T206 Card Auction Clears $259,429

If you were in need of a T206 card for your collection, one auction had virtually every card available last week.

Goodwin & Company's “Masterpieces and Uncommon Commons XXVI, The T206 Set” closed with over $259,000 in bids, including the buyer's premium.

T206 Ty Cobb with Cobb tobacco back

A T206 Ty Cobb Portrait With Rare Ty Cobb Back, graded PSA 1.5 , sold for $135,402). Another 'toughie' was a T206 Sherry Magie (Magee) Error PSA 1.5 ($7,625). Others sold included a T206 Rare Old Mill Brown Back Sid Smith Atlanta-Authentic ($4,312) and a T206 Drum Clark Griffith Batting PSA 2 Good ($4,066).

Rare backs were the order of the day with the auction holding several of those rarely offered. A group of 20 T206 cards, each with different back advertisements including Uzit, Lenox, Hindu, Tolstoi, Broad Leaf and Carolina Brights, brought $8038.

There were a number of Hall of Famers available in mid-grade at fair prices including Christy Mathewson, a PSA 5 "white cap" copy that brought $1606, two different Ty Cobb variations that each sold for $1515, a Cobb red back portrait ($1390), and two different Cy Young cards ($934 and $747).

We'll never understand how cards that are over a century old and feature pioneers of the game can sell for less than a 'limited edition' modern era autograph rookie card. What would you rather have...a 2001 Tom Brady or a 1909 Cy Young? For anyone in their right mind, the choice is easy.

No matter where you buy your cards, via a dealer or at a T206 card auction on eBay through this site, it's neat to pick up such an interesting, rare and colorful piece of history for less than four figures.