T206 Blank Backs - What are they?

[onlychild]

I love the authentic blank backs with scrap colors on front!

Here is a bunch of blanks from my alteration collection. Most are entirely blank just to see if it could be done without leaving a trace it had been altered. It's a several-step process.

Quote from Mike Baker:

"Here is the first time I’ve seen any card with the entire print removed from both the front and back of the card. The agents used to remove the picture and ink is pretty impressive, this card would obviously not receive a grade or an authentic only description, but it does illustrate how certain chemicals can remove the entire card leaving a “skin” or the paper stock of the issue. The agent used left no smell and the feel of the stock, while different then a card with an image, felt like something you would expect from the time period."


Kevin Saucier

[toppcat]

Are there any blank fronts known? Can't recall ever seeing or reading about one.

[iggyman]

Originally Posted by toppcat

Are there any blank fronts known? Can't recall ever seeing or reading about one.

If in 1909, I wuz 9 years old and if my uncle Gilbert gave me a blank front T206 card. Well, paper shredders were apparently invented in 1935 but to tell you the truth I wouldn't have needed one.

Lovely Day...

[Brian-Chidester]

Great thread. I have nothing significant to add, but blank back T206s have always fascinated me, because I had the feeling that, waiting in a pile of blank backs, would be some alternate players not in the set. When those eight Southern Leaguers showed up in Olbermann's article a few years back, that was the coolest.

[onlychild]

Are there any blank fronts known? Can't recall ever seeing or reading about one.

Sure, I have several but as you can probably guess they are all Franken-206's. They look absolutely perfect with not a single fiber out of place...just no pic on front. Haven't made one for some time, just wanted to see it could be done.

Kevin Saucier

[toppcat]

Well, my point was if there were blank fronts you might know which was printed first, front or back. Evidence still points to fronts first but I would not be surprised if in some cases backs were printed first too. Like all this other esoterica associated with T206 backs that never saw the inside of a pack, they all seem like scrap or part of the proof process so any true blank fronts would have entered the hobby the same way the other stuff did-via either an old find at ALC or the odds and ends kept by ALC employees or management.