What set is the most under appreciated and why?
 

What do you like that doesn’t get the hobby love it deserves. Why does it deserve more appreciation?

In my uneducated opinion I believe the 1916 M101-4/5 set does not get the proper respect. Outside the hype of the Ruth Rookie Card and the Joe Jackson Card there is a big drop off to the rest.

This set is fantastic because

1. It is upward of 40 HOFer's in the Set including
Grover Alexander, Home Run Baker, Dave Bancroft, Chief Bender, Roger Bresnahan, Mordecai Brown, Max Carey, Frank Chance, Eddie Collins, Charles Comiskey, Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Johnny Evers, Red Faber, Clark Griffith, Harry Hooper, Miller Huggins, Hughie Jennings, Walter Johnson, Nap Lajoie, Connie Mack, Rabbit Maranville, Rube Marquard, John McGraw, Eppa Rixey, Wilbert Robinson, Ed Roush, Ray Schalk, George Sisler, Casey Stengel, Joe Tinker, Honus Wagner, Bobby Wallace, Ed Walsh, and Zach Wheat.
2. Great Photo's used for the set (many earlier sets were either not photo's or just head shots etc)
3. Had many of the Famed Black Sox's in the set Eddie Cicotte, Chick Gandil, Buck Weaver, and Happy Felsch
4. So many different Ad Backs so there are so many versions/variations to collect. (including he Sporting News, Altoona Tribune, Gimbel’s Department Stores, Standard Biscuit, Weil Baking Company, Greene Joyce, Holmes to Homes, Famous and Barr, Herpolsheimer Co, Successful Farming) just to name a few
5. Approx 200 Different players,

So many ways to collect and so many great players

1968 Topps

I've heard (or read) many collectors' opinions regarding the "burlap" borders and why they think they're hideously ugly. More than a few people have also shared their negative opinions regarding the photos used by Topps that year.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sure. However, the player selection is absolutely tremendous. From the immortal Mickey Mantle to the ageless Nolan Ryan, from the incomparable Hank Aaron to the amazing Willie Mays; you'll find some of the greatest players ever to step onto a Major League Baseball field.

Roberto Clemente, Tom Seaver, Johnny Bench...the list goes on and on.

Don't like the burlap borders? Think the photos fall flat? Cool, pass on 1968 Topps. It'll make it easier (read, cheaper) for me to pick them up.

I know it isnt pre-war and the definition of cards might be a bit stretched with this one but I have always been partial to the Dormand postcard set. The simple beauty of the photos taken at legendary Yankee Stadium just tells me what being a baseball fan in NYC in the 50's was all about.

To me, this set just drips with nostalgia and is just plain beautiful too.

Diamond Stars 1934-36.

Beautiful cards. Seem to get almost zero love.

1936 wide world gum
 

Canadian issue zero love

m116 sporting life...big set featuring most of the stars of the era...beautiful portraits...lots of variations and rarities.

1963 Fleer

1952 Bowman-amazing art and packed with HOFers. But 1952 Topps size and being 1st issue seems to eclipse Bowman.

I don't really want to say the ones I'm working on :D , but of the sets I don't actively collect, 1916 and 1917 black n whites are my favorite. Like Jeff said, great looking cards, all the stars and lot of fun ad backs.

Also

t207s
Diamond Stars
Exhibits (getting more love lately but you never see any posts from someone trying to complete say 1928 Exhibits)

Kind of seems like sets that are relatively easy to find and have just one back don't get talked about a lot, but maybe there just isn't much to say about 1934 Goudey or Diamond Stars or e93s?

1909 Obak

Better photos than T206 and some extremely rare cards that never come up for sale.

underappreciated set
 

I'll throw a curve out there- the R300 George C Miller set. I don't collect it,
just admire the artwork. Trent King

I agree that M101-4/5 are amazing sets and very underrated. That would probably be my #1 choice.

But, in an effort to be original, I will go with the T3 Turkey Red set. In my opinion, it is hands down the prettiest set every produced.

Another underrated set is 1953 Bowman Color.

1939 Play Ball. I know I’m in the minority, but I find beauty in the simplicity of the set: black and white photo, white border, and the player’s name and bio on the back.

Every Zeenut Set (especially the older sets) and E254 Colgan’s Chip’s

The 1939 Play Ball set is one of my favorite sets to collect autographed. The autograph takes care of the fact that the cards have no name on front.

I have always liked the Polo Grounds game cards. Seems like they don’t get respect because they’re game pieces. Don’t own any. Would like to though.

Luke, I'm totally with you on these sets, to which I would add the 1921-22 black n whites, also with many different ad backs.

I see a lot of hogwash here. All fine sets noted above as far as I’m concerned.

Under appreciated set: 1948 bowman

Why? set count only 48 cards, clean/clear images but black & white, decently populated but if it had the action packed stars & rookies of 1949 bowman it would be a whole different set.

Ugliest set of all time drumroll… 1967 Topps. Terrible design with some of the worst mugshots. come on!

1933 Tattoo Orbit. I absolutely love the color scheme and size. They are extremely visually appealing and I don't see them talked about or posted enough.

Don't be ridiculous 1967 Topps, great design, large photos, awesome colors, and the best back of any Topps issue!!!!!! I do agree though about the 48 Bowman's.

t205 in my eyes. A few of the variations are far harder than all but Doyle NY National in t206. Definitely doesn't get as much love as some of the other sets.

T201 for T's and 1940 Playball for a later pre-war set.

T201 - the best T card set to cut your teeth on and complete. Seems to get little love.

1940 Play Ball - Incredible sepia photos - ok, no Ruth, Gehrig or Cobbs, but it has a great variety of newer (Williams and DiMaggio) and early 20th century players.

Many unders
 

1909-1910-1911 OBAK
Diamond Stars
DeLongs
E93-E95-E96
E210 York (and similar)
Uncle Jack’s Candy
C46 Imperial Tobacco

Any / all of these sets get very little publicity. They have their limited following but don’t get much love on a wider scale.

Ugliest of all time? #1 ever? After saying other views here are hogwash? Hyperbole level 100.

S74 silks get virtually no love or exposure, despite sharing some history and images with the T205, T202, and Piedmont art stamps. They have different advertising backs/brands they are issued with, as well as multiple colors of ink used, making a master set or color runs difficult, but fun. There are some very extreme rarities, especially with certain of the advertising backs, and a few known proofs that are never seen. In regards to the S74-1 white silks, they originally came with an attached advertising back, that is virtually unique in regard to baseball cards and collectibles, really nothing else like it. And the S74-2 colored version silks come in so many different material colors/shades that is can make collecting as many as you can truly amazing. You don't have to worry about S74 silks being faked, never heard of a known instance of a counterfeit one ever being encountered. They are also purposely intended to have been utilized in making pillows, slip covers, and other items, so you can actually find them as part of folk art or actual items from the past. And maybe best of all, you don't have to listen to all the issues and complaints in regard to a certain TPG as they don't even grade them, and because those TPGs that do grade them do such a terrible job, virtually no serious S74 silk collectors are really that interested or concerned with having them graded. So the issues and arguments of graded versus non-graded pricing when it comes to S74 silks is pretty much mute.

Has not really thought of the S74 silks much. Had some years back but never really kept my interest so I sold them. You are right about the selection of players, the variety of ad backs and even the materials in some cases.

I still vote for the 1916 m101 4/5 but the S74 is not a bad choice.

The T3’s that Ryan mentioned would be a close 2nd for me. The details on those images are sharp and the player choices are really good to. I just give the edge to the m101 4/5’s for the reasons I mentioned but also it seems like a bridge year/set from the early players like Wagner to the newer players like Ruth

I like the M101-4s and 5s as well. Great images and player selection, and the variety of backs is fantastic.

There are quite a few sets that are underappreciated and that aren't talked about much, even on this forum. Actually, in many cases it is kind of a nice thing that some sets are not that frequently talked about and followed. Gives many of us collectors some things to still go out and collect that are not getting hit with so much demand (and cost), and go against the usual collecting interests of the masses. I enjoy collecting things that others do not necessarily go for, like the T206 and Goudey sets. Seems like virtually everyone collects those sets, and always talks about them.

Many great, seemingly undervalued and underappreciated sets already listed. Here's a few more I don't think have been mentioned yet.


1889 N526 Diamond S/Number 7 Cigars
1906 WG3 Fan Craze
1909 E97 C.A. Briggs Co.
1909-13 M101-2 Sporting News Supplements
1909 W555
1910 E103 Williams Caramel Company
1913 WG5 National Game Cards
1913 WG6 Tom Barker Game Cards
1915 Postaco Stamps
1915 PM1 Ornate Pins
1916 BF2 Ferguson Bakery Felt Pennants
1921-30 Major League Die-Cuts
1924 WG7 Walter Mails Game Cards
1927 Rinkydink Stamps
1927 W560
1927 F50 - Yuengling's, Harrington's, Sweetman's, Etc.
1933 E285 Rittenhouse Candy
1933 R337 Eclipse Import
1934-46 Various Diamond Matchbook Sets
1935 Schutter-Johnson
1936 S&S Game Cards
1937 R342 Goudey Thum Movies
1938 Goudey Big League Baseball Movies
1938 Our National Game Pins


There are many other underappreciated and typically unmentioned great sets out there.

1964 Topps always seems to be a forgotten set.

+1

1933 Tattoo Orbit

Strong agree on M116 Sporting Life, 1933 Tattoo Orbit, 1906 Fan Craze, and 1913 National Game/Tom Barker Game.

1949 Eureka Sportstamps are a bit underappreciated considering it's rather large set size and it's got a lot of post-war talent that didn't see a card release until 1950+.

For us post-war folks, the 1974 Topps set is stellar!!!! In fact, I started a thread about it a hundred years ago...

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=172335

1934 World Wide Gum
 

An artistically beautiful set with both Ruth and Gehrig represented in some of their best poses. Add in the fact that it is in English and French makes it a special set for me. I am still working on the 96 card set with 29 Hall of Famers (over 30%).... T3 and M-101-4/5 are already appreciated.

In terms of underrated, nothing approaches T202.

In REA's last auction, I won this lot for $270 inc. BP:

https://bid.robertedwardauctions.com...?itemid=109355

Eddie Collins on an end panel, "Collins easily Safe" period action photograph in the center, and on the back, not one but 2 interesting biography summaries of Collins and his quick rise to fame. Also a side panel and bio of teammate Danny Murphy. Oh yes, graded SGC 5.

What other contemporary Collins card in the SGC 3 to 5 range can be had for anywhere near that price? Let alone, a card where you get, essentially, 2 Eddies: A T205- like color image, plus a black and white action shot.

If you sit down with a stack of T202s and read the backs, you can learn quite a bit about the players, and the deadball era in general. If you do the same with T206, you'll learn nothing except the names of tobacco products from that era.

I agree about the T202s. Its like getting two T205s and an amazing action photo squeezed in between. Actually, its not “like” that, its basically exactly that. And yeah, the back write ups are another piece of added value to them.

sets
 

I see some hogwash with choices

This is the answer in my opinion.

First of all t205 is one of the most beautiful sets ever made. As has been pointed out, 3 other sets reused its design. The gold borders bring a unique beauty that few sets have ever had. It also introduced condition sensitive, which brings a challenge to collecting nice looking examples.

t205 is one of the first sets to have write ups on the back and the first to put players stats (again reused for t202). While a few sets started with the write ups, it was 40 years before stats became part of issues. Future cards without either just aren't baseball cards in my opinion. t205 is the first (modern) baseball card set.

t205 also has a unique difficulty to collecting. It is the true monster. I went from 0 to 519 with t206 in one year. It took me 30 years to put together a set of t205 that I could be satisfied with. There are levels of scarcity among the commons, then short prints and errors and variations. It really has everything that a baseball card set should have and was produced in 1911.

In my opinion, t205 is one of the three great baseball card sets, along with t206 and 1933 Goudey, but gets completely overlooked by many collectors.

Mounted Pinkertons are a thing of beauty.

[QUOTE=BioCRN;2241058]Strong agree on M116 Sporting Life, 1933 Tattoo Orbit, 1906 Fan Craze, and 1913 National Game/Tom Barker Game.

Agree on Tom Barker and every thread needs a picture. I would add the Sporting Life M110 Cabinets to the list. They are 50 times more scarce than T3 Cabinets yet the T3s still fetch more money it seems.

[QUOTE=BeanTown;2241151]Well said and very nice looking collection of cards there

I am surprsed that more collectors are not caught up in the wonderful complexity of E121's. At the same time, I completely agree about the M101-4/5 set being underappreciated. Prices for mid-grade star cards haven't moved much for decades. And I have never understood why more collectors are not attracted to M116. Stunningly beautiful cards. Also agree about Diamond Stars.Wonderful design. Don't know how we can collect Goudeys without wanting to complement it with all the great names from the 30's that appear in the later set. Almost everything is underrated.

1927 American Caramel (E126)

The last and most distinctive of the black and white American/National Caramel sets of the 1920s. Much better quality control than E220 or E122. Also scarcer than the others, enough that there's some excitement in finding them but not so scarce that it can't be completed, and it includes what I think is Ruth's single best-looking card, plus Walter Johnson, so you've got the two best players in the history of the game. And Cobb's no slouch himself.

In my opinion, the W554 set if very under appreciated.

Full disclaimer: I've recently completed this set so I'm biased.

Reasons:

• Of the 18 Cards in the set 13 are HOFers.
• The W554 Ruth and Gehrig cards are much much rarer than their Goudey cards but the W554s can be had for a fraction of the price.

I concur with Jeff and Ryan
 

I agree with Jeff and Ryan, 1916 M101-4s and 5’s.

For all the reasons Jeff laid out, plus- the sets have 4 extremely difficult short prints adding to the challenge.. here they are..

A set that is very difficult to find and expensive to collect, leading to it being under appreciated, is the E107 set of 1903-04. The set bridged the gap between Mayos in 1895 and the caramel/tobacco sets of the 1908-10 era and had a number of important rookie cards as a result.

Forgot my 33 Tattoo Orbit pic. Absolutely love the design and the cards are very underappreciated.

M110 Sporting Life Cabinets

T202, M116, Delong and Batter-Up. Also most any non-paper "card" from pre-1920, whether silks, pins, disks, leathers, felts, stamps, etc. Finally, a shout-out for W575-2.

I don't see how T205 or T3 can be considered to be underappreciated. These are widely collected and have been all along. Plenty of hobby love there.

Exactly! Try building a T3 set, finding any at reasonable prices are a tough go.
I know, I'm working on one and its hard to add any at reasonable prices