Looking for Help with the T205 Set
 

I've been out of the hobby for about 20 years. The last thing that I was working on was a T205 set. I pulled out my cards recently and realized I was 44 cards short of the 208 (210 since I had both Crandall and Dougherty) card set. A friend challenged me to complete the set. I have 60+ cards that are EX or better (most Ex-Mt/NM). The rest are mostly VG/VG-EX with a few worse.

My frustration was being able to find cards in nice condition and then prices skyrocketed and I eventually gave up. I know there are some serious T205 collectors on here, so I'm looking for some advice. I need to decide what condition of cards to go after. What is a good price guide to use? Is SMR accurate or should I sign up for VCP? Where would you recommend looking for cards? Post a want list here? Ebay? Auction Houses? Would I have much luck at the National?

If you don't mind the lower technical grades you might go for vg'ish with great eye appeal. Find ones that look EX+ with that nasty hairline wrinkle that can only be seen through an electron microscope but keeps the grade down. As far as where to go and how to proceed it sounds like you have a good idea. Do everything you said and have fun. Since I live and breathe this, and the esoteric stuff I collect doesn't show up on VCP most times, I don't use it. Others can opine on that ....Just have fun :).

As far as prices go, you can use CardTarget. They have a section for T205 and it's free. Good luck on finishing the set.

Also try www.pricerealized.com for prices. They have free auction prices from the last 3 years. I believe that Card Target stopped updating their database 1-2 years ago.

I don't think that's true. I'm seeing some prices in the T205 listings on Card Target that are from September 2014.

T205 set one of the first sets I ever got into it. Basically it's what got me into the tobacco pre war era of cards. As for pricing it's tough, just researching past auctions and get a feel of where they are selling. Then as I do set a price of what you want to spend and stay with in those prices. Most important thing about building a set is to have fun and enjoy yourself. As for buying here there are usually many that come up for sale in our bst section.

i use ebay and the bts here for most my t205's, http://www.t205.org was helpfull to me with prices when i started the set. Good luck!