T206 - wow what have I been missing!
 

So my wife and I opened Xmas presents last night because we will be traveling and wanted to do it at home. In my stocking was a T206 George McQuillan. I was stunned, it is an absolutely beautiful card and I just stared at it for a half hour. I usually collect post-war low-mid grade vintage and I still have absolutely no idea how she knew (better than I did even) how amazingly cool these cards are in person. I haven’t previously paid much attention to tobacco cards being mainly unfamiliar with the players, but really enjoyed reading all about McQuillan’s history with the Phillies (my team) and had no idea to this day he holds the career ERA mark for the team! It seems the mix of art/rarity/mere fact that they are +100 years old makes these cards incredibly special and I look forward to this being a start of a new focus of my collecting and sharing baseball history with my kids. A shoutout to the coolest wife a guy could have!

Great post (and sounds like a cool wife). T206 is the best. Period. But be careful, there is a reason it’s called “The Monster”. May your t206 future be filled with fun adventures, rabbit holes and goose chases, and sweet victories. And BTW- there is more t206 knowledge on this board than anywhere else.

Excellent - nothing better than a baseball card gift from your wife for Christmas!

+1

Awesome post by the way. I agree that there's something beautiful about the T206 set, although I don't collect them. In fact, I just checked and I have no T206 in my collection. Say what!?!

Great story! I was just about to go down that road before trimgate knocked me off the rails, thanks god.

The nice thing about the T206 set is that they are incredibly plentiful, both raw and graded, and if you are thinking about collecting them low to mid grade trimming is not something that should be a big issue, and if they are trimmed it should be fairly obvious and amateurish.

The cards that are the ones to look out for are the ones that look incredibly fresh, which really should be rare, but unfortunately have become much more plentiful due to the money opportunists with doctoring degrees. T206's are 100+ year old cards and in my opinion should look like they have been down a few dirt roads.

Good luck on your journey!

Brian

There's a reason why the T206s are eternally popular. The and many other Pre-War cards are like little artworks.

Some of the 19th century cards, such as the Allen & Ginters, are similarly great.

You never forget the first!!! My 1st t206... c1982.

Here's a link to a YouTube video on T206's. I talk about some of the basics of collecting them. There's a few more video's after that one and more on the way.
https://youtu.be/kdKC25yD-_k

It’s dangerous to drink the Kool-aid!
One day I looked on eBay and was hooked on T206. That was on a vacation so I had a little idol time. When I got back between eBay and Net54 I had 15 packages to open. 2 years later I was at 522 (Magie and Plank) and a nearly complete back run of all poses of John McGraw. Now I have a Frank Bowerman left and that’s it. It was so fun to collect. But for me it was always the thrill of the hunt. I never looked through them once I had them. Had dreams of upgrading and switching out for years to come but simply didn’t happen. On to other things I like more (for now). But it was so fun.

LOL, so true. I had the same thing happen twice with T206s. First time I got to around 75-100 cards and the second time I was going for a back run before I moved on. I currently have zero of the beautiful little cards.

Story after story of the same thing. But this is why they are so easy to liquidate when you get done!

Great videos. As a T206 collector, I always enjoy learning new tidbits about T206s. I enjoy Ron's methodical presentation on the videos.

Your wife sounds like a collectors best friend. She is a keeper and good luck in the quest. T206s do rock....

Agreed. Although plentiful, when you find just that one there is nothing more beautiful!

http://photos.imageevent.com/threetw...front4.5_1.jpg

You have great knowledge and YouTube channel. Always appreciate your channel.

now that's a nice card! Both of them!!!!!!!!!!I wanteeeee

As a new t206 collector this is an awesome resource! I know what Im doing tonight when the wife and kid go to bed

Thanks for everyone’s replies and resources! I’ve got to say although I know many of us cross over into different things the T206 community is so encouraging and welcoming, sometimes feels a little too critical and cynical over on the post-war side of things.

Happy holidays!

I just ignore the noise and stick to the fun of collecting. Helps that I don't have the cash to get into the the high condition/high price cards lol

Figured I'd show off this beauty!

McQuillan (Bat) is one of the tougher commons. And your wife got you a very nice example. Keepers for sure (card and wife)!