Tris Speaker T206 + Autograph Custom by Tanner Jones
Tris Speaker T206 + Autograph Custom by Tanner Jones
March 26, 2024 · Written by Justin Farber
Creating a Custom T206 Collectible
While there was no need to improve a T206 card, much less a graded example of a Hall of Famer, I couldn't be happier with the collectible created.
Source Materials
In 2018 I made the decision to start work on a Piedmont-350 back T206 subset. The above 1910 T206 Tris Speaker card used in this project was part of this collection. It was one of the earliest HOF T206 cards I ever acquired. The Tris Speaker autograph I won in an eBay auction run by probstein123 in October, 2022 for about $800. I bought it as a fragile cut piece of paper shipped with a PSA/DNA Authenticity Letter. The signature was amazing, though I didn't have a great way to display it.
Artist Tanner Jones
Tanner “tanmanbaseballfan” Jones is a talented and popular hobby artist, renowned Jose Canseco collector and author of Confessions of a Baseball Card Addict. Tanner has been commissioned by hundreds of collectors to create amazing custom cards that often celebrate classic designs, incorporate unique relics and push the envelope of what trading cards are. He regularly shares his creations on his Instagram page - it's one of my favorites to follow. His work consistently leaves those who see it asking, “How does this guy not work for Topps or Panini?”
The Project's Origins
My original idea for this project was overly vague and ambitious: some sort of custom collection celebrating the 1912 Boston Red Sox World Series Championship. I assembled a collection of 1909-11 Boston Red Sox collectibles including a complete T206 Boston team subset, a couple relic cards, a few autographs and representations of the players across various tobacco card issues. I knew Tanner and had worked with him once before on a custom Larry Doby card, so I gave him a heads up, packed up the entire lot and sent it his way. With no defined plan in place, a few months passed before I finally decided to move forward with the Tris Speaker T206 + Autograph combo.
Designing the Card
I am not a designer, though thankfully Tanner is an exceptional one. I had also sent him two different Tris Speaker bat relic cards that we considered incorporating. Tanner wisely pointed out that the T206 + Autograph combination was already strong, and that the little pieces of wood would most likely take away from the design. Additionally, my initial request was to limit the size to 3.5" x 5.5" in order to fit into a standard oversized PSA holder. Tanner mocked this up for me though advised against it, since it would be a tight fit and limit the design.
With that advice, I confirmed the next largest PSA slab size was for T3 Turkey Reds. I knew I ultimately wanted to have the custom slabbed, so making full use of this space seemed logical. Then a thought: If it was going to use the size of a T3 Turkey Red card, perhaps it should also use the design? I communicated this idea to Tanner and sent him a scan of Tris Speaker's Turkey Red card. His execution on this still vague idea left me speechless!
The Finished Collectible
Tanner drafted the concept and it immediately exceeded my expectations. The design modernizes the iconic T3 design with ornate gold foil borders, and brings the action closer to home with Speaker's foot and bat stepping out of the inner border. The autograph and card are both well-centered and are minimally and accurately titled. The design marries these two historic artifacts while making them new again. The new PSA holder will protect this piece long term while making it easy to display. The custom's back does not disappoint. Tanner minimally adapted one of the iconic Turkey Red backs and skillfully included a window to see the iconic Piedmont 350 Subjects back.
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