Approaching The Monster - T206

[Cozumeleno]

Not aware of your budget, so it's hard to say how many cards is a reasonable number per year.

Regarding the backs, it's all about what is important to you. Would you rather finish the set first or take your time and acquire rarer backs? Neither is wrong, but it will obviously affect your budget. I got to 520 first without regard to back and have been upgrading/diversifying backs over the past year. I probably had about 50 of the rarer backs (PB, Sovereign, Overprint, Old Mill) when I completed the set and am now up to 125 or so.

My cards are in a binder because that is my preference. But I also have a lower-grade set (P-VG). If you are building a higher-grade set, I would use toploaders. For the expensive cards, I recommend buying them graded or buying them raw from a dependable seller and slabbing them.

The only real piece of advice I have is to focus on bargains and not types of cards. I focused on only commons until I got about 3/4 of the way through and passed up some good deals along the way on HOFs/SLs. If I did it again, I'd focus more on getting the best deals instead of just doing all commons first. You'll save yourself some headaches along the way.

Best of luck!

Originally Posted by KMayUSA6060

As I breakdown my collection and the goals I have for it, I'm looking at starting the chase of The Monster - 520 T206 set. I'm looking for some input on my approach.

Acquisition Strategy
Target 50+/- cards per year, for 10 years. Create a spreadsheet with estimated expenses per card, and of the 50 cards per year, acquire about 37-38 commons, and 13-12 uncommons/HoFers/important cards. Thoughts?

Grade
Not too concerned about corners. I'm more focused on the surface. 1-2 will work for the commons. SGC 1-3 for the important cards/HoFers, as long as the 1 is under-graded. Sound about right for a budget?

Backs
I don't think the backs are too important to me. I'm just going to target the best price I can find for each card. For those of you who have attempted/completed this set, would you recommend targeting a certain back, or does completing this set with a budget negate the importance of the backs?

Storage
Breaking it down, I want to put the commons in a binder, and the uncommons/important/HoFers in slabs. Thoughts?

Marketplace
Where is the best, most trustworthy place to buy raw T206?


Are there any other factors I'm overlooking? Thank you in advance for any and all advice.