New Find of T206 Drum Backs

One of the most rare back variations in the T206 baseball card issue is the Drum back. Drum tobacco products were not nearly as popular as Sweet Caporal or Piedmont during the time the T206 cards were being produced and only a handful exist today.

However, that number has grown thanks to a find that has made its way into the hobby. A collector who had obtained them years ago consigned 41 of the T206 cards with Drum advertising on the back (plus eight T205 cards) to a sports memorabilia auction. The find nearly equaled the confirmed, existing total of Drum T206s in the collecting world.

The consignor simply enjoyed collecting baseball cards, especially since he shared the hobby with his grandfather and enjoyed the time they spent on collecting. When he decided to sell, he was shocked to learn their value could exceed $100,000. Serious collectors of the T206 tobacco card set understand the scarcity of this particular advertising back and will pay just about anything to add them to their vintage baseball card collection.

The T206 set consists of 389 Major Leaguers and 134 Minor Leaguers. Considering the hundreds of different player poses on the front of the cards as well as the variety of tobacco advertisements found on the backs, there are thousands cards that would constitute a master set.

It is expected that any collector who owns a rare back T206 will have the card graded. Even lower condition T206 cards sell for more money when professionally graded and authenticated and eBay listings are full of graded examples from the classic baseball cards set.