off-back HOFers - if this thread doesn't exist, it should!

[MVSNYC]

Ted, I'm with ya, regarding "off-backs"...they've just always been known as "rare backs" to me.

Here's a few more...

[Ronnie73]

Originally Posted by MVSNYC

Ted, I'm with ya, regarding "off-backs"...they've just always been known as "rare backs" to me.

Here's a few more...

The "Off Backs" term started being used around the same time I started using the "No Print" term, mid 2014. Both kinda confusing, especially if you were to ask a person with no baseball card knowledge, what they thought the terms meant. I honestly didn't think "No Print" would stick around, but then PSA started using the exact term. I came up with it as a partial phrase that T206resource would use, when they would say a card is a Probable No Print, meaning, possible but not likely. The actual "No Print" cards are listed on T206resource as just "No", so since I found them, they were not Probable, and they were not No, so I just used "No Print" to describe them.

As far as "Off Backs", in the early 2010's, there was me and one other person that was activly working on a set of T206's with no Piedmont or Sweet Caporal backs. Everyone else was still adding Piedmont's and Sweet Caporal's to their 520 set. There were a few single back collectors, like Ted with his Sovereign's, and a few others. I want to say it was Scott, who was the other collector of the non Piedmont and Sweet Caporal back set. But it was a while ago, and with so many collector's, I can't remember. Nowadays, there is a decent sized group of collectors, especially on Facebook's Tobacco Row, that build the "Off Back sets, usually raw, in binders. I never got into the binders for the original T206's.

I hope this help's with at least an origin and timeline of the terms, even if they were not thought out at the time.

[nineunder71]

Ted,
You two weren’t the only ones back then I was just on a smaller scale

[judsonhamlin]

Same here. Just flew below the radar

[mybuddyinc]

I started my "mid-tier" () set about 8 years ago (Range: PB to P42).

Agree, "back in the day" there were only a handful of "off-back" // "rare-back" // "what ever you want to call them-back" () collectors ............ Now it seems like almost everyone is into them.

"the more the merrier" .................

PHL4.jpg

Fun, fun, Scott

[Ronnie73]

Originally Posted by mybuddyinc

I started my "mid-tier" () set about 8 years ago (Range: PB to P42).

Agree, "back in the day" there were only a handful of "off-back" // "rare-back" // "what ever you want to call them-back" () collectors ............ Now it seems like almost everyone is into them.

"the more the merrier" .................

Attachment 573967

Fun, fun, Scott

Back then, I only remember the two of us being very open about what we were doing. Maybe a few other's were doing it secretly, but now it's more of a normal way to collect the set. To a point where it seems like it's 50/50. Half building traditional any back sets, and the rest building the off back/rare back sets. I remember sharing my numbers for a set with no Piedmont, Sweet Caporal, Sovereign, Polar Bear, and Old Mill. Except where you have no other option, but to use a Polar Bear, Sovereign, or Old Mill to reach 520. Now I know of a couple collectors upgrading their backs to the Tolstoi, EPDG, Cycle, American Beauty, and Hindu backs. That's a fun one.

[RCMcKenzie]

I remember in the 1980's, people began using the word "bad" to mean "good."

I guess that's what's going on here. From Meriam-Webster's online thesaurus...
"off", adjective, over 400 synonyms, i.e.- "wrong, unacceptable, poor, lame, bad, deficient, terrible, horrible, awful, pathetic, wack, crummy, inferior, worthless, common, bush-league, trashy, cheesy, second-rate." etc. etc. Their words, not mine.

These are bad...