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1909-1911 T206 White Border Ty Cobb Red Background with Ty Cobb Back

Sold For: $204,000
Year: 1909
Auction: 2020 Fall
Lot #: 2
Auction: Featured
Graded GOOD 2 by PSA. Presented is an extraordinary example of one of card collecting's most legendary rarities: The T206 Ty Cobb with "Ty Cobb" back. For many years there were only fourteen examples of the Ty Cobb with the "Ty Cobb" back known to exist until a number of exciting finds in recent years, which has pushed the approximate number of confirmed examples to around two dozen. As can easily be seen, this is a particularly outstanding example of this legendary card. Because so few Ty Cobb with "Ty Cobb" back cards exist, it is easy to look up images of other known examples, almost all of which have been sold at auction over the years. This card, in our opinion, compares extremely favorably with other known examples, and is clearly superior by a wide margin to many. Whatever the technical grade, it is a beautiful card! It is bright and clean, with no soiling or smudges or writing (all flaws that affect other examples). Moderate creasing is visible on the bottom portion of the card, but it is not distracting. The red background is particularly bold and rich. The glossy coating, which so often is found with flakes or breaks on other examples, is nearly flawless outside of the previously mentioned creases. The corners display even wear. The reverse is essentially flawless, with only a few spots of foxing, but it is free of any of the severe tobacco stains, water damage, or writing that plagues some other examples. There is no paper loss. The important advertisement is boldly printed in green ink, which is of course of monumental significance on an ideal Ty Cobb card with "Ty Cobb" Tobacco back.

The Ty Cobb with "Ty Cobb" back is several times rarer than the legendary T206 Honus Wagner, a card that has consistently risen in value in all grades throughout the years. While T206 Ty Cobb with "Ty Cobb" back cards have realized strong prices, especially in the last several years (including $894,250 for the PSA 4.5 example and the $154,050 sale of a PSA 1 example in REA's Spring 2014 auction, which originally realized $22,224 in REA's 1997 auction, as well as the $156,000 sale of this exact card in September 2019), it is a card that we view as still undervalued given its extreme rarity and the fact that it features one of the premier baseball Hall of Famers as part of the most popular and widely collected prewar-card set ever produced. Cards of Ty Cobb from the T206 set are among the most recognizable of all vintage cards, and they are on almost every single list compiling the greatest cards ever issued. Over the last several years, cards of all top-tier Hall of Famers, including Cobb, have enjoyed a tremendous appreciation in prices realized, with the finest examples and rarest examples driven to unparalleled heights. T206 Cobbs are never going out of style with collectors, and a top-quality example of the rare Ty Cobb with "Ty Cobb" back combines all the important elements of name recognition and extreme rarity.

While a T206 Ty Cobb with "Ty Cobb" back is one of tobacco-card collecting's greatest prizes in any grade (and most are in extremely low grade), this is a particularly attractive and outstanding example. Exactly how these cards were distributed has always remained one of the great mysteries of the card-collecting world. The T206 set is the premier set of the era and the single most significant and widely collected of all baseball-card sets. A strong case can be made that the T206 Ty Cobb with "Ty Cobb" back should be assigned its own catalog number as a "one-card set," but due to its great similarity to the T206 series, this card has always been considered a T206. This is an exceptional example with tremendous eye-appeal of one of card collecting's most significant rarities. Reserve $50,000. Estimate $100,000+.
Robert Edward Auctions
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