[the 'stache]

Joey, what you want to do is get yourself a nice beater T206 (from somebody on this forum), it shouldn't cost you more than $20-25 delivered, and use that as your baseline for whenever you buy a more expensive card. Compare whatever card you buy to the common, looking at both under magnification (a 10 x jeweler's loupe is what I use). Then, look at the card with a black light in a pitch dark room. If there's been any kind of restoration work done on the card, it should show under the black light. The only question I had was that upper right corner. If somebody has added any paper to the card, you'll spot it in person.

Here's a really good article David Cycleback wrote on detecting restorations to art and collectibles (including baseball cards).

http://www.cycleback.com/blacklight/restore.html

It's part of a more in depth guide on the use of black light.

As you handle more of these cards, you'll feel more comfortable, and if anything smells wrong, you'll know. Always buy from reputable dealers. Buy with something that gives you protection, like a credit card, or Paypal (regular does, gift does not. I pay with regular PP on Ebay). Get used to the feel of the old paper used to print these cards. Look at the printing technique that was used to print them. Take that beater T206, and use a razor blade to cut off part of an edge, then look at it under your loupe. You'll see the difference between a factory cut/normal wear to something that's been trimmed.