You can usually find several T206 cards in the major sports memorabilia auction catalogs and there are dozens available on eBay virtually every day. But Goodwin & Company’s latest catalog was entirely made up of T206 cards…over 500 lots worth.
“Masterpieces and Uncommon Commons XXVI, The T206 Set” closed late last week with a total take of $259,429 in bids, including the buyer’s premium.
One card generated over half of that total.
A T206 Ty Cobb Portrait card featuring the rare Ty Cobb tobacco back, graded PSA 1.5 , sold for $135,402. Just a few are believed to exist.
Collectors of the T206 set are usually in search of the T206 Sherry Magie (Magee) error card. A PSA 1.5 Magee card brought $7,625 in the auction. Other cards sold included a T206 Rare Old Mill Brown Back Sid Smith Atlanta-Authentic ($4,312) and a T206 Drum Clark Griffith Batting PSA 2 Good ($4,066).
In addition to the Cobb back, numerous other scarce backs were also offered. A group of 20 T206 cards, each with different back advertisements including Uzit, Lenox, Hindu, Tolstoi, Broad Leaf and Carolina Brights, brought $8038.
Among the Hall of Famers featured on T206 that were part of the sale were a Christy Mathewson PSA 5 “white cap” copy that brought $1606, two different Ty Cobb variations that each sold for $1515, a Cobb red back portrait ($1390), and two different Cy Young cards ($934 and $747).