence to me that this card was issued circa 1910.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[tedzan]

Vintage postcard of Factory #33 where the Ty Cobb Smoking Tobacco was manufactured.






TED Z

T206 Reference
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[rats60]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Vintage postcard of Factory #33 where the Ty Cobb Smoking Tobacco was manufactured.






TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Purchased by the American Tobacco Company in 1911.

https://www.storywoodmusic.com/ameri...ny-warehouses/

After the breakup of American Tobacco in 1911, the restructured company concentrated its tobacco manufacturing in Durham and Reidsville, N.C.; Louisville, Ky.; and Richmond, Va. The Durham facility had been built by the Duke family and included the former William T. Blackwell plant. The Reidsville plant was the former F. R. Penn Tobacco Company, which the American Tobacco Company had purchased shortly before the dissolution of the American Tobacco Trust in 1911. Charles A. Penn became a director of American Tobacco in 1911

[hpkatz26]

Actually the rarest T-206 back is the BLUE old mill back. Only 3 are known to exist. It's strange that no one except one responder noted that. Maybe this was due to the date of the initiating post. But no back collection will ever be complete without one! Happy collecting!

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by rats60

How do we know they were produced in 1910? I have always believed that they were printed later.

While I think they could have been I haven't seen definitive proof
either. I have found several ads like this one from Jan 1910 but
none of them mention the Cobb card which seems odd.

Ty Cobb Tobacco.jpg