T205 Gold Border Baseball Cards
Although it’s considered a sister set to the legendary T206 issue, the 1911 T205 Gold Border Baseball Cards are no ugly stepchildren. Produced two years after the T206s, the series was given a earlier designation in the American Card Catalogue. The 208 card series has a memorable gold border design featuring beautiful gilt edges that surround a portrait of the subject.
As you can imagine, the delicateness of those edges makes this an extremely condition-sensitive set. Cards in Excellent condition or better are very difficult to find and those in Near Mint or better are especially tough.
Twenty five Hall of Famers appear in the T205 series; Frank Baker, Chief Bender, Roger Bresnahan (with mouth closed or with mouth open), Mordecai Brown, Frank Chance, Fred Clarke, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins (with mouth closed or with mouth open), Jimmy Collins, Hugh Duffy, Johnny Evers, Clark Griffith, Miller Huggins, Hugh Jennings, Walter Johnson, Addie Joss, Rube Marquand, Christy Mathewson, John McGraw, Tris Speaker, Joe Tinker, Bobby Wallace (with cap or without cap), Ed Walsh, Zach Wheat and Cy Young.
Though the set contains eleven fewer Hall of Famers than the T206 series, the percentage of enshrined players is considerably higher.
Despite the aesthetic appeal of the T205 design and the stellar player content, the cards sell for significantly less than their T206 counterparts. Maybe it’s because the series doesn’t have a rarity of the magnitude of the T206’s Big Four (Wagner, Plank, Doyle & Magie).
Perhaps, but the T205 Christy Mathewson Cycle Back is a legitimately difficult card. Even in Poor condition, the Matty sells for over a thousand dollars. Rarer still is the Dick Hoblitzell card issued with no stats on the back. A mid-grade example will set you back over $10,000.
The most prominent variations in the T205s occur on the backs. There are sixteen different back varieties (depending on which brand of American Tobacco Company cigarettes the cards were issued with) including multiple ones for Sweet Caporal and American Beauty. As far as scarcity goes, the Hindu backs are very difficult to find and the Drum backs are next to impossible.
In August of 2015, Mark Rubin of American Legends was fortunate enough to purchase eight Drum backs as part of a large tobacco card collection. Prior to this purchase, it’s believed that as few as twenty five T205 Drum backs had reached the hobby.
If you have any T205 baseball cards that you’re selling or if you have any items on our baseball buy list, PLEASE CONTACT Mark Rubin at 914-725-2225 or via email at mark@amerlegends.com. A quick phone call is all it takes to get started.
