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JimBI started in 1980 buying a red portrait Cobb and Lajoie with bat. Over the years I bought a few here and a few there. Sometimes I would buy larger lots in auctions. I would suggest figuring out what grade range you would like the cards to be in. Do you want a gd-vg set, a vg/ex to ex set? A crease-free set? Maybe condition does not matter. Then collect cards in that grade range. Grade consistency will become more important as you accumulate more cards. I would suggest buying lots of cards, whether that is five or fifty at a time because dealers will usually cut you a break if you buy in quantity. As far as HOFs vs. commons, I went back and forth. Accumulating commons is a relatively cheap way to feel like you are making progress and having a bunch of the cards from the set is very cool. I realized the more different cards I had, the more I loved the set. But picking up HOFs here and there can also add quite a bit to a collection. For most mortals, patience is the key. I completed my T206 set this past December, nearly 24 years after beginning it. As for backs, that is a personal question. I personally enjoy the different backs and not only tried to get at least one of all sixteen brand backs, but tried to pick up as many of the obscure ones as possible. Thus, if a dealer had 200 T206s to search through and I could afford to buy 15, I would do a quick flip through the backs to see if there were any of the more scarce backs in the grade I wanted. My set still probably has 300+ Piedmont and Sweet Caps, but 200+ of the other 14 brands makes is pretty interesting when flipping through the notebook. I hope that helps. Have fun. The T206 set is a wonderful, beautiful set and it is completable.
JimB