[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Bill, your original premise is excellent, and if all collectors moving into a new area of collecting did something similar, there would be far fewer fraudsters lining their pockets at the expense of inexperienced collectors.

Buying the "cheap stuff" first and becoming familiar familiar with the new area you are moving into is excellent advice, regardless of whether you are dipping your toes into pre-war cards, vintage photographs, autographs, game-used, whatever. Some of the wisest advice I have heard went something like, "You're going to make mistakes early on, so isn't it better to make a mistake on a $5 purchase than on a $5k purchase?"

As with anything, the more you handle of the real thing (regardless of value), the easier it will be to recognize the fakes. The only thing I might add is, why stop with one cheap exemplar to compare to? Pick up 2 or 3 or 4, in different conditions, and then you've really got something to go from. Like I said though, I think you have a great approach, and are far less likely to be taken advantage of as you slowly edge into deeper waters than those who dive head first into the deep end before they've had their first swimming lesson.

Edited to add: I think it was David Cycleback who I'm quoting, though he may have been quoting someone else...?

Thanks, Lance. Good to know I'm on the right track.

I'll probably buy a few from each different set I plan on buying. It's something I can do now while I work on building my savings back up. It will satiate my desire to get vintage cards, and help me learn at the same time.

My eventual goal is to build a website specifically for baseball cards (including scans of my collection) where a lot of the information I assimilate can be passed on to others. There are a bunch of different sites I have found helpful information from, but not one clear "go to" site where this information is readily available without some digging. I know that Net 54 has pretty much everything I could ever need, but for somebody not familiar with how a forum's search works, it might be a little more difficult finding information.