The first series of cards in the T206 set were issued beginning in
1909 in cigarette and loose tobacco packs through 16 different brands
owned by the American Tobacco Company. It is a landmark set in the
history of baseball card collecting due to its size and rarity, with
cards of over 500 major and minor-league players issued in the set
through 1911. It is known informally as the "White Border" set due to
the
distinctive white borders surrounding the quality color lithographs on
each card.
Birmingham's Carlton Molesworth is the subject of this portrait with a yellow sky and green grass background. Molesworth stands with his hands at his sides, his glove on his right hand as he watches a play develop elsewhere on the field. Centering is south on the canvas, with some light diamond cutting which holds the top right corner slightly higher than the left. There is some light paper loss and a lot of creasing, with the biggest offender living in the top right corner. The
Old
Mill
(SL) back looks nice in comparison, even if the text does understandably seem slightly faded after 115 years.
Among
the more popular subsets in the T206 issue, Southern League (SL) cards
are lauded for their scarcity. The cards of 48 players from the Southern
Association, the South Atlantic League, the Texas League, and the
Virginia State League were printed in
total. These cards were printed separately from the rest of the T206
cards, resulting in a
shorter supply than other T206s, and creating a high demand among
collectors.