Key card in the T206 set?
 

Not including the big 4, what is the key card in the T206 set.

Demmitt/ O'Hara, or did the Green Cobb take over?

Grouping Demmitt and O'Hara together, as the value of them are quite similar.

Personal taste aside, I think Green Cobby is the clear cut winner in terms of prices realized and general demand.

Pretty clearly the Green Cobb these days.

Yeah, that's what I was figuring, but I want to see how it plays out.

Votes coming in for a few others as well.

I too think the green Cobb has shot to #5 in the T206 set.

The way the green Cobb has skyrocketed over the past 18 months, it may move past Magie (the big 5? the fortunate 5?). I've seen instances lately where you could pick up both Demmitt and O'Hara Stl. for the price of a green Cobb.

T206
 

Green Cobb -100%

I voted Green Cobb but was tempted to vote other. To me the “key” is whatever gets you hooked. And for most that is more likely to be a common that gets them to chase more cards. But for me picking up my Green Cobb was a milestone. Card number 511 for me. I was hoping one of the Cy Young cards would be 511 but I’ll settle for my Cobb.

I voted for the red card because of it affordability, a less scarce version and still a portrait card.

That said, I didn’t factor the most important thing, demand. Would like to change my vote to the green Cobb.

It's no longer even debatable.

Right now, it's the green Cobb for sure. Does that always hold up? I'm not so sure.

Both Demmitt/O'Hara are significantly rarer. They're much closer to the Magie in terms of rarity than even the Cobb is to them. It's a pretty wide gap. Non-set collectors don't care about those cards as much as Cobb. But, by comparison, there are a LOT more of the green Cobbs out there.

The Tinker with Chicago showing clearly under cubs on the jersey.

There's only two so far.

i think cobb green has overtaken demmitt and o'hara in desirability and values. Only hard core T206 collectors care about the st louis variations...esp if you're going for the set...but there are way more people who'd want a cobb greeny, IMO.

There's a lot of folks who are happy with 518. While I went ahead and did the 520 (my set is low grade, but not painfully so) I could have been happy at 518 and bought a couple of extra Green Cobbs at the time...which would have been the better play.

Agree - meant to say that non-set collectors don't care about those cards as much as Cobb. I think that's why the Cobb has overtaken those - a lot more people would rather have a HOFer than a team variation. I could still see those cards overtaking the Cobb at some point based on the rarity but Cobb is clearly ahead right now.

I don’t think green Cobb will fall behind in this race. Demand has higher weight than scarcity. I think our hobby will evolve as it has been trending. If you take a look at modern, there are no set collectors, everyone wants the key card from the best set. All else aren’t worth as much.

Who do you think we will pass the torch to? Collectors who collected modern that turned vintage. You see that star card phenomenon in post war cards. But set collecting in prewar is still popular because those that collect prewar love the history and the collecting Chase. That said, as more prewar collectors get added to the group, the more modern collecting vintage will become. So I definitely I think this is more of an hobby evolution versus a trend.

Possibly - but collectors also change focus over time. Before I got into vintage, I wasn't a set collector at all. But as soon as I started working on older stuff, my focus entirely changed and now I'm primarily a set collector.

It's possible that the Green Cobb never gives way to those cards. But I don't necessarily believe set collecting will cease to exist just because new collectors enter the market with no real experience in that area.