Chronicling my T206 adventure

[53toppscollector]

Originally Posted by skelly423

I'm sure it's already on your radar, but you owe it to yourself to grab a Bill Donovan portrait for the same reason. It's just electric in person

Yep. I was pretty disappointed losing out on the Donovan Sovereign 150 over the weekend. It was at like $80 with 10 seconds left, I bid, and then it boomed to almost $400. Really wanted that one. I have 2 nice SweetCaps so far, including the tougher 350/25.

[53toppscollector]

(edited)

[53toppscollector]

I thought it would be interesting to bring this thread back almost 8 months after starting it, as my collecting interest in the T206 set has changed quite a bit. When I started this thread, I outlined my plan to collect all of the T206 portraits in as many backs as I could find.

At some point a few months after I started this thread, I was browsing through ebay listings and I think it was the Evers Yellow Sky card just hit my eye differently, and I thought.....its kind of silly to not try and actually put together a 520 set. Collecting 1300 portrait front/back combos was an insanely tall order, what is stopping me from just collecting a 520 set and then expanding on it after that? I went through a few different ideas in my head, trying to figure out how to approach things and what made the most sense.

I ultimately reconfigured my collecting approach to have 1 main T206 project, and within that project, 4 smaller projects (for now)

My main goal now is to put together a 520 set. Within that goal, I want to have each of the 520 subjects containing a non Piedmont/SweetCap back. I'm still avoiding the Carolina Brights/Drum/Broadleaf/Lenox/Uzit/Hindu backs because they are just so cost prohibitive right now, but in my research I've obviously come to realize that I can still add off backs that have 10 or fewer graded copies between PSA/SGC like American Beauty, Old Mill and Sovereign to add rarity to my set without needing to spend $10,000 on a Drum back. So far, I have 255/520, and I have 91/520 with an off back. Making solid progress, despite the big increases in raw, low grade commons in the last year. With this approach, I also give myself plenty of time to upgrade each card. For example, I have Abbott in a Sovereign 350 back. That back is the most plentiful of his non-ultra rare backs. It is still an off back and suits me for now, but eventually, if I can add swap out the Sov350 back for an American Beauty back or an EPDG, I will definitely do it. Incremental upgrades will be possible forever for the 520 set.

My 2nd minor goal is to assemble the full set of 48 Southern Leaguers with OMSL backs. I have 29/48, so I am making great progress there, and I already have a bunch of the really tough ones in Persons, Ryan, Carlos Smith, and Bill Hart.

Goals 3 and 4 are related: I am assembling the 34 card SweetCap 150/649 OP and 109 card SweetCap 350/460 Factory 42 OP subsets. I have a ways to go on both of those, but I really love the overprints and think they look really cool in the binder.

I have reorganized and divided up my T206 binder (Lighthouse binders really are wonderful), to put the 74 Hall of Famers first, then the 48 Southern Leaguers, then the two OP subsets, and then the remaining cards for the 520 in alphabetical order.

The most important thing, in all of this, is that I love taking my binder off the shelf and paging through it, I love getting in a new card and putting it in the binder, and I love spending hours looking through my spreadsheet, going through pages of ebay listings, and refreshing the BST forum here looking for deals. Having a main goal (getting to 520) and having a bunch of smaller related projects keeps this interesting to me. And knowing that I can change my mind at some point, as I've already done multiple times, and still find new ways to enjoy this set is what makes it so much fun for me.

I'll check back 8 months from now and either be close to 520, or I will have changed my entire project again. Either way, I know that I will be having a blast collecting this set in some shape or form.

[Zach Wheat]

Interesting keep us posted on your progress.

[53toppscollector]

I thought it might be interesting to post here again and add the last chapter, for now, to this adventure. The T206 set still fascinates me for so many reasons, and I will probably be back to it in some form in the future, but I reached a point where I just kind of felt paralyzed with the set. I believe that the high point, I had close to 375 cards toward the complete set, with lots of off backs. But it started to honestly feel like a slog. I found myself paying $35-40 for beat up commons, putting them in the binder, and then looking at my spreadsheet and seeing I still needed like 100 more of those commons. I watched the prices of Cobbs continue to creep up, and reminded myself I still needed all 4 of them, along with some of the other very expensive cards like the Cy Young Portrait, WaJo portrait, etc. I started with a goal of 520, then had conversations with myself like "am I really going to spend $8000 on a Demmitt STL?"...and then I started to negotiate down to 518, and then I started to wonder what the ultimate goal was.

About 7 months ago, I completed the Old Mill SL back run, 48/48, and it felt like a massive accomplishment, but it was really the only accomplishment I felt when collecting the T206s. I had minor moments of joy, where I'd find a really great deal on a HoF with an off back, but ultimately it just felt like a mountain I wasn't going to be able to climb. I mean, that is why they call it the monster, right?

I've thought about other possibilities, like just collecting the HoFs with an off back, but again, the prices on some of those cards are just tough to stomach, given how many there are to collect. I've considered just doing a pure back run, one of each back/factory, so I could have a small collection, with a few really hard/expensive backs. Ultimately, I will probably end up doing that, picking my favorite pose/front for each of the backs, and grabbing a nice copy. But that is on the back burner now, with other projects brewing.

Ultimately, the coolest part of this set is just how expansive and interesting it is. I've collected a TON of data on the set, and I have a lot more I want to do, including eventually revisiting my SweetCap census project, which had to be shelved for a while. This closes the T206 chapter of my collecting. For now.

[Kevin]

I need to be 40 instead of 50 right now. 300+ with no plan other than collecting all 520+.

Thanks for posting🙃

[3-2-count]

James, following your thread has been a fun ride.

Keep on truck’ in. I love this set too….