1911 T205 Gold Borders

A fantastic article written by Shawn Adkins and Joshua Levine in the Spring of 2007. The information mentioned in this article still holds true today! Buy the card - Not the holder.

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2.Advertising Backs

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3.Tier I Short Prints

The "Tier I Short Prints" are found with only three (3) advertising backs:

Piedmont (Factory 25)
Hassan (Factory 30)
Cycle

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4.Tier II Short Prints

The "Tier II Short Prints" are found with four (4) different advertising backs across five (5) factories:

Piedmont (Factory 25/42)
Hassan (Factory 30)
Honest Long Cut
Polar Bear

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5."Power" Short Prints

Although the title might be considered somewhat controversial to collectors, we've deemed a select few T205s to be considered as "Power Short Prints" due to the fact that they are found with two (2) or less advertising backs.

Note: This list currently excludes Minor League players

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6.Minor League Players

Minor league inclusions are the smallest group in the T205 series and feature a more elaborate design, including columns and other elements to frame a three-quarter length picture. All minor league players are found with two (2) advertising backs:

Hassan (Factory 649)
Polar Bear

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7.American League Players

Covering the largest percentage of the 1911 T205 Baseball checklist with over half the cards, American League players are shown inside a diamond-shaped frame, along with a baseball, two bats, a catcher's glove and mask. A banner featuring the player's name and team city appears below the picture, while a logo and team name appear in an upper corner.

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8.National League Players

Coming in at a total that is slightly less than the American League players, the National League cards are given larger portrait shots and their edges blend into the card's solid background. They also have a team name and logo in the upper corner, but a facsimile autograph appears below the photo in place of a printed name. This marked the first time a replica signature was found in a major card set.

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9.44 Most Difficult T205 Cards

44 Most Difficult T205 Cards

The cards pictured the cards here are in a somewhat of an "extremely hard to find order.

The SGC Power Rating is noted below the card.

Good luck to those just starting the very beautiful T205 set. We honestly believe the T205 Master Set is next to impossible to put together in any type of decent grade. Unless of course you have really deep pockets and the dedication to stick with it.

Many of the cards presented are just tough to find. Example (Mathewson 37-1).

Turner and I have worked on this set for the past 23 years.

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10.2014 - T205 SGC Power Ratings

Adjusted T205 SGC Power Ratings

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11.1911 T205 Gold Border Master Set

Welcome to “Matt and Turner’s T205 Site”
Home of the Gold Borders

AVERAGE GRADE 5.01

A TOUGH CARD IS A TOUGH CARD. NO MATTER WHAT HOLD IT RESTS IN... BUY THE CARD - NOT THE HOLDER. We don’t care what PSA cards sell for.

Today’s knowledgeable collectors are finding that higher grade T205's are becoming extremely hard to find.

Our website will help you focus on getting started or completing your basic or master set.
You may find completing a true master set will be next to impossible..

Sometimes certain collectors think if they have one high end T205 HOF (SGC 80) which is displayed ad nauseam on certain websites they can complete the elusive T205 set... only to fail miserably.

How many times do people have to see this card? Jeeeeze!

We have have listed the various difficulty / power rankings for each card, as well as providing a general overview of how you can put your gold border set together.

The T205 power rankings were determined with the help of numerous advanced gold border collectors within the hobby today.

The power rankings reflect the difficulty of each card.

A big thank you goes out to Sean Skeffington!

Please visit our Power Rankings page.

Always looking to buy, sell and trade T205’s.

Thank you,

Matt and Turner Engle

Set Started: November 2005
Set Completed: December 2016
Work in Progress November 2005 - ?

Complete                100%
Set Superiority

Cards are much more
vibrant in hand.

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12.T205 Variations

November 26, 2006

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13.T205 Find from Buckhead, Georgia

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Roughly 410 T205's (along with 468 T206's) were found in late 2016 in a neatly packed tin- inside a steamer trunk in Buckhead, Georgia. They are some of the most beautiful gold border cards we have ever seen.

We thought it would interesting to show the cards from this find grouped by player and display how many duplicates were found.

Every card had a Piedmont back with many of them being Piedmont 42's.

Take time to look at the Walter Johnson cards, you will find the overall grade of these cards pretty amazing. In our opinion the Cobb 70 is the the epitome of a T205 Gold Border!

As a T205 collectors, we find it fascinating studying who and how many cards of a particular player were issued and distributed from a particular tobacco brand.

How many times do modern collectors open a box and get duplicates of the same player?

I'm sure just like today... the 1911 buyers of these Piedmont cigarette packs may have been bummed to receive numerous duplicates.

I mean how many Latham, Bris Lord and Phelps cards did the Piedmont smoker need?
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Enjoy this unique find.

The family who discovered them gave them to an antique dealer in Roswell, Georgia to sell.

He contacted SGC and had them graded.

I am pleased to say our personal favorite and keeper is a Dolly Gray -Stats SGC 84. A true gem!

When looking at these beautiful cards. It really is amazing that so many earned a high grade after so many years sitting unprotected in a tin within the trunk.

Some variations and short prints were found, but not too many.

Thanks,

Matt and Turner
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