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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

Trae: You won't go wrong with including a t206 Bender as your first pre-war card. But there are lots of different sets, prices and choices available to you. In order to make more informed decisions, it often is a good idea to pick up a reference book or two. These help to serve as an overview in your early learning of what is out there, and if chosen wisely, they can continue to provide the same function even when you begin to know it all.

One such reference which I continue to find extremely valuable was written by Lew Lipsett. There are three publications which provide summaries and detail regarding different pre-war segments. I believe that you sometimes can get all three in a single publication. In any case, the reference material I recommend is Lipsett's Encyclopwedia of Baseball Cards, Vol 1-3. These cover in seperate editions: 19th century cards, early candy and gum cards, and tobacco cards. It is a little old, but I haven't been able to get it all straight in my head yet, and I bought them when they were initially offered.

Good luck and welcome.
Gilbert