T206 Team Set Collecting
 

There have been a couple of great threads lately which featured T206 team set collecting. I didn't want to hijack those threads, but I was wondering about a couple of things. #1, how do those of you who collect T206 (or another prewar set I suppose) by team actually chose the team to collect? Do you collect your favorite team, or maybe you choose your team based on who or who is not in a particular team set or maybe just the way certain cards look? Me personally, I live in the South and am a Cardinals fan, but I am finding myself more drawn to the NY T206 cards, particularly Brooklyn and am becoming motivated to put together a collage like I have seen in the other threads. The cards just look so incredible together!

In order to do that, I would greatly prefer that the cards be ungraded. Which brings me to #2: How easy is it to find ungraded T206s that aren't beaters or trimmed? I am looking at VG-VGEX at best. I suppose I could just buy PSA/SGC graded cards (probably 2s-4s) and crack them out. Anyone here do that? Admittedly, I am a two time loser/slow learner when it comes to T206, but I am always drawn back to them. I used to think it was crazy for people to collect backs of cards, but I now see the appeal. The lithography is just so visually appealing to me. I give up and am giving in and figure the team set approach will give me a little goal that I can handle and allow me to just enjoy myself and play with some backs in the process.

It was pretty simple for me - I collect the Providence Grays T206 cards because I am from RI and have lived in or around Providence my whole life. I started a few years ago by getting one of each player regardless of the back brand. Later, I started to try to pick up as many different backs for each of the eight players as I could. Getting very hard to add any new cards now, though.

I had a handful of T206s, a Christy Mathewson, Tinker, Evers and Chance in a frame, etc. But as much as I loved them I knew I'd never be able to even approach collecting the set. I decided to collect raw versions of the Eastern League Orioles players. It was a fun little chase, two chases actually. I had originally relied on an old (2nd Edition) copy of the Sports Collectors Bible. It had six Orioles listed. A couple of years ago I came across the actual list. So it was back to chasing for me. I now have all nine.

I can relate. I like how the cards look but have no delusions about ever even making a move in the direction of collecting the whole set. If I can get a decent run of some Cardinals and/or Brooklyn with a variety of backs, I would be ecstatic! I like the SLers, too.

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My T206 team set is made up of Chicago White Sox - the team that I grew up rooting for. I started out with the intention of just getting one card for each of the 28 different fronts in the set, and I was able to complete that fairly quickly.

I then decided to try and complete a master set. :( I'm up to 212 now - and who knows if I'll ever finish it due to the Drum/Broadleaf/Lenox/Uzit/Hindu backs that I would need to pick up...

I wish that I could figure out how to make a collage of my set like Nate did in his other thread, but for now the best that I can do is to show them off from my Collector Focus page:

http://www.collectorfocus.com/collec...sox-master-set

If you are looking for ungraded cards, I would suggest getting them from the many good Net54ers in the B/S/T section - buying raw on eBay could be sketchy if you're not used to detecting trimmed or altered cards. I've also bought many graded cards in the 2-4 range and cracked them out (of their PSA holders :)) to change them over to my all-SGC graded set. I just like the way the cards look framed by the black inserts.

Good luck with whatever team you decide to go with!

I visited your page...you have some great cards! If I stay with graded cards, I would want most or all of them in SGC holders for sure. After sleeping on it, I am leaning toward doing with the Cardinals what you have done with the White Sox. I may someday run up against some rare backs I can't find or afford, but I would have a lot of nice St. Louis cards despite that.

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Born and raised a diehard Cleveland Indians fan. Simple as that (now I did sell the team set to fund a bigger purchase, but I'll get back into it at some point).

I collect the Phillies, because they have always been my team.

From a T206 perspective, it has been quite fun to put together a T-206 Phillies team set, as my collecting journey on this over the last ±20 years has included the following:

A famous error card
Collecting examples in high grade and low grade
Examples from each of the different advertising backs known to exist
Proof cards
Player runs
Mr. Mustache

It's been a fun journey for me. Depends on what you collect and how you like to collect, but there's a ton of ways you can have fun with a team set based module for the T206 set

Cubbies fan here since age 8 so obvious decision. Trying to decide if to get them slabbed for display and handling purposes.

I find it interesting that when T206's are laid out in team groupings the Colors and general motiff of the cards are often the same. Chicago White Sox all look the same while St Louis players have a lot of red and yellows Toronto are all red ones etc
I would love to know more about the hierarchy of the players and how it was determined who would have a portrait and who would get a less-distinguished labor pose... and who got both!

Ken, I have seen you show off some of your Cub T205s before---very impressive!

Just picked up Frank Chance in T205 American Beauty last night off of ebay. A very difficult card. And also got an upgrade Chance in Piedmont 42.

Ken, congratulations! You are moving on toward completion!!

Missing 6 cards including Drum Mordecai Brown and the 2 Hindus. Have seen 2 or the other 3 cards that are rare commons. So the short answer is yes I am close to completion.

Thanks for the compliment Robert!

If you proceed with a Cardinals master set, be sure to keep us all updated with your progress!

I collect my hometown team sets, but I have 2 hometowns so that expands it a bit for me. :)

I collect Providence too, though I only have the easy backs. Same reason: I spent the first 22 years of my life in Rhode Island.

I am genuinely interested in pursuing a T206 Cardinals set. That was a contributing factor in starting this thread. I have dabbled in T206 twice before and had no real strategy and ended up bailing out both times. I am not really thinking about ever making a run at 520. I have grown to like the cards (they keep luring me back), including the backs. The lithography is really eye catching to me. To try and avoid being a three time loser in T206, I have done more homework this time, including putting together a spreadsheet of every possible back for each card in the Cardinals team set.

This is an appealing project to me, however, I am also fascinated with the Southern Leaguers. In this instance, it isn't just the T206 version of these minor leaguers which interests me. I have been thinking about collecting the T206 Southern Leaguers and following those players into T210 and T211 (those Red Sun backs are cool). I have done homework here, too and worked to educate myself on the southern league cards. I have a spreadsheet now which lists the T206 SLers cards and also lists their T210 (in whatever series they may appear) and T211.

The Cardinals and SLers seem like really different projects, but both seem fun. I am not sure that I could afford to do both well. I guess over time perhaps I could. The SL project could be fun because it would expose me to other sets beyond T206. I am genuinely torn here as to which way to go.

There's a lot of experience floating around here. I sense the team set would be easier?? Though easiest isn't the primary consideration.



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Since the O's are my favorite team, I collect the Baltimore players in the set. Once I get all of them, I will probably go after the Brooklyn players since the Brooklyn Dodgers are my 2nd favorite team. I would also like to eventually add the Charleston players to my PC as well.

Duane Clark

Are you going for a master set or just one of each subject? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk