Tell us of your experiences in completing (or near completing) your T206 set(s) ?

[62corvette]

Winter, early 1972, an old farmer from Max, ND called me. I had called in to the Friday morning "swap shop" radio show in Minot looking to buy baseball cards, and he responded. I went to his house, and onto his oilskin tablecloth on his old round oak table, he poured out 1100+ T206 and T205 cards. He had collected them as a kid in NYC. I had no idea of the value, and he wanted to give them to me, because he had kept them, always hoping to find someone who wanted them. I forced $20 on him. By a year later, I had traded with a number of people through the Trader Speaks, and had completed my T205s (less Hoblitzell variations) and had 520 different T206's. One of the T205s was a Hindu back, and I wrote Richard Egan who had master checklists. It was the first one reported.
So, most of mine are still 2nd-owner cards.
By the way, in the summer of 73 I had a chance to buy a low-grade Wagner for $600. My monthly salary was $550 and we had a baby, so I passed on it. My wife told me I should borrow the money and buy it. She still brings that up every once in a while.

[Joshwesley]

[QUOTE=62corvette;1518519]Winter, early 1972, an old farmer from Max, ND called me. I had called in to the Friday morning "swap shop" radio show in Minot looking to buy baseball cards, and he responded. I went to his house, and onto his oilskin tablecloth on his old round oak table, he poured out 1100+ T206 and T205 cards. He had collected them as a kid in NYC. I had no idea of the value, and he wanted to give them to me, because he had kept them, always hoping to find someone who wanted them. I forced $20 on him. By a year later, I had traded with a number of people through the Trader Speaks, and had completed my T205s (less Hoblitzell variations) and had 520 different T206's. One of the T205s was a Hindu back, and I wrote Richard Egan who had master checklists. It was the first one reported.
So, most of mine are still 2nd-owner cards.
By the way, in the summer of 73 I had a chance to buy a low-grade Wagner for $600. My monthly salary was $550 and we had a baby, so I passed on it. My wife told me I should borrow the money and buy it. She still brings that up every once in a while.[/QUOTE



That's a great story! Sorry abut the Wagner though 😁

[tedzan]

That is a fabulous story....Mike E

Thanks for sharing it with us.


TED Z
.

[62corvette]

Ted,
Thanks. I have lurked here for a while. I'm amazed at how far the understanding of the T205 and T206 sets has developed in the 40+ years since I acquired mine.

[whiteymet]

Hi Guys:

My story is probably different than most, in that the first card I had from the set was a Wagner.

I had been collecting "in the hobby" for about 10 years, and had been mostly concentrating on Post War cards, Topps, Regionals etc.

However I was at the Troy Mi. (Detroit) Convention in 1974 when word came that Mike Aronstein had turned up a Wagner card back in Long Island. In those days there was an auction at the shows. Supposedly the owner of the card would not sell it to Mike, but when Mike mentioned the show and the auction, it was agreed that Mike would call the convention and have it auctioned off sight unseen.

I had just received my income tax return of $600 so I had money to burn!! :>) The conventions were more just a bunch of guys getting together and having a table as a base of operations. When I caught wind that the Wagner card was going to be auctioned, I sold my entire table to someone ( don't recall who) for another $600.

Andy Sandler recently was kind enough to send me a copy of an article from the 7/5/74 issue of Sports Collectors News I had never seen. See attached below. It tells some of the story. A few things I forgot, like who I was bidding against at the end. Dr. Joe Michalowicz, ( boy did they have a bunch of T200 premiums!!) And one thing was incorrect. I did not get the Wagner in the mail. Rather I am my traveling companion drove straight to Mike Aronstein's house to pick up the Wagner after stopping first at Frank Nagy's house to buy the rest of the set.

In the 70's the big thing at the time was to put your cards on the sticky pages with the light plastic film over top. The only photo I have of the card is shown below in an old Polaroid SX-70 photo. It is so old it is cracking!!

I later sold the card and the rest of my collection to Barry Halper. I always wondered what happened to my Wagner, as in all the subsequent years I never saw it offered again until a few years back when it appeared in a Goodwin auction:

https://goodwinandco.com/LotDetail.a...entoryid=19548


Boy it would be nice to have that $1.2 Million now!!

It was easy to tell it was the one I had as I recall the crease in the upper right corner. Anyone here own it now? If so and you want "the rest of the story" ala Paul Harvey ( google him young fellows) PM and I would be glad to discuss.

Fred

[bbcard1]

My first T206 was bought around 1975 from Rich Gedman's Card collectors company. It was a random card, I think for a dollar or so and it was a Snodgrass. In the early 80s i bought a group or about 150 including lower tier hall of famers, all low grade for $100. At one point my goal was to get a contemporaneous card of each hall of fame. The most accessible were the T206s so I knocked off most of the major hall of famers that way without a conscious effort to be working toward a T206 set. As a shop owner I bought the Cobb, Lajoie, and others. I looked up and was suddenly over 400 and decided to do a set of at least one version of each card...next thing you knew I started buying and trading and was up over 400..so I went for the full 518 set with considerable help from Ted and Marc Delpercio. Please note this is a low grade set, but not a bad set. There area a couple of terrific cards, Young pitching and Shag, especially. Anyhow I "accidentally" picked up a trimmed Demmitt...the guy who had it just didn't want it any more and offered it to me for some of my dupes...so I figured, "why not." I finished up by buying a very low grade O'hara and have a 520. The last card I needed for the set was Milan, mainly because I somehow overlooked it.

[goudey1933]

I love these stories.
Scott

[tedzan]

Hi Fred

Your story is " the stuff that dreams are made of "....to quote Bogey from the last scene in The Maltese Falcon.

There are many great story's during the early 1970's (like your's) that can be told. This hobby was really "happening" back then.

And in my opinion, this was mainly so because most BB cards were very reasonably priced in that era.


TED Z
.

[parkerj33]

Regarding Fred's great story, the newspaper article mentions he bought the other 523 cards from Frank Nagy. Since Doyle NY Natl was not known in 1974, what was the 523rd other card?

[rats60]

Originally Posted by parkerj33

Regarding Fred's great story, the newspaper article mentions he bought the other 523 cards from Frank Nagy. Since Doyle NY Natl was not known in 1974, what was the 523rd other card?

Probably the Sweeney "no B"

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by parkerj33

Regarding Fred's great story, the newspaper article mentions he bought the other 523 cards from Frank Nagy. Since Doyle NY Natl was not known in 1974, what was the 523rd other card?

Hi Jim P

True, to most everyone in this hobby in 1974, the Joe Doyle N.Y. Nat'l card was unknown.

However, when Senator Richard Russell, Jr. passed away in 1971, his childhood tobacco
card collection of 1000+ cards was gifted to the Univ. of Georgia.

Included in the approx. 500 - T206 cards in this collection are a Joe Doyle N.Y. Nat'l card
and a Ty Cobb/Ty Cobb card. This collection is on display at the Athens (GA) campus.


TED Z
.

[Sean]

So nobody at the UGA library noticed the Doyle, Nat'l until much later (after Larry Fritch and others became aware of it I assume)?

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

My first T206 was bought around 1975 from Rich Gedman's Card collectors company. It was a random card, I think for a dollar or so and it was a Snodgrass. In the early 80s i bought a group or about 150 including lower tier hall of famers, all low grade for $100. At one point my goal was to get a contemporaneous card of each hall of fame. The most accessible were the T206s so I knocked off most of the major hall of famers that way without a conscious effort to be working toward a T206 set. As a shop owner I bought the Cobb, Lajoie, and others. I looked up and was suddenly over 400 and decided to do a set of at least one version of each card...next thing you knew I started buying and trading and was up over 400..so I went for the full 518 set with considerable help from Ted and Marc Delpercio. Please note this is a low grade set, but not a bad set. There area a couple of terrific cards, Young pitching and Shag, especially. Anyhow I "accidentally" picked up a trimmed Demmitt...the guy who had it just didn't want it any more and offered it to me for some of my dupes...so I figured, "why not." I finished up by buying a very low grade O'hara and have a 520. The last card I needed for the set was Milan, mainly because I somehow overlooked it.

Hi Todd

Great story there, good buddy. I really miss those shows in Oaks, PA where we were set-up at adjacent tables.....we had a great time there "wheeling and dealing".

And, endlessly talking BB and BB cards.

Take care, my friend.


TED Z
.

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Hi Todd

Great story there, good buddy. I really miss those shows in Oaks, PA where we were set-up at adjacent tables.....we had a great time there "wheeling and dealing".

And, endlessly talking BB and BB cards.

Take care, my friend.


TED Z
.

Me too. I am going to head to Chantilly in a couple of weeks, but I'm down to a couple shows a year and those strictly as a buyer.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

Me too. I am going to head to Chantilly in a couple of weeks, but I'm down to a couple shows a year and those strictly as a buyer.

Hi Todd

Me too....I'm down to two BB card shows a year. I set up at Cooperstown on HOF weekend; and, I set-up at the National.


TED Z
.

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by 62corvette

.......
By the way, in the summer of 73 I had a chance to buy a low-grade Wagner for $600. My monthly salary was $550 and we had a baby, so I passed on it. My wife told me I should borrow the money and buy it. She still brings that up every once in a while.

Nice story. I have to show my significant other the aforementioned....

Z

[Pilot172000]

Ted

When completing your Sovereign or Piedmont set, what kind of standards did you set for them? Did they have to be a certain grade? Did qualifiers matter or did you just go by what you could find?

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Pilot172000

Ted

When completing your Sovereign or Piedmont set, what kind of standards did you set for them? Did they have to be a certain grade? Did qualifiers matter or did you just go by what you could find?

Hi David

Good question.

For the PIEDMONT set, my goal was to acquire VgEx to Ex cards. Actually, the result was VgEx to ExMt cards [many of the Ex and ExMt cards were originally from my
prior (2nd) set which I broke up to start on the PIEDMONT set.

The SOVEREIGN set was definitely tougher to achieve at a "VgEx to Ex" level. The initial result actually was Vg to VgEx cards. Since 2007 (when I completed this set),
I have upgraded about 120 of the 402 cards that comprise this set.

Shown here are some examples from the SOVEREIGN set......

.. ..




TED Z
.

[Pilot172000]

You just answered my next question. You can find a lesser grade then and upgrade for a cleaner card later. I am taking a crack at the Sovereign 150 set and was wondering how to set my standards. Thanks for the advice.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Pilot172000

You just answered my next question. You can find a lesser grade then and upgrade for a cleaner card later. I am taking a crack at the Sovereign 150 set and was wondering how to set my standards. Thanks for the advice.

Hi David

I sort of ran a "marathon" completing my 520-card PIEDMONT set in 2006 (did it in 11 months).

I also ran a "marathon" completing my 402-card SOVERIGN set in 2007 (did it in 11 months).

When you try completing any T206 set in less than year, you certainly cannot be too picky.

The Monster has you "hooked". And, like those famous lyrics in the song Hotel California......
"You can check-out anytime you like -- but, you can never leave" ......The Monster

Then subsequently, you can always upgrade. Here are some upgrades in my PIEDMONT set......
.


.


.







Good luck on your SOVEREIGN 150 adventure.


TED Z
.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Pilot172000

You just answered my next question. You can find a lesser grade then and upgrade for a cleaner card later. I am taking a crack at the Sovereign 150 set and was wondering how to set my standards. Thanks for the advice.

Hi David

In your pursuit of the cards in the SOVEREIGN 150 series, here is some helpful bits of info for you.

The No-Prints, of course are Lundgren (Cubs), Magie, Plank, and Wagner.

Two 150 series subjects....Jennings (portrait) and Crawford (throwing) were not printed with SOVEREIGN 150 backs (but, you
can find them with SOVEREIGN 350 backs).

Also, two subjects that I had a hard time finding with SOVEREIGN 150 backs were Flick and Wiltse (no cap).....but, they exist.


Good Luck in this quest.

TED Z
.

[tedzan]

Of the PIEDMONT, SOVEREIGN, and SWEET CAP (factory #30) sets....I found the latter to be the easiest to complete (minus Plank & Wagner).

Think about it......you do not have to chase after a Doyle error, Kleinow (Boston), Lundgren (Cubs), Magie, Smith (Chicago & Boston), and the
St. Louis variations of Demmitt and O'Hara. Nor the 48 guys in the Southern League series.

So, that leaves you with only 469 cards (if you have the big $$$$$ for Plank and Wagner)

I considered my all - SWEET CAPORAL Factory #30 set "complete" at 467 cards.



TED Z
.

[Pilot172000]

Originally Posted by tedzan

Hi David

In your pursuit of the cards in the SOVEREIGN 150 series, here is some helpful bits of info for you.

The No-Prints, of course are Lundgren (Cubs), Magie, Plank, and Wagner.

Two 150 series subjects....Jennings (portrait) and Crawford (throwing) were not printed with SOVEREIGN 150 backs (but, you
can find them with SOVEREIGN 350 backs).

Also, two subjects that I had a hard time finding with SOVEREIGN 150 backs were Flick and Wiltse (no cap).....but, they exist.


Good Luck in this quest.

TED Z
.

Once again thanks for the sound advice. A large part of my collection is Sweet Caporal 150, but I have been drawn to the bright green color the Sov 150 set plus it's just exotic enough for me to make it interesting.