Why collect T206?

[Bpm0014]

• Great pictures
• Mixture of great poses
• Great coloring
• Fairly inexpensive
• 1909-1911 was a great time for baseball
• Loaded with great HOFers and interesting characters
  
  To name a few....

[wonkaticket]

I've said before and I'll say it again....for the chicks no other reason.

[Sportsguy20]

Is he holding a Ray Demmitt?

[frankbmd]

Why collect T206?

Simple, so you can have a Monster Number.

[BicycleSpokes]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

I've said before and I'll say it again....for the chicks no other reason.

"Is that a graded Demmitt St. Louis in your trunks, or are you just happy to see me?" (Asked just before the dude whipped out the PSA slab in the pic.)

[T206Collector]

Because they're beautiful; because they have the widest variety of awesome players from the dawn of Major League Baseball; and because they look amazing when signed by the player!

[Howe’s Hunter]

Just because I covet someone elses collection.

[ullmandds]

Because they are common...easy to find...relatively inexpensive...because of the many ways to collect them...and to make you feel like you belong!

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

Because they are common...easy to find...relatively inexpensive...because of the many ways to collect them...and to make you feel like you belong!

I recently had a discussion with a collecting friend that was thinking about collecting the T206 set but thought they would be too rare or expensive for him.

He was amazed(happy) to find out that in lower grade they are fairly cheap and about as rare as a 1990 Donruss.

[Cozumeleno]

I never collected vintage cards growing up. First pack of cards was a 1986 Topps rack pack I received at a birthday party and I collected up until the mid 1990s when I got to college. Jumped back in as an adult and had my first foray into vintage stuff starting to build a 1948 Bowman set - because, you know, that was the first set listed in Tuff Stuff at the time. Became fascinated with more vintage and jumped into 1951 Bowman and 1933 Goudey, and suddenly even hobby mainstays like a Griffey 1989 Upper Deck card seemed like heaping piles of garbage to me.

Began on T-206 this year and am up to about 75 cards. I'm utterly amazed that so many are still in existence to be honest. To last over 100 years, survive two World Wars, etc...it's pretty amazing to me that you can readily find Piedmonts and Sweet Caps of just about anybody on eBay.

Here are my top five reasons (in no particular order) why I'm becoming a T-206 junkie:

1. Back story - The Back story on how/why they were created by the tobacco companies, their demand by kids (who couldn't legally even buy the cigarettes), etc., is all fascinating stuff to me.

2. Back combos - While collecting an entire set (minus the big four) is my goal, I don't know that I'll stop there. To get players with different backs really makes this a project you can work on your entire life. Collecting every back combo isn't a realistic proposition, but the thrill of finding new combos later in life is something that makes it about more than just collecting a set.

3. The HOFs - So many great cards of unbelievable players that we've only ever read about. Cobb, W. Johnson, Mathewson, Keeler, etc. And the sheer number of HOFers that many people haven't even heard of gives you a history lesson if you're willing to dig for info on those guys.

4. The Sox - I didn't get my first real taste of the Black Sox until the incredible movie Eight Men Out. To get cards of guys like Cicotte and Gandil somehow makes that whole thing even more 'real' to me.

5. The artistry - Call me crazy but the players just look so lifelike. Pictures of these guys are out there, obviously, but seeing Christy Mathewson with a glove on this little piece of cardboard just makes him look cool as anything I've ever seen. That's maybe my favorite in the whole set.

(Bonus) The size(s) - Two final things. Just another cool feature that makes them stand out from today's cards and even larger cards like the Goudeys that came later. Again, these things are so tiny and frail that I remain surprised that there are still so many around. Also, the sheer volume of the set at over 500 cards makes it such a challenge, even in a lower grade.

[xplainer]

Originally Posted by Cozumeleno

I never collected vintage cards growing up. First pack of cards was a 1986 Topps rack pack I received at a birthday party and I collected up until the mid 1990s when I got to college. Jumped back in as an adult and had my first foray into vintage stuff starting to build a 1948 Bowman set - because, you know, that was the first set listed in Tuff Stuff at the time. Became fascinated with more vintage and jumped into 1951 Bowman and 1933 Goudey, and suddenly even hobby mainstays like a Griffey 1989 Upper Deck card seemed like heaping piles of garbage to me.

Began on T-206 this year and am up to about 75 cards. I'm utterly amazed that so many are still in existence to be honest. To last over 100 years, survive two World Wars, etc...it's pretty amazing to me that you can readily find Piedmonts and Sweet Caps of just about anybody on eBay.

Here are my top five reasons (in no particular order) why I'm becoming a T-206 junkie:

1. Back story - The Back story on how/why they were created by the tobacco companies, their demand by kids (who couldn't legally even buy the cigarettes), etc., is all fascinating stuff to me.

2. Back combos - While collecting an entire set (minus the big four) is my goal, I don't know that I'll stop there. To get players with different backs really makes this a project you can work on your entire life. Collecting every back combo isn't a realistic proposition, but the thrill of finding new combos later in life is something that makes it about more than just collecting a set.

3. The HOFs - So many great cards of unbelievable players that we've only ever read about. Cobb, W. Johnson, Mathewson, Keeler, etc. And the sheer number of HOFers that many people haven't even heard of gives you a history lesson if you're willing to dig for info on those guys.

4. The Sox - I didn't get my first real taste of the Black Sox until the incredible movie Eight Men Out. To get cards of guys like Cicotte and Gandil somehow makes that whole thing even more 'real' to me.

5. The artistry - Call me crazy but the players just look so lifelike. Pictures of these guys are out there, obviously, but seeing Christy Mathewson with a glove on this little piece of cardboard just makes him look cool as anything I've ever seen. That's maybe my favorite in the whole set.

(Bonus) The size(s) - Two final things. Just another cool feature that makes them stand out from today's cards and even larger cards like the Goudeys that came later. Again, these things are so tiny and frail that I remain surprised that there are still so many around. Also, the sheer volume of the set at over 500 cards makes it such a challenge, even in a lower grade.

I like this post. Mirrors my own thoughts and feelings. Almost exactlly. Thank you for your input.

[Fred]

1. Back story - The Back story on how/why they were created by the tobacco companies, their demand by kids (who couldn't legally even buy the cigarettes), etc., is all fascinating stuff to me.

Did they have an age limit on purchasing smokes back then? I figure kids probably didn't have enough money to buy smokes back then. There's a cool Old Judge advertising piece with a dad spanking his kid for getting the wrong brand of cigarettes. I guess that means in the 1880s there was no age limit. Not sure about 1910 era.