Raw data (for what it is worth) from the Howe McCormick collection

[Howe’s Hunter]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, that this rebuilt collection might help with figuring out trends for distribution of the cards in the T206 set.

We know all the cards came from the same vendor, the McCormick-Howe General Store, 500 West Main Street, Gainesville, Florida. Howe would not have been lucky enough to get every card that a purchaser of smokes got, but apparently was pretty lucky at getting a lot of them. My rebuild collection now stands at 386 cards, and there are another 37 that I know the existence of, but aren’t with mine. But for now, we’ll just talk about the ones I have.

There is a breakdown of card backs as follows:
166 Piedmont 150 Series
151 Piedmont 350 Series
15 Piedmont 350-460 Series
12 Old Mill
19 Old Mill Southern League
23 Hindu

Of the 332 Piedmont backs, there are no Factory 42 cards. Maybe that is to be expected. Of the 31 Old Mill backs, all are black. That one I would expect. The 23 Hindu backs are all brown, no red ones. That one is no surprise either.

But were cards that would have appeared in the third series (350-460) not run for as long of time as the first two series? I would have expected there to be about an equal number of all three series, given the family store would have sold Piedmont consistently through the period of 1909-1911. Other thoughts, whether correct or not, are that Old Mill and Hindu just weren't as popular as Piedmont. Perhaps more costly?

Just throwing this out there. If anyone can make any assumptions or theories of distribution from this, please do so.

When I started rebuilding the collection in 2007, I thought I might end up with maybe 20 or 30. Now, I’m looking forward to getting to 400, although at my current rate of acquisition, that will be sometime in 2023. Something to look forward to.

And thanks to everyone on the board who has sent, sold, or let me know of a card that was part of the original collection. Wouldn’t be where it is now without your help. Thanks.