E270 Red Border Cobb on ebay

Were you guys watching this auction? WOW. Anyone ever seen one of these babies before? I haven't. Kinda neat to see the design differences between it and the regular E254 Cobb.

I was one of the underbidders on the Cobb. A tough card, but NOT unique in any way--I have seen 3 sell in the past year or two.

Anyways, it does differ from the E254 Cobb. There are only a few within the set that have this unique look to them with the name & team on the chest as opposed to the sides of the head. I have only documented this occurring on Cobb, Hughes (Louisville) **see below**, and one of the Murch variations (Indy I believe-but that was along time ago). I'm sure there are others in the set with this set-up but those are the only 3 that I have ever seen or heard of.

Here is my Hughes that has the same set-up, along with his E254 card...

That is an awesome card. There was such a big deal made over the Tin Tops two years ago, but I would much rather have a Red Border. While the only way to distinguish the Tin Top from regular Colgan Chips is by the back, the front of the Red Border is distinctive. If population reports are to believed, it is much rarer than any of the Tin Top Cobb, Jackson, Thorpe, etc.

Rhett, Where did you see three offered last year? The only other red border Cobb I remember offered was with a small group in the August 2007 Mastro auction.

There was a bigger deal made about the TinTops due to the fact that they are rarer than the Red Border cards (don't let the recent find fool you). There are only 2 cards in the Red Border set that were not included in the previous E254 set, so all the photos are just reprinted from the E254's but with a Red Border added. However, the black background Red Border cards are also cool and have a unique look to them.

The TinTops look like the E254's, and when the player is still with the team he is pictured on in the E254's they tend to sell for less than the players unique to the E270 set. The TinTops are exciting due to the many players only found there--like the Thorpe and Jackson. Over half the TinTops picture these new players or old players with new pix or new teams--also new additions to the checklist are bein found all the time.

-Rhett

-Rhett

Wow - I seemed to have missed all of the red border Cobbs as well. Rhett - can you tell us where the 3 were offered? How much did they sell for?

I remember that Mastro one as well back in 2007. Beautiful image.

The Tin Tops certainly are hurt by their repeating fronts from the regular Colgans. The difference in the backs are so subtle that it can be easy to miss if you don't know what you are looking for. The red border issue is so distinct.

Regardless of which is rarer, both red border and tin tops are really really tough with only single digit tin top Jackson and Thorpe and red border cobbs in existance.

One of the 3 was in the Mastro 2007 auction, and another was in a smaller auction house (a non-sports/antiques auction house) that had small group of the Red Borders, that I only happened to see after the fact (non-ebay), and the last was a private sale, but I was merely commenting on the fact that the seller was claiming the card was "unique" which it isn't.

Is the card tough? Yes
Are there less Cobb Red Borders than any other Red Border? Not from my experience.

-Rhett