1911 American Tobacco Co. Auto Drivers Racing Forum

This set has at least two different backs - Hassan and Mecca.  I'm currently looking to find out if there are also Factory Variations.  Is this someting that the folks in charge of the site would add?  I've been on other sites (mostly SCF, but I'm done with them) but new on TCDB and not sure how it works with things like this.  Any info greatly appreciated! 

If I'm reading this correctly there could be many different "backs". Durring the tobacco years there were no "factory variations" as the cards were themselves inserts to the cigarette packaging to keep the cigarettes from getting crushed. Cigarette packages were like todays packages very flimsy just basically paper wrapping. The brands on the back if I recall my card history correctly were whatever brand the cards were inserted to. I guess one would have to look up what brands the American Tobacco Company distributed in 1911 to know which backs there were. From a quick look around the internet I can only see evidence of there being Hassan and Mecca backs.

on this forum page http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=211636&page=4 post #37 has a list of different series and the backs they have. These Autodriver cards are also known as series T36

IndyBean17, welcome back to the site.  Your saying that you are new to TCDB yet being a member since 2011 raises an issue that has been discussed here recently - inactive members and what to do about their accounts.  You are an example of someone whose account would have been deleted had some members' suggestions been acted on.  From the discussion that went on for days, I believe Admin has made it possible for members to see how active a member has been on the site. 

Welcome back; I think your choice of card collectors sites has now landed you on the best site that exists.

It's crazy to me that with the internet, it's still difficult to find info on a lot of these older sets.  I'm also running into a lack of info on the 1960 Parkhurst Hawes Wax Indy (also known as V338-2 or Indianapolis Speedway Winners) set.  For me, it adds to the intrigue.  Hopefully as more show up, I can find more out.  Some of the best info I found on the T36 set was from an old online auction.  An image of a corporate newsletter was posted and apparently the Auto Drivers cards were only placed into packs for a few days.  

I wish I could help, but I don't have any of the cards. They are all on my wantlist, but I've never seen any in person. Welcome to the Database!

Thanks Billy!

Hoping to become more active and get more cards into the database.  It's obviously just a lot of the work and with the wifey and a 14-year old high school freshman, there's not a ton of time alone.  Most of what I do have is working on my card blog and other small projects.  

On a side note, I set mobile notifications for when you tweet, so I will RT your blog posts from my blog Twitter handle (@beansbcardblog).  

-kin

I didn't put two and two together, I've been reading your blog for a while now. Good to have another card blogger here!

I did some quick research tonight. Unfortunately these aren't readily available and it will take time to confirm is there are four variations per card.

I already have variations of the Ralph DePalma card. I purchased both that I've seen. One has a Mecca back and one a Hassan back. On the George Robertson I have a Hassan/Factory 649 version. There is also a Hassan/Factory 30 back that's available out there.

Those are the only variations I can confirm at this time, but they are different types of variations. It'll take more surfacing before I can obtain any additional information.

None of the baseball tobacco cards have the back variations listed. That might be the way Admin wants it. In 1911 at the time American Tobacco was ordered to break up its monopoly they had 65 companies. It'd be kind of ridiculous to have 65 parallel sets listed just for different backs.

As opposed to the 120 parallels of the Topps tek baseball set? I may have the number wrong but I think I read somewhere there were multiple parallels.

When I can confirm a set as having multiple backs, I post checklists for each version...but I've only been able to confirm it with two or three sets.

I suspect they aren't listed here because most of the sets this is done on are well before the time of anyone here. I doubt anyone alive in 1911 is on this forum (though I would love to be proven wrong).

These should definitely be listed separately, if the info can be found.