The lithographic representation of photographs makes the T206 set a colorful illustration of players from a bygone era. And whether it's a rare on-card signature, giving the card an incomparable personal touch, or an autograph on a file card, T206 cards acquire a special vitality when paired with a player’s signature.
Click the image above to learn about the hobby history of these precious little piece of antique cardboard.
“Cobb was such a giant of the game that even back when sports memorabilia was worthless, people were collecting Cobb material. All the way back in 1910 fans were saving items of the Georgia Peach. . . . Today the handful of genuinely signed Cobb T-206 Cards that exist are true gems of the hobby.” -Ron Keurajian, Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs: A Reference Guide (2012)
On Saturday, February 22, 2020, the autographed T206 Ty Cobb Green Portrait was sold in a Heritage Auction for $144,000, surpassing the previous highest public sales price of an autographed tobacco card by over $100,000!
Just six months later, on Saturday, August 29, 2020, the signed T206 Ty Cobb Red Portrait from the same original collection also sold in Heritage, and eclipsed the previous record by nearly another $50,000 — coming in at $192,000!
Click HERE or the image above to learn more about the George Hitner collection, where each of these remarkable cards originated.
Autograph Legend Jeff Morey with his collection circa 1973. Bottom right album shows one page of his signed T206 collection. Top Row/Left to Right: Donie Bush, Jap Barbeau, George McBride, Eddie Cicotte, Dick Hoblitzell. 2nd Row from Top/Left to Right: Heinie Zimmerman, Fred Parent, Jack Warhop, Lena Blackburne. 3rd Row from Top/Left to Right: Otto Knabe, Nap Rucker, Fred Snodgrass, Chief Meyers. Bottom Row/Left to Right: Hans Lobert, Gavvy Cravath.
Click HERE to learn more about Jeff Morey’s amazing collection.
Click HERE to learn about the origins of signed T206 cards.
T206 Subject Frank “Wildfire” Schulte signed this 1911 Sporting News Supplement for Dr. Steen.
Thanks in large part to memorabilia collector Dan Bretta, I made some tremendous strides putting back together the collection of Clarence “Doc” Steen, who may just be the first serious through-the-mail autograph seeker in baseball history. Over about a three-year period (1939-1941), Doc Steen amassed quite the collection of pre-war player autographs on Sporting News and Baseball Magazine supplements (M101-2s, M113s, and M114s), George Burke Photos, and other photographs. Click here or on the pic above to see my efforts to reconstitute Steen’s 80-year old collection.
Click the above image to see cards from Jefferson Burdick's collection, which he traded or sold before donating the balance of his enormous hoard to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. How do we know they were his? Because he stamped his name on them!
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