[ctownboy]

smtjoy,

That is the same feeling I have.

The first pre-war card I ever bought was a T-206 Ty Cobb (it was around 1980, I was about 13 and I paid $50 dollars for it).

The main reason I bought this card was because I knew who Ty Cobb was, had heard of T-206 cards and I lived in a small town where the nearest card shop was over 20 miles away. Having no car (13 years old) and limited funds meant that I was pretty much stuck with collecting Topps cards as they came out each year.

In the 1990's, when I knew more about older cards and sets, my mentor tried to get me to start collecting T-206's seriously (it was EASY for him to say this since he had a Wagner and had been collecting them for over 30 years). But, to me, other than the very expensive cards (Wagner, Plank, etc) they were pretty easy to find and put a set together. I wanted more of a challenge (I knew about the various different backs but didn't know how rare some of them were - Drum, Uzit - if I had, I might have saved my money and bought the rare backs when I could find them. My mentor didn't tell me about the rare backs because HE was looking to add them to his collection).

So, instead I focused on rare or hard to find cards instead.

My big find was 16 1928 Star Player Candy cards which I bought for less than $100 dollars. Included were three Hall Of Famers and a Buddy Myer card (which wasn't known to the hobby until I showed mine on this board a few years ago).

My other big find was about 20 1923 Curtis Ireland candy cards (I only got one of them because my mentor bought the rest and gave me one as a finders fee).

So, if I had the money, the sets I would focus on (other than an Old Judge master set or a T-206 master set) would be; Gypsy Queen (large size), E125 die cuts, Star Player Candy and Curtis Ireland Candy. Non-card sets would be; S81 silks, L1 leathers and Cameo Pepsin pinbacks.

Edited to add pictures and to say that if I were to go to an estate sale, auction or an antique store and found a group of T-206s (or other easily found pre-war cards) for a good price that I wouldn't pass them by....
David