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1909-11 T206 Sovereign Back Cards with Cy Young Purchased

Rare Cards Discovered While Downsizing and Moving Houses

January 13, 2025

A rare Cy Young Card was found among a few baseball cards while a gentleman was moving! From the iconic 1909-1911 T206 set, this particular features a difficult-to-find back. Main Photo-Jan-04-2025-12-33-13-7121-AM

Tom's father was downsizing and in the middle of a move. While going though his things, Tom's father found a few old baseball cards. Tom didn't know these cards were stashed away and is not a card collector at all. However, Tom recognized one name for certain: Cy Young.

THE COLLECTION

Cy Young is still the MLB record holder for all-time career wins with 511 despite not pitching a game in 113 years! To give you some perspective, the wins leader among active pitchers is Justin Verlander with 262 wins. Verlander is now 41 and needs 250 more wins to best Young. Given Verlander has never won more than 24 games in a season, the task is tall. Perhaps you've heard of the Cy Young award which is given to the best pitcher in each league every baseball season - this is THAT Cy Young.

In total, just six cards were discovered during the move. Two cards are from the famed 1909-1911 T206 set. Over a Century ago, these cards were placed inside of tobacco products rather than inside packs you see today or opened as a kid. Your grandparents found a single baseball card in a pack of cigarettes! On the back of each card is an advertisement for the brand of tobacco. In total, 16 different tobacco brands distributed the cards. Cards with certain tobacco brands on the baseball cards are rare! Some brands may have been regional and at a time when cars weren't really a thing. While cads with brands such as Piedmont and Sweet Caporal are prevalent, cards with the Sovereign brand is difficult to find.

How rare is the Cy Young card in this collection? PSA, one of the top grading companies in the world, has only graded 19 of this example! This is why we tell you to always check unexpected places you might find vintage cards.

A second T206 card and four 1911 T205 cards were among the collection Tom's father owned. Every card has a Sovereign back! You can see each card in our slide show below:

APPRAISAL AND PURCHASE

Tom reached out to us for our . While Tom knew the name Cy Young, he did not know much about the cards and their value. Your local card shop is generally not well equipped to appraise or purchase vintage collections like this. The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections. This is where we are happy to help you. We have purchased many collections of tobacco cards including those with rare backs like our Hindu Find.

We provided an appraisal to Tom, and made him a fair offer for the cards based on their condition. Condition is VERY important when determining the value of a card. Using a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being Gem Mint, a change of just one numerical grade could alter the value by hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. A tiny wrinkle, a rounded card, and even a tobacco stain on a T206 card changes the value. While these tobacco cards are not Gem Mint, Tom's cards include a rare card of a Hall of Famer, and certainly is valuable!

Tom accepted our offer, and we paid him via Zelle. Why Zelle? Tom is taking his dad to the Philippines for vacation and wouldn't be home to receive a check if we mailed it to him! We're envious of your trip, Tom! Have fun! When you sell your collection to Just Collect, we pay you how you want to be paid, be it cash, company check, or wire transfer if you're going on vacation like Tom.

WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1979 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.

We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:

We offer may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.

Travel to Us

If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.

Come to convention

We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.

Meet in-person

If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.

Meet in New York City

If you're near New York City and would like to meet in a public place, our owner, Leighton, would be happy to meet you; read all the information here.

SHIP your collection

If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.

OUR BUYING PHILOSOPHY

We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!

Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.