Well, it has been a LONG time since I’ve managed to add to this series. It has been stuck at around 13 cards for at least a year. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been working on it. It seems to me that this should be an important set (for me, at least), so there were at least four months where I did nothing but think about what direction I wanted to take the project. Finally we started the actual painting and just recently I finished all the pre-production work. I think they look pretty good!
We’re going to try to go deep into the rosters of each team. If you’ve followed our work you know that we love doing as many different players as possible in each series. It may be much more work but, in the end, I think that it makes for a more historically important statement.
In addition, there are two new aspects that should be fun. I am printing 26 cards of each player. The same figure of, say, Billy Gilbert of the New York Nat’l team, will be placed against many different, colorful backgrounds. Some players will have as many as fourteen different backgrounds. Your first thought may be that this seems like overkill. However, most of the backgrounds give the card a significantly different look. It often seems like a completely different card, at least in person! The aim is to keep things fresh and I hope that after a few months that you’ll agree.
The second new aspect is that the backs are a major departure for us. I have designed a number of different backs, with most in full color. Any card may have as many as 13 different backs. With only 26 cards made, there may be only two cards made that are exactly the same. Actually, there are a fair number of cards that will completely unique. Here is an example of my print sheet for Billy Gilbert. Remember, sheets must be flipped during production.
Helmar Sports Cards and Baseball History 
Being new to your company I’ve been reading the archived posts to learn more about each series and the Helmar philosophy regarding future production . The change in the T206s is a positive one as it allows collectors more variety and reflects the difference in individual taste . Looking at these backs for instance , my first choice would be the exotic looking girl carrying the tray held high ( a cross collectible with beer lovers ) followed closely by the batter in the Boston Garter advertisement . I hope the girl ( Helen of Helmar ? ) can make future appearances in other Series especially if she makes already limited production even smaller with ‘ back ‘ variations . She’d look real nice on any of your cabinet cards ! I’m also pleased to see that you do commissions – the die cut team displays and the T202 Ruth family – and hope you’ll consider doing one ( baseball historical commemorative ) for me next year . My collecting budget this year is focused on the 6 player die cuts and I hope to end up with 2-3 of each Major League Team and all of the Minor League Teams . Do you have a company policy on commissions or is every request considered separately ? Again thanks , Mark
LikeLike
Hi Mark, I like “Helen of Helmar”, too. I’m sure that she’ll be making additional appearances. On this t206-helmar series, there should be some 80 new cards released in the fall…quite a few! And yes, we do love doing commissions as time permits. Just let me know when you are ready.
LikeLike