Ty Cobb
‘Beautiful Monster’ T206 collection, unsealed vintage wax boxes highlight Heritage Winter auction
T206 baseball cards from the 1909-11 American Tobacco Company sets are often dubbed “The Monster” for both the size and wide variety of the popular tobacco cards.
A collection of T206 cards up for bid in the Winter Sports Auction at Heritage Auctions is aptly called “The Beautiful Monster” because the owner placed great emphasis on “beautiful” when assembling his magnificent collection.
The unnamed consignor bought a nearly complete set of graded T206s about a decade ago, with each card graded Very Good to Near-Mint, and kept only the ones he deemed “beautiful.” At a card show in Chicago that same year, he purchased a collection of mid- to high-grade T206 cards, again focusing on the cards that met his high standards.
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“The Beautiful Monster” Collection, which includes 520 T206 cards, highlights Heritage’s Winter Sports Auction, which runs through Jan. 26-27.
“At Heritage, tomorrow always offers an opportunity to collect something extraordinary from yesterday, and that’s never truer than in this year’s Winter Sports Card Catalog Auction,” says Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions at Heritage. “Any one of these collections is a centerpiece offering. But to see them all together is almost overwhelming, and we’re thrilled to kick off 2024 with such a historic event that pays tribute to the hobby that looks stronger than ever heading into the future.”
The T206 collection includes a 1909-11 T206 Piedmont 150 Ty Cobb, graded PSA EX-MT 6, which has just three cards graded higher, and a T206 red portrait with a Piedmont 350-460/25 graded an extraordinary PSA NM 7. A green portrait graded PSA 6 is also up for bid.
Also featured is a Cobb Piedmont 150 featuring the bat on his shoulder and graded PSA NM 7.
Also in the collection is a 1909-11 T206 Uzit Rube Marquard, which is so rare PSA has graded only two examples. The NM 7 is by far the highest grade.
Other vintage card highlights in the auction include:
• The highest graded blank-back 1916 M101-5 Babe Ruth rookie card.
• A 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card graded PSA Gem Mint 10.
• An uncut sheet of 1986 Fleer Basketball featuring all 132 cards.
Also highlighted is the Rupp Collection owned by Adolph F. “Herky” Rupp Jr., the son of the legendary Kentucky basketball coach, who Heritage says “collected cards like his dad collected collegiate wins.”
The Rupp Collection includes an impressive collection of unsealed wax, including: a 1970 Topps baseball cello box with 24 unopened packs; an authenticated and sealed box of 1965 Topps Baseball cards with 24 unopened packs; and a 1966 Topps Baseball wax box with 14 unopened packs.
The collection also includes one of the highest graded 1953 Topps Willie Mays cards, graded PSA 8, and a 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson card, graded PSA 7.
Also featured are autographs cards of Robinson and Mickey Mantle from the collection of Mike Greenbaum, who grew up near Yankee Stadium in the 1950s and collected autographs of such legends as Mantle, Robinson, Ted Williams, Warren Spahn and others.
