Type Cards, is there an appetite?

[darwinbulldog]

I have dozens of different "sets" I'm working on at various paces, but my favorite ones are the Louisiana type cards (T211, Tango Eggs, etc.), the bakery type cards (D304, D381, etc.), and the rare back type cards (Shotwell, Hendlers, etc.).

In theory I'm primarily a collector of rare type cards, but in practice I'm too impatient not to also busy myself with much more common stuff (T206s and rookie cards).

[BobC]

I've been using the old SCD Vintage Catalog as my checklist for type cards/items up through 1980 for years now. Similar cut-off year/period as you are using. Figure to try and see how far I can go to get at least one of every item/set listed in those SCD vintage catalogs. An obvious impossible task to ever fully complete at 100% as some of the items/sets listed are so rare and scarce, you'll never come across any for sale. And even if you're ever lucky enough to find one of these uber-rare type cards/items for sale, it is usually so ridiculously expensive you'll never be able to afford it.

Also work on many different pre- and post-war sets as well, particularly the more obscure, less well-liked/collected sets. What with the recent pandemic price surge in many card prices for most all the pre-war superstar/HOFers, finishing many of those early pre-war sets that included Wagner, Cobb, Jackson, and other such player cards/items in them, the cost of acquiring such player cards/items to finish many of these pre-war sets has gotten out of reach for the more average collectors. So, seeing there are now many sets I'll likely never finish, it is still nice to be able to work on the type card side of my collection, and can still find many, many cards/items at relatively inexpensive prices. I don't worry much about condition, and will take a common, low condition card/item as a type card, especially if talking about some of the rarer, early pre-war sets to begin with.

And there are likely many collectors on this forum that are type card collectors as well, whether it be for all cards/items, like myself, or maybe just for a specific team, player, or even a year or era. So as Leon said, go ahead and post on the front main forum pages for the cards/items in the specific era(s) you're talking and asking about (pre-war, post-war pre-1890, post-war post-1980) and you'll get plenty of eyes and responses. Even pre-war collectors that only focus on the stars/HOFers, and/or maybe only rookie cards, more from an investment than a true collector standpoint, are actually a form of type collector as well, even if they don't think of themselves that way. At the end of the day, I think you'll find that most pre-war collectors are at least some variant/form of a type collector at heart. You pretty much have to be unless you're wealthy and can afford some of the crazy prices for certain cards these days to finish sets. LOL Good luck with your collecting.

[biggies]

Thanks all for the input. I will take Leon's advice and see if I can't stir up some TC interest on the front page.

bb

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by biggies

Thanks all for the input. I will take Leon's advice and see if I can't stir up some TC interest on the front page.

bb

Bob, how many sets do you consider between 1880 and 1980?

[biggies]

1863-1980 (I include the Jordan set) 2359 sets right now

It changes daily. I started with Dave Hornish's list years ago, about 3500. But it needed massive filtering and I said before everyone's list is specific to them.

I insist on: must have listed players, at least 10 players, MLB only, etc
I have comprimised on all of these. I have over 250 TCMA sets, includes a lot of minors. How do you NOT include Zeenuts, Popcorns, etc. And if I happen to get a card in a set of less than 10 players, in it goes.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by biggies

1863-1980 (I include the Jordan set) 2359 sets right now

It changes daily. I started with Dave Hornish's list years ago, about 3500. But it needed massive filtering and I said before everyone's list is specific to them.

I insist on: must have listed players, at least 10 players, MLB only, etc
I have comprimised on all of these. I have over 250 TCMA sets, includes a lot of minors. How do you NOT include Zeenuts, Popcorns, etc. And if I happen to get a card in a set of less than 10 players, in it goes.

Really, only MLB players, AND at least 10 players in the set? So, you don't actively collect and search for type cards from sets like the S74 silks, Kellogg's Pep Sports Stamps, W.S. Kimball Champions, 1937 and 1938 Dixie Lids and their premiums, W511s, W512s, W513s, W565s, W590s, among other sets then?

Or what about a situation like with the various Michael Schecter Associates discs put out in the 1970s-80s, where they put out a sample, test set of only 6 discs in 1975. Do you collect type cards from all the other sets, but not from their original, very first set itself, because it contained fewer than 10 MLB players?

I fully understand and respect the need to set and follow certain rules and parameters when collecting. Just seems to me you may be missing out on collecting examples of some truly great cards/sets though. Or was that statement you made about sometimes compromising on your type card collecting happening a little more often than not? LOL

[conner]

This seems like a stupid question, but what is a type card?