Vintage ?s
 

I have a small budget, so I am looking for advice.


I have no vintage cards. What do you recommend I collect?

Sets?
Singles?
Other things?


Just looking for feedback.

Collect what you like and what is within your budget. In order to know what you like you should read and research the cards and the other aspects of collecting, as you are doing. Have fun and don't try to go too fast. It is a marathon and not a sprint. :) Happy collecting....

I like building sets, so I might go that route.

That's awesome! It depends if you like to build up over time, or like cherry picking a few select cards. I typically go the latter route--when I started collecting T206's back in April, my goal was to pick out a few cards that I liked and go from there. However, I caught the T206 "bug" and haven't been able to stop! So long as you collect what you like and go after players/sets you enjoy, I think collecting will be an awesome experience for you.
Cheers!
NJ

Pictured: my first T206 Southern Leaguer. This guy brought me into T206 portrait collecting. I love the pink!

Welcome - and if you are an Indians and Lions fan, it would be fairly inexpensive to get one player for each of those teams in Topps and Bowman for both going back to 1948, and then baseball sets back as far as T205/206. It's a good way to experience both the history of those teams and the sets themselves. Then you could pick a couple of sets that you like to build from there.

Player collector
 

Welcome - I am a player collector, which for me simply means I collect my favorite player. When I become satisfied with that player I move on to another player. When I say satisfied, I created self perimeters for collecting each player because it is impossible to collect every card of every player. For example, I started out telling myself I was going to collect every Topps Harmon Killebrew during the years he played (1955-1976). When I got done with that I moved towards the same thing but graded 5 of better. When I felt good about it I moved to another player such as Hank Aaron and did the same thing. So I kinda collect a bunch of different players and move through the stages. I may include that I want a Refractor, Auto and GU of each also. Mainly come up with a process that fits what you like.

I PC Grady Sizemore, and have over 550 unique cards, so I know what you mean. He is my favorite player ever, so it makes it fun. Thans!

My strong recommendation for a collector who is starting out is to learn what is available and then collect what makes you happiest. That may mean that you have a particular focus -- on a player, a team, an era, a manufacturer, a certain set. Or it may mean that you have no specific focus and simply collect what appeals to you at the moment. I'd guess that most collectors are a mix -- with some areas of focus and also just picking up other cool stuff as it becomes available. We all have our favorites, but what's important is what you like and what you develop a liking for over time.

Of course, if your primary goal is to obtain cards (or other memorabilia) in order to sell them for a profit, then knowing what others want and having a sense for what will maintain value and perhaps increase in value over time becomes important. Learning all of that will likely come easier to you if you at least initially approach the hobby as a collector at first and then get into selling cards once you have a better sense of the cards themselves and the market for them. But, by no means should you feel like you need to buy cards with future value and sales potential in mind. It's entirely up to you as to what you collect and why.

Thanks! I collect for enjoyment, not to make a profit. Sometimes I will sell cards so I can afford one I want more, but this is something I do for fun, not a profit.

You should check out http://www.oldcardboard.com if you haven't already. The site has a lot of information on a lot of different sets with good pictures for most of them. It was my second stop for finding information on cards after Net54. Good luck and have fun.