T206 buying advice

[steve B]

- is it better to buy a HOFer at a lower grade or someone else at a higher grade? I do have some preferred players

It depends on what you want more. A Hofer, especially a top tier one, as many have already pointed out will generally appreciate. But if there's a player whose story or career you're really into you can get a very nice example and still be under budget.

- are certain card backs preferable to others? I’ve read some, like Polar Bear, are more rare than Caporal, for example

Some are, but generally the ones that make a big difference will put a much bigger dent in the budget. So I'd say don't worry about the back. If you see two cards that are nearly the same but one has a slightly tougher back. Like one Piedmont and the other Polar Bear or Sovereign, getting the slightly tougher back might be cool.

- I assume buying a graded card is smarter than buying a raw card

If you haven't looked at or handled a lot of them, it probably is. But there are a number of people here that you could buy from with confidence either way.
I won't list them. There's More than a handful, and I'm bound to leave someone out which wouldn't be fair.

- I don’t expect anyone to predict the future but is it “safe” to assume that these cards will always be special, even if they don’t appreciate tremendously in value? I’d buy the card because I love having it and looking at it, not because I expect to flip it and buy a new car

Well, I like the ones with scenery and sunsets (sunrises?) And have for more than 40 years now. I can't say that's how it will be for you. I have had other interests in that time that have come and gone, a few that I really don't collect or look at much anymore.

- how do I display the card? I’d kind of hate to buy it and then keep it hidden and out of view

If the graded holder is polycarbonate, that blocks UV a bit. I don't really display mine, but if I only had one I'd probably display it. A small plate stand will take a graded card, and if the room is sunny, you can always place a light blocking cloth over the card.

[bbcard1]

There are a lot of ways. The safest is to pick a nice HOFer like Young or Speaker and put your funds there. A second way is to pick someone you find interesting and buy them. There was a time you could pick a future HOFer and get them...I got a nice Vic Willis run before he was elected at common price, but that's pretty well played. Dahlen is the best possibility but his prices are already at HOF rate. If you can find a Dineen near "common" price, I think he has a good possibility to eventually make the hall. There are also some just plain interesting players like Phillippe who started five game in one World Series.

[DeanH3]

I second the advice of acquiring a Matty, Young or Johnson first. Most likely, they won't be any cheaper than they are now. Waiting could cost you down the line. Buy the best looking example you can find. The great thing about T206's is that they can look fantastic in lower grade. Good luck!

Every thread needs a card, right?

[Luke]

I sold this one for $1900 here a month or so ago. I think buying a big name HOFer like this is a good place to start. Not everyone who starts collecting T206s ends up continuing for the long-term. If you decide it's not for you, they are easy to sell and move on to something else.

To answer your question about backs: Backs don't need to matter unless you want them to. Kids in 1910 weren't paying any attention to the backs of the cards. If you stick around for awhile, you may find yourself drawn to them, but that's a bridge you can cross when you come to it.

Another suggestion I have is try to find a collecting niche that gives you the most bang for your buck. I've always thought it was really cool that you could buy a Deacon Phillippe card (who had a borderline HOF career) for the same price as some guy who played 1 season of minor league ball and has a T206 card. Buying star players for common price and reading their SABR bios has always been fun for me. That's something you can do with with pretty much any budget.

But nice looking HOFers seem like a pretty good bet for the long haul, and very liquid if you change your mind.

[Touch'EmAll]

Consider heavily the centering. And high eye appeal for the grade - Leon has shown some great examples of sub 5's that look awesome. Bigger the name the better. Of course Johnson, Young, Matty & Cobb, but also the next tier Speaker, Lajoie, Collins, Keeler. You're going to pay extra for the portraits, but the non-portraits are very nice as well, saves some coin.

[53toppscollector]

Adding in my $0.02

I think the most important thing you can do, when collecting and starting out on a journey, is thinking about what your goal is, and then thinking about how easy it will be to transition to a new goal if you decide to.

I was out of the hobby for like 20 years. When I got back in a few years ago, I really was kind of aimless. I eventually settled on the 1953 Topps set. I set out on completing a set, all PSA graded, at 5 or higher. I got most of the way through, and then decided I didn't want to keep going, so I had to pivot. When I went into that set, I told myself if I ever lost the desire for it, I wouldn't keep going just to "get to 100%" because we aren't talking about trivial amounts of money.

On the macro level, you should figure out what your goal is. You listed a dream budget of $2500, and you said you liked a few players. I'm not saying this next part as a judgment of any kind, so don't take it that way. But is your goal just to buy a few T206 cards of big names? Is your goal to collect an entire set? Are you interested in a certain team? A certain type of card?

You can buy a WaJo or Cy Young or Ty Cobb for $2500. Once you buy that card, is that the end of the journey? Do you want to eventually collect the 520 card set? Do you only want the Hall of Famers? Are you looking to buy a card now and sell it for more later? All of those questions will impact the path you go down.

Are graded cards better? Well, that depends who you ask. I have close to 150 different T206 front/back combos, and all of them are now raw. I cracked some of them out of slabs. I did this because I want my entire collection in a binder (2 binders, actually). That was a conscious choice I made, with the understanding that if I crack out a PSA 2 and then I want to eventually sell it raw, I will get slightly less for it when selling it.

The big name cards in the set retain their value, and the value will increase. If you bought that WaJo that Luke posted above for $1900, there is a good chance you can sell it for $2200+ in 6-12 months, maybe more. The big names hold their value, and the value will keep increasing.

Before you buy any cards, you should think about what your goal is, and then think about what you might want to pivot to down the road. I started out thinking I would just collect a 520 set, with varying backs of the cards. I then realized I wasn't really interested in doing that, and instead I only wanted to collect portraits, and I wanted to collect all the front/back combos for every player that has a portrait (except Wagner, Plank and the Magee error, for obvious reasons). When I came to this realization, I determined buying graded cards wasn't really going to be an option because of cost, and that I had to make concessions on quality.

I can't speak for everyone, but most people usually deviate from their Plan A and sometimes even their Plan B and C. Good luck figuring out the path you want to take, this board is definitely the right place to ask questions and learn lots of great information.