Tobacco Cards New and Old

Tobacco cards from the early 1900s still significantly influence the hobby. Early card designs are being enhanced with foil, vibrant colors, four-color printing technologies, and embedded memorabilia while recently discovered original tobacco cards continue to drive hobby auctions and the Internet market place.

Issued in 1911, the groundbreaking T205 series sported gold borders and intricate designs. It was the first major baseball set to feature player biographies and statistics. Ninety-two years later, Topps turned back the clock, incorporating today's top players with the T205 design.

The 150-card Topps 205 set, released in July 2004, features 144 veterans, 10 prospects, 15 rookies, 11 autographs, and five reprints. The series also includes five parallel sets -- Bazooka, Drum, Honest, Polar Bear, and Brooklyn, paying homage to Topps's birthplace. For more historical perspective, Topps 205 also includes the popular 1912 Triple Folder (one per pack) featuring a current star in a black and white folder photo flanked by two original T205 designs.

The crown jewel of the set is the 2,000 original T205 cards randomly inserted into packs, which drove the price of eight-card packs well above the suggested-retail-price of $4.

Topps decided on the T205 series following the highly-successful 2003 T206 release, which started the trend of saluting the vintage baseball sets. The success of the initial release triggered an unplanned Series 2 and Series 3 releases. Topps capitalized on the most famous trading card ever issued -- the T206 Honus Wagner -- by incorporating a piece of an actual game-used Wagner bat into a unique memorabilia card limited to a production run of 25 and currently selling for $500.

The original T206 Wagner is the most renowned and costly card in existence. According to an October 1912 issue of The Sporting News, Wagner refused to be included in American Tobacco Co. series because the star shortstop did not want to promote cigarettes. Although most baseball historians believe Wagner had the cards pulled because of his disdain of cigarettes, some believe Wagner was unable to reach a contractual agreement with American Tobacco Co.

An uncut strip of five T206 cards was recently sold by MastroNet Sports & Americana for $78,665. This one-of-a-kind strip was reportedly discovered some 25 years ago in the back pocket of an original Wagner uniform stashed away in the attic of his old house. Baseball historians believe the tobacco company sent this strip to Wagner hoping he would reconsider his stance. No other T206 uncut strip has ever surfaced. Wagner remained firm in his decision, but a small number of the Wagner cards were somehow issued. Vintage collectors believe 75 originals exist today.

In addition to Wagner, the strip also includes Three-Finger Brown, Cy Young, Frank Bowerman, and Johnny King. The strip has a blank back and printer's proof marks in the corners of each card. Being stuffed in a pocket for decades, the strip is filled with severe creases.