Fun/Expert Advice needed

[Maelman]

Hi I am new to the forums and I have to say this looks like a great community. I collected baseball cards from 10-16 and now at 26 I am looking to get back into collecting in the PreWWII era. If anyone would like to reply I am looking for recommendations on a set that I can focus on. I am looking for a set that I will be able to piece together over a 5-10 year period with most cards being on the affordable side (commonly graded examples at around the $50 mark) and a handful of the HOF cards that I will have to shell out up to a few thousand for. So far looking around I have enjoyed looking at your examples of all different sets and I am not really determined to get specific players just a fun challenge of a set to complete that isnt in the unattainable range. I look forward to hearing anyones advice!

[Leon]

Let me start to try to narrow it down a bit for you. From what you have seen do you like color or black and white cards, or does it matter? Do you have a specific era you might enjoy other than generically before WWII? Any teams or players you really like...or is it just the hunt of a good set, regardless of much else, that will do it for you? Welcome aboard our forum too!!

[Maelman]

#1 is definitely the hunt of a good set. I initially was interested in the w514 set, the cards seem to be reasonably priced and I like the black sox 7/8 players but I am not sure that I am that interested in handcut cards. Most of the players and cards that I have enjoyed looking at fall in the 1909-1929 range. Black and white or color is of no preference to me. A set that knowledgeable collectors feel is underrated compared to the other sets that have a bigger following would be interesting to me.

[Leon]

A couple neat little sets are the R305 Tattoo Orbit set and the Delong set. They can be had for not a whole lot of money and are really art deco looking, though they are a few years (1933) beyond what you stated. There should be plenty of other suggestions to help...

[barrysloate]

You might want to go on a website such as Old Cardboard, which is linked to this one, and study the designs of the various vintage sets. Often collectors go after ones that have a certain appealing look to them. You also want to go through the checklist and see if there are enough interesting players. Finally, I would check a price guide just to make sure the set is affordable and can be completed. You may find E107 attractive, but you can't realistically work on a set.

[btcarfagno]

I have always thought that the M116 set would be an attainable challenge. Nice looking cards, huge player selection, lots of Hall of Famers, a few scarcities (the blue backgrounds) but at fairly affordable prices.

Tom C

[quinnsryche]

Playballs. 1939 for current (b&w), 1940 for current and past stars (b&w) or 1941 for current in color. All reasonably priced (No Ruth, Gehrig or Cobb in those although the '40 set has Joe Jackson). 1941 has DiMaggio and Williams as the high value cards. Good looking sets, worth a peek.
Good luck and welcome back!:)

[Matt]

I have always thought that the M116 set would be an attainable challenge. Nice looking cards, huge player selection, lots of Hall of Famers, a few scarcities (the blue backgrounds) but at fairly affordable prices.

Tom C

M116 set would be quite formidable and you'd have a huge sense of accomplishment when completed 5-10 years down the road.

I'd ask the following 2 questions to help narrow the field:
1) How much overall are you looking to spend for the whole set?
2) Do you prefer a smaller set with more expensive commons or a larger set with cheaper commons?

[iggyman]

If you don't mind blank back cards, how about the 1929 R316 Kashin Publications set? One of my favorite B&W sets with great pics and reasonable prices. Plus, once you are finished you end-up with Hornsby, Grove, Foxx, Gehrig, Ruth, and a Moe Berg.

Lovely Day...

3288732888

[mintacular]

Hi, I like T205 and T206s because in the case of the T205s the gold border and T206 because of the poses/color mostly...The advantage to these is that they are pretty mainstream and plentiful compared to more obscure sets so I can get my "fix" pretty easily... :) If you don't want to put the $/time into trying to complete these you can do team sets, back-sets, or other "sub-sets" and feel the sense of completion that way...

[smtjoy]

1921 Exhibit is one of my favorites, fits what your asking for, great action shots, only two expensive cards- Ruth and Cobb.

I also like the 1933 Delong set, not too expensive and nice grouping of HOFers.

A little more expensive but only 30 cards is the E93 set with tons of great HOFers.

[vintagecpa]

Take a look at the T205 basic set. Over 200 cards, but you only need to purchase one Cobb, Johnson, Young, Matty, etc. If you choose the T206 or Goudey 1933, you need to buy 4 Cobb or 4 Ruth cards (as an example). If you are going to collect it over 5-10 years, you can purchase tons of cheaper commons that are always available while occasionally splurging for one of the big names. Good Luck!

[FrankWakefield]

An idea might be to go for Delongs. There are a few cards there that will cost some money. The others aren't that expensive. An "up" side to the set is that there aren't many of them, so completing the set is a real possibility. When commencing something of this nature it works well if one has attainable goals, it helps maintain interest.

[T206Collector]

T ....2..... 0...........6..............

Why try anything else? It has everything the other sets have, and so much more.

[edhans]

Can't help but put in plug for my favorite set-E90-1. VG commons (about half the set) will run you $40-60 a copy. Then there are varying levels of difficulty up to the last 12-15 cards, which will be very tough indeed. All topped off by the Joe Jax, which would probably cost about $10-12K in today's market. A beautiful and timeless set when complete.

[jeffmohler]

1933 Goudey - I am surprised no one has mentioned this set yet. I like the Art Deco look of the portraits. Not sure I care for the action shots as much. Nice looking commons in EX are available for less than $50.00.

[mybuddyinc]

Go regional !!!!!!!!!!!!

From the West/NW -- Obak's T212
From Central/South/SE -- Old Mill T210

Lot of variety and decent availability --- $25-50 range.

Lot of "sub-set" goals to reach along the way.

[deadballera]

Depending on the ERA that you want to start collecting.


1933 Goudey or the T205/M116 would be a good start.

[ethicsprof]

Paul M( T206 collector) spells my choice quite well.
all the best in your quest,

barry

[birdman42]

Have you considered type cards? I can vouch for the thrill of the hunt, as can a few others on the board. You can set your goals as broad or as narrow as you want.

I collect only Washington players, so I don't worry about any of the minor league sets, or lots of the E-9x's.

Or you could choose a favorite player and go after one of each of their cards. HOFers can be pricey, but if you select someone who played for a while, you can still end up with 30-40 cards. For my Washington set I've sort of focused on Clyde Milan --> Joe Judge --> Cecil Travis. That carries me through most of the major sets (and a few minor ones) from 1907 through 1941.

Or collect only horizontal cards. Or minor leaguers in major-league sets. Or... or... Whatever strikes your fancy.

Whatever you start out with, don't be afraid to change your mind. If you buy judiciously, you'll be able to get out of your cards if you change focus. (Check through some listings on the B/S/T and see how often that "change focus" phrase shows up.)

And remember, it's a fun hobby. Collect What You Want. Start slow, by doing some research, as other posters have suggested. Then buy a few raw cards for cheap to get a feel for them. There's no substitute for running your fingers across the surface of a well-loved card.

I've been collecting for almost 30 years off and on, and I still have lots to look for.

Bill

[mrvster]

The set to collect is T206.....:D....look no further....

Peace

Johnny

[Touch'EmAll]

The "not a set set" - aka cool type collection, focus on HOF'ers.

I would rather look at a bunch of cool random prewar HOF cards - than a bunch of pretty much the same looking cardboard.

For some reason, never been into commons.

O/T - Goodwin has some nice stuff closing Friday - fingers crossed !

[DixieBaseball]

You could collect this set in various ways with very little money. You could collect from this set a :

1. Town/City (Nashville)
2. State (Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham)
3. Team (There are 51 to choose from and I bet one near your hometown/home)
4. A series (There are 8 different series representing 8 different leagues)
5. A Pose (Portraits or In action Poses -Pitchers, Hitters, Sweaters, Jackets, etc.)

This Minor League set is comprised of 650 cards or so and has some of the most amazing looks and is relatively inexpensive, but rewarding as it will take some time once you pick a theme. (I collect Southern leaguers, but do have an example from each of the 51 teams)

Good Luck & might I suggest you take your time before you dive in, as what I have seen is most collector's change focus over and over, and eventually settle in after refreshing their collection a handful of times. (This sort of makes the hunt fun, but you can save time and money by being selective)

Best, JJ

[Maelman]

Everyone thank you soo much for all of the great replies!!! I have gone through each post and started research on all the recommended sets/sub sets/focus areas! I am starting to get that great feeling I once had about collecting cards when I was young. Since I have not followed collecting in such a long time I have lost my knowledge on the market prices like I once had. I worked in a card shop for a few years and it was sad that the card companies couldnt figure out that they were killing their following by flooding the hobby with an infinite supply of cards that couldnt possibly hold their "beckett value." It was always awful to see the look on a collectors face when they came in to sell their lifelong collection and I had to tell them what its real current value was. I think that is definitely a reason that I am soo interested in getting back into collecting in preWWII. I have noticed that right now seems like a great time to be collecting vintage cards as far as current prices? Is this correct?

[ValKehl]

I'm not a set collector, but if I were you, it would be the 1916 M101-4/5s. I like real-photo cards, and I like the many different ads on the backs of these cards (some of the ad backs have different ACC #s) (I would ignore the blank backs, which are the easiest to find, because I really like the ad backs). The set is of reasonable size - 200 cards plus a few variations, and I would go for a mix of the different ad backs (with at least one of each, which won't be easy as a few of them are quite scarce). There are lots of HOFers/lesser stars, with a great mix of players from the "dead ball" era and players who were more prominent in the "live ball" 1920s. Costwise, the drawback could be the Jackson & Ruth cards, which I would look to obtain in poor-fair condition in order to keep them more or less affordable. FYI, the M101-4/5s don't get a lotta love from the vintage collecting community, IMHO.

Also, I suggest you obtain a copy of the Standard Catalog of BB Cards and go through the vintage section page-by-page. This will enable you to quickly identify and make an initial list of several possibilities that you can then research further, including learning the pros and cons of each set.

Whatever you decide, Happy collecting!!
Val