how do you do T206?

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Posted By: Joe P.

You're making the Monster more of a monster by trying to make a plan for it.
Let it happen whatever way it does.

I'm not trying to be a wise guy, I know what I'm talking about.
I happen to own two incomplete sets.
In the beginning of my first set, it just became a set, never thinking or dreaming that I would ever get near to a complete set.
The grades didn't matter because to me the set represented the history of the game.
To me, I didn't care if it was a HOF, common, portrait, or action shot, they all played during the deadball era.
I still have the first T card that I bought, it was a Herzog NY NL, I bought it for my dad, he was a NY Giants fan.
Being that I worked for an airline during the '70's '80's & '90's, at one time as a collector, I flew to more shows all over the country than Rosen did as a dealer. ... that was the early '80's.
I had the advantage of being selective as to what dealer would give me a better deal.
I will say this, I was fortunate to meet a lot of great dealers in my card show travels.
There are meatballs, but why waste time with them, always stick with the good guys.
My inadvertent first set that just happened, is up to 484 cards.
The cards have all been owned and loved by someone before.
Every once in a while, I may just upgrade a card.
Although I never ever expected to get this far into this set, I don't think that it will ever know a Slow Joe Doyle, (the toughest card in the T206 set) a Wagner, Plank, Magie, Ohara or Demmit. ..... then again, Quien Sabe?

My second set was inadvertently obtained in an unexpected purchase at a mega table Lee show in San Francisco during the late '80's.
I was looking at some T cards at a table when a young couple came by and opened a very old box of chocolates.
The box was loaded.
Loaded with the prettiest T206's & T205's and other T's that your eyeball's have ever rested on.
It was no business of mine, and it was between this couple and the dealer, so I paid it no mind.
However, I did notice a piece of paper go back and forth between them.
They left, and I forgot all about it.
The time had come for my last quick look see and systematic run through the show.
It was during that last hope for the unknown, before heading to the SFO airport that the unexpected happen.
The forgotten young couple were right in front of me.
I introduced myself and told them that I couldn't help noticing the contents of the box they showed the dealer, and wondered if they still had it?
When they said yes, I asked them what did they want for it?
At that point he handed a blue piece of paper which I still have.
On it it said, $5000.00, below that the dealer wrote $4500.00 and that he should come back later if it was not sold.
At that moment I asked them if they would join me in the cafeteria.
We sat down, he brought out the box, and with it a Beckett with all the T206's and T205's in the box checked off.
There were over 800 T's
It was a done deal.
I looked at a couple of them, and I was a happy camper.
I got to meet the couples family.
The couple were happy with the sale that would help them get a car.
I had to catch a plane back to NY.
We said our adios, yes they were Spanish.
You just know that I didn't check that box in the plane.
I always travel light, and that box was part of my carry on.
To say that I couldn't wait to get home to look at all of them, is an understatement.

My second set is a very very decent looking set.
I got my Slow Joe Doyle from a Lipset auction.
My Plank from Festberg at a show.
My Magie from a very nice dealer in NC, and for the love of me, at moment I can't remember his name and I apologize but I will get it.
My Ohara and Demmit were part of an entry deal purchased at a Willow Grove show from Lew Lipset while Irv Lerner looked on.
As for the second hardest card, the Wagner, the only card missing from that set, I don't have one, and that's another story.
I never figuered that I would get the whole set anyway. ... but Quien Sabe?

Joe