Breaking News: A New T206 "Really Cool Discovery" Has Been Made

Happy Friday! Here’s a special Attic Find Friday (of sorts) that I wrote up for SI Collectibles Wednesday night. Imagine finding a $10,000 baseball card at Goodwill!

I am far from a T206 expert, and I mean far. I know enough to be dangerous. So when someone emails me to tell me they believe they have discovered a new card on one of the “back” checklists, I’m skeptical.

Mike, a viewer and reader of mine, emailed me recently to tell me that he had discovered a George Schirm Carolina Brights T206 card.

“About a year ago, I bought a T206 card that was sold as 'unsure if real,'“ Mike told me. “You know, the kinda transaction you should NEVER make. The thing is, I've read books on authenticating old cards, and have access to tons of equipment like black lights & microscopes from my family's time in the jewelry business, so I did what I could with pics and decided to buy the card.”

What made this card so special?

“It was a no-name T206 card, but with a Carolina Brights back (heavily damaged, but clearly CB). That’s cool, but also this particular player has never before been found with a CB back by any grading company. I examined every imaginable way and quickly became confident it was original. I just got it back from CGC and it was graded as authentic, and I'm super pumped.”

Who is George Schirm? He appears to have only played in the minor leagues from 1906-1914, where stats were incomplete, playing mostly for the Buffalo Bisons.

In fact, his T206 may be his only baseball card at all.

I combed over the big four pop reports to confirm Mike’s claim that this card had never been seen before.

• CGC’s pop report does not seem to break out their T206 pop report by back

• Beckett has 4 Schirm backs, but Carolina Brights is not one of them

• PSA has 9 Schirm backs, but Carolina Brights is not one of them

• SGC has 7 Schirm backs, but Carolina Brights is not one of them

In fact, PSA’s Carolina Brights T206 Complete Back Brand Set only has 127 cards, possibly due to staffing capacity reassignments at PSA away from the Registry.

A 2011 Net54 thread reported only 128 Carolina Brights backs.

I reached out to Joe Corso, of Robert Edward Auctions, who calls himself a “T206 diehard.” When I told him what I thought Mike had, he responded, “Interesting. Schirm has been deemed a probable no print for that back by T206 resource. But, it wasn’t ruled out entirely.”

Corso said it would be “a really cool discovery.”

He pointed me to T206 Resource, which I had not found in my research, which confirms that this has been considered a “probable no-print.” It also confirms the 131-card checklist.

I asked him about value. After examining scans of the card, Corso responded, “It’s unfortunate about the back damage. In that condition, worth probably a couple grand at best.”

“If the back was in better condition it would be worth substantially more.”

“I paid only about $50 for the card!” Mike told me. He says he prefers to stay anonymous and is not interested in selling.

“I've been collecting T206 since the ‘90s with my dad, and like you, got back into cards during COVID and basically just buy for fun now and don't care to sell anything.”

How often do new T206 cards get discovered? “Infrequently,” Corso told me. “But they do happen.”

He pointed me to a new Ty Cobb discovery REA auctioned off for $270,000 in the spring of 2024. The only confirmed example of a Cobb Broad Leaf 350 back.

“T206 diehards like myself always get excited about new combo discoveries,” Corso said. “The set has been out for 115 years and new discoveries are still being made. Doesn’t get any cooler for a set collector than that.”

I reached out to Andy Broome, VP at CGC Cards, for comment, who quickly responded telling me he had limited cell service due to the hurricane. I hope he and his family are safe. I will update this when I hear back.

Edit Oct 11 9am ET: I asked Mike if he had tried sending the card to PSA or SGC. Here was his response:

Yes good question... I did talk to SGC about it, actually on the phone even. They took a look at it, and 'declined to grade' it. It was not labeled as 'counterfeit' as they would label normally something that was fake. I spoke on the phone with Brent at SGC (always appreciate their customer service btw), and they essentially said that the card was real but because of the back damage they were declining to grade it. It was a little strange of an explanation to be honest, but whatever.

Regarding PSA, I honestly just don't like them. I had been a member for a year before I let it lapse and disliked their grading, their slabs, their customer service, and don't care about registries or resale values. I grade things so when my daughter inherits all this stuff it'll be clear what it is and she can deal it reasonably easily if she chooses to. I have moved over most of my grading to CGC and prefer their slabs and grading quality to PSA, so figured I'd send it there. I know all the talent from Beckett moved over there (Andy Broome & Team), and thought they'd be as qualified as anyone to assess it.

Tell me what you think in comments, and don’t forget to subscribe!