T207 Repint Complete Set

By Dean Hanley
Owner of Deanscards.com

The T207 set, commonly known as the brown background set, was originally manufactured by the tobacco industry giant, the American Tobacco Company, in 1912. The T207 baseball cards measure 1½” by 2-5/8”. Shortly after this set was printed, the American Tobacco Company would be dissolved due to the Sherman anti-trust legislation that broke the monopoly on tobacco.

The T207 baseball card set is a true hobby classic. The 200-card T207 set contains 13 players that are in Baseball’s Hall-of-Fame, including Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, Frank Chance, John McGraw, Smokey Joe Wood and Joe Tinker. Two interesting T207 cards are Eddie Cicotte and Buck Weaver, who were members of the 1919 White Sox and banned from the game for life.


 This set is unique to Dean’s cards. We created it ourselves. It took a total of two years to get the entire process done. This is the only official T207 Reprint Set out there. To do so, we created a new company called Dean’s Reprints and began securing the needed images.

 This is one of the most famous pre-war sets and it was never issued or offered in the form of a reprint set. Reprint Sets give collectors the opportunity to enjoy cards that they might not be able to collect in the original form.

 DeansCards.com sells quite a few reprint singles and complete sets every year. For that reason, I decided we should recreate and issue a T207 reprint set. Due to the quality of the century old cards, almost all of the T207 images needed to be retouched. Great care was given making sure that the reprint cards remained true to the original set.


The original T207 set includes eight possible backs containing the name of tobacco brands in which the original cards were enclosed. We included a variety of these backs in the reprint set including three cards containing the ultra-scarce “Red Cross” backs. We were careful to use those backs on
cards, whose originals have been discovered with a Red Cross back.

One of the most interesting features of the T207 baseball card set are the player biographies on the back of the cards. Each of these bios needed to be retyped. We were careful to stay true to the original fonts and leave the original century old misspelled words. We also made sure to give it an assigned number to help collectors keep track. To ensure it is indeed a REPRINT, we added REPRINT to the back of the cards. I hope that the hobby purists will forgive us for these minor changes.

To view/purchase the original cards please click here.

 Dean Hanley, founder and owner of DeansCards.com, is considered one of the foremost experts on the subject of vintage baseball cards, other sports and non-sports cards and has a regular column in the Sports Collectors Digest and publishes articles on his blog.

Dean has also written two books on vintage sports cards: The Bubble Gum Card War: The Great Bowman & Topps Sets from 1948 to 1955 and Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Cards. Both are available in eBook and paperback form.

The Rebirth of the T207- Brown Background Set – 100 years later

                             
A couple years ago, when I was co-writing my first e-book, Before there was Bubble Gum: Our favorite pre-World War I baseball cards, I became fascinated by the unique look of the T207 set. The T207 set, commonly known as the brown background set, was originally manufactured by the tobacco industry giant, the American Tobacco Company, in 1912. The T207 baseball cards measure 1½” by 2-5/8”. Shortly after this set was printed, the American Tobacco Company would be dissolved due to the Sherman anti-trust legislation that broke the monopoly on tobacco.

 The T207 baseball card set is a true hobby classic. The 200-card T207 set contains 13 players that are in Baseball’s Hall-of-Fame, including Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, Frank Chance, John McGraw, Smokey Joe Wood and Joe Tinker. Two interesting T207 cards are Eddie Cicotte and Buck Weaver, who were members of the 1919 White Sox and banned from the game for life.


 Being a big fan of reprint sets, as they give collectors who may not have the time or money to collect the original set the opportunity to enjoy the cards; I was always disappointed that the T207 cards are the most famous of the pre-war sets that has never been offered in the form of a reprint set. This is something special about being able to hold the cards in your as you go the set and look at the players. I must not be alone in my opinion, as DeansCards.com sells quite a few reprint singles and complete sets every year. For that reason, I decided we should recreate and issue a T207 reprint set. To do so, we created a new company called Dean’s Reprints and began securing the needed images.

The T207 reprint set turned out to be quite an undertaking, and took us two years to complete! The other thing that delayed the T207 reprint set was that I also attempted to finish my first book to be issued in print form. Both projects are now complete and available for purchase.

 Due to the quality of the century old cards, almost all of the T207 images needed to be retouched. Great care was given making sure that the reprint cards remained true to the original set. The original T207 set includes eight possible backs containing the name of tobacco brands in which the original cards were enclosed. We included a variety of these backs in the reprint set including three cards containing the ultra-scarce “Red Cross” backs. We were careful to use those backs on cards, whose originals have been discovered with a Red Cross back.

 One of the most interesting features of the T207 baseball card set are the player biographies on the back of the cards. Each of these bios needed to be retyped. We were careful to stay true to the original fonts and leave the original century old misspelled words. The one “improvement” that I could not resist was suggested by my teenage son, Jonathan. Jonathan collects cards and commented what a pain it was to keep un-numbered sets organized. For that reason, we numbered each of the cards in the set. I did not feel too bad about adding this one improvement since we felt that we clearly needed to also indicate that every card was a “REPRINT” and not an original. I hope that the hobby purists will forgive us for these minor changes.

Take Care,
Dean Hanley


 TO PURCHASE A T-207 REPRINT SET PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Dean Hanley is an authority on vintage sports cards and has written numerous articles on the topic. Mr. Hanley is the founder DeansCards.com, and with well-over one million vintage cards in inventory, DeansCards.com is the largest seller of vintage cards on the web. Dean is author of the new book, “Bowman & Topps Baseball Card Sets of 1948-1955”, which is now available for sale at Amazon.com. Dean has also published “Before there was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Cards”, which is also available in eBook form at Amazon.com .Please visit www.DeansCards.com to purchase this T207 Set.


If you are looking to sell your cards we would be happy to hear from you. Please fill out our sell your collection form here and we will be in touch.

1912 T207 Baseball Card Set

***The information in this article was used to write our ebook, Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Card Sets.  To purchase the ebook, please click here.***

Here at DeansCards.com, we have been lucky enough to see several dozen T207 baseball cards come through our doors. The T207 set, also commonly known as the brown background set, was manufactured by the tobacco industry giant, the American Tobacco Company, in 1912. Shortly after this set was printed, the American Tobacco Company would be dissolved due to a monopoly on tobacco.

There are several different backs that can be found on the T207 baseball cards. The most common is the Recruit back. We have several empty Recruit cigarette boxes in inventory now that are significantly smaller than modern day cigarette packs. Blank or anonymous backs are also somewhat common, depending on the factory number. Cycle, Broadleaf, and Napoleon are also rare backs that command a significantly higher price than the Recruit backs. The most expensive back is the Red Cross back, which was unknown to exist until a few years ago when a large lot of the cards were found. A few Mello-Mint backs, which take up the entire back of the cards, have also been discovered.

The T207 baseball cards measure 1½” by 2-5/8”. There are 200 cards total, six of which have variations that range from differences in cap color to the wrong back. One important aspect of the T207 set is that there are no major stars. However, that does not mean that there are not expensive cards within this set. Card #105 Irving Lewis has an A and B variation and both have very low populations. The A variation shows the original Boston Braves logo, while the B variation does not have a logo on his sleeve. Card #112 Louis Lowdermilk is the most expensive card in the set. Lowdermilk played only two years in the major leagues as a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Buck Weaver, one of the key players in the Black Sox scandal, is another expensive card in this set.

DeansCards.com is always looking to buy T207 baseball cards. If you are interested in selling T207 cards or any Pre-War baseball cards, please click here. If you would like to view our current inventory of T207 baseball cards, please click here.