Posted By:
Brian Weisner
Hi Ted,
I bought my first T206 at the "Super Flea" flea market in Grennsboro, NC when I was 8 years old. It was a beautiful green portrait of Ty Cobb in Good condition that cost me my entire bank roll 20 dollars. The dealer wanted 25, but lowered his price to 20 and I've been hooked ever since.
The card has a Piedmont 150 back, and is still in my collection today. In those days I had no idea that the cards came with different backs as Piedmont,Sweet Cap, Old Mill, and Polar Bear were the only ones I had ever seen. When I was about 12 I began buying a few cards from catalogs and someone sent me a copy of Heitman's Monster as a bonus. I didn't think much of it at the time, because it wasn't a card, but found it invaluable many years later. I believe I was about 20 when I completed "my set" minus Wagner, Magie and Doyle(who didn't exist at the time)when I lost interest in cards and focused more on Golf and Girls. Since both cost money, I took a break from collecting and sold off half of my original set, including my Plank(Big Mistake)during my college years.
Then I received the Copeland Collection catalog in the mail, and got hooked again. I saw a beautiful Cobb with a Uzit back, and another with a Carolina Bright, and thought there can't be many of these around, so that's what I wanted to collect.
Ever since I've been tring to collect as many of the tougher backs as possible.
So you are correct to assume that my collecting was more random than directed. I never thought of finishing a set of Piedmont's or Sweet Caps, but bought every Hindu, Carolina Bright, Lenox, Uzit, and Drum that I could find or afford. I am getting close to finishing a set of the poses available with Brown Hindu's, but it was more by accident than a plan. I've really been trying to complete a set minus the big four using only the toughest backs. Since that isn't possible I thought it might be fun to go for a master set and see what happens.
I'm "fixin"(Southern word) to update my T206 inventory this afternoon, and see where I stand with each back.
I look forward to more of your posts and hope to make it to the National or Fort Washington in the next few years where we could meet. Talk to you soon Brian