T207 Brown Background Baseball Cards

Unlike earlier sets that were marked by striking color schemes, the American Tobacco Company went with a rather drab design in 1912. As it was, the breakup of the monopoly that spurred the blast of card issues after 1909 was winding down, which meant to a lesser amount of attention to the cards themselves. Unfortunately, the result was a set that featured a dull, unimaginative design, a gloomy color scheme and a lack of star power.

Player are shown on the card fronts in sepia and white drawings with a solid brown background. For a product that came along with a package of cigarettes, perhaps the smoky, gloomy motif was appropriate. A white strip below the photo contains the player's last name and team city. On the back, a biographical write-up about the player appears below his name. An advertisement for a cigarette brand runs along the bottom. With T207 cards, the bands were Recruit, Broadleaf, Cycle, Napoleon and the very scarce Red Cross. There is also an anonymous back that may have been used for other brands.

Despite having Hall of Famers like Walter Johnson and Tris Speaker among its 200 cards, the set suffers a little because big-name stars like Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson are missing. In addition to that, there are several cards in the set that have varying degrees of scarcity. Irving Lewis, Louis Lowdermilk and Ward Miller are the toughest, while Ralph Works, Victor Saier, Arthur Rasmussen and Morris Rath are also scarce. While many of those names aren't going to excite many collectors, they make piecing together a T207 set a challenge.

That's the selling point of a set like T207. It offers a chase without the price fluctuations found in other mainstream T-series sets.

Key T207 Brown Background Baseball Cards:

• Irving Lewis
• Louis Lowdermilk
• Ward Miller
• Tris Speaker
• Walter Johnson

Best Match Items Ending First Newly-Listed Items First Price + Shipping: Lowest First Price + Shipping: Highest First

T207 Recruit Little Cigars Brown Background Frank Chance SGC 30 2 - Chicago Cubs $145.00

1912 T207 (2) BROWN BACKGROUND JOSH DEVORE-GIANTS & DIXIE WALKER-WASHINGTON-NICE $29.99

1912 T207 (2) BROWN BACKGROUND ED RUELBACH-CUBS HERO & JIM DELEHANTY-TIGERS STAR $29.99

1912 T207 Brown Border Baseball Card - Devore, EX-MT 6 $295.00

1912 T207 (2) BROWN BACKGROUND ED MCDONALD-BOSTON BRAVES & CLAUDE DERRICK-A'S $29.99

1912 T207 (2) BROWN BACKGROUND BROOKLYN CY BARGER & PRETZEL KNETZER CARDS $29.99

1912 T207 Recruit Brown Background TRIS SPEAKER HOF Boston PSA 1 $699.99

1912 T207 (2) BROWN BACKGROUND ARMANDO MARSANS-FIRST CUBAN PLAYER & CHARLIE HALL $29.99