Lot # 290: Gorgeous 1911 T205 Drum Cigarettes Harry Wolter - SGC FAIR 20

Category: 1900-1948

Starting Bid: $250.00

Bids: 10 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed


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Item was in Auction "Spring, 2015 Premier Catalog Auction",
which ran from 3/3/2015 5:00 AM to
3/29/2015 10:05 AM



Highly-regarded research conducted by T205 and T206 scholar Joshua Levine has established that the Drum Cigarettes reverse is the most scarce back advertisement found int he T205 issue. An article published in the Spring 2007 issue of SGC Collector magazine (a magazine published by the current owner of Love of the Game) making use of Levine's research indicated that the Drum back represented about .1% of more than 17 000 individual T205 cards catalogued during his study. This example of Yankees outfielder Harry Wolter is one of just two Drum-backed Wolters to have been graded by SGC (the PSA population if any is unknown). Graded FAIR 20 the card boasts an outstanding front with rich deep color and some mild edge and corner chipping consistent with the issue - clearly the look of a higher-grade card. Unfortunately the number "195" has been written in ink at the top of the card (not obscuring any of the typesetting or the Drum ad) dramatically reducing the technical grade of the card. Drum-backed T205s simply do not make themselves available for sale frequently. The most recent sale of a Drum back recorded on VCP was in November of 2013 a Frank Corridon graded PSA 3 which sold for $1 475. The same year a low-grade Mordecai Brown sold for $2 133 at auction. This example is one of the first Drum backs to be offered publicly since the explosion in popularity of rare-backed tobacco cards. Surely to be highly sought-after this is a very rare card with eye appeal significantly stronger than the assigned grade.

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