What's the "easiest" and best pre-war set to complete?

[Republicaninmass]

How big is the budget?

Can go wrong with a low grade 33 goudey set
Cheapet
I've always like the diamond stars, and no Ruth or Gehrig.

[Leon]

R333 Delongs are fun and not too expensive (minus a few).....

[brianp-beme]

All depending upon your 'enough cards' specification and your toleration for decent black and white photo portrait cards, the 1936 Goudey set of 25, which has 8 Hall of Famers as well as a handful of other popular players could fit the bill. They are relatively common and the cards usually sell for a reasonable price.

Brian

[SMPEP]

Diamond Stars were my first entry, and I thought they worked as a nice introduction.

[sterlingfox]

1936 Goudey (set of 25) is the perfect candidate for cheap and easy.
1935 Goudey 4-On-1 basic set of 36 is in color, has 4 players per card, only the Ruth will really set you back, and isn't that much larger.
1938 Goudey is also small and somewhat budget friendly, but some don't like how they look. Personally, I like them a lot (particularly the high numbers). The DiMaggio and Feller rookies will cost you a pretty penny.
1934 Goudey is under 100 cards and probably the most attractive (IMO), but there's 2 Gehrigs and a Greenberg rookie, so it will cost a bit more than some of the others.
1934-36 Diamond Stars is just over 100 cards, has a fun, art deco style of artwork, and has no Ruths or Gehrigs, but the high numbers will set you back a bit and can be elusive to find.
1933 DeLong is another good one. Small set. Pretty. But they are shooting up in price lately. I'm not sure I'd consider them as budget friendly - especially the Gehrig.

[vintagerookies51]

First set that came to mind was E95. Lots of hall of famers but only 25 cards (I think) so not too bad on the bank account

[x2drich2000]

I've always been partial to the E93 set. 30 card set of which 17 or 18 are HOFers. Most of the big names of the era (Cobb, Wagner, Plank, Mathewson, etc) are included. In nice low grade you could put the set together fairly easily in the $4-5k range and the cards are readily available.

DJ

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by vintagerookies51

First set that came to mind was E95

+1

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by vintagerookies51 View Post
First set that came to mind was E95

+1

E95's fit most of the OP's original specifications, especially in availability, small size and attractiveness, just the extra high dollar cards in the set (Wagner, Cobb, Matty, Plank) might be budget busters.

Brian