Question for the board on Caramel sets

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by DavidW

I thought E107 set collecting was difficult due to the Wagner pitching pose which is hard to find. I'd suggest checking out the oldcardboard site and viewing the card images. Determine what sets look most appealing then figure out the costs of Wagners, Cobb and Matthewson.

David,

I think you meant to type E102, in response to Frank's suggestion to collect E102s. You are correct though in that there are three rarities in the E102 (Wagner throwing, Miller fielding, and Doyle batting) that make completing this set difficult. The e102 is a great set, but both the Wagner fielding and Cobb cards will both exceed $2000.

Wes

[Leon]

E96 might be a good one for a cost conscious budget. They are scarce, have some unique poses and can be completed in collector grade for less than most others. It also has a smattering of nice HOF'ers too....without Cobby, Honus or Wags to inflate the price....good luck- the quest is a lot of the fun!!

[FrankWakefield]

E102's. (Echo.)

On the back it says there's 25 of them. Collect 25. Get Wagner batting and you're done with Wagner. Same strategy for Doyle and Miller, one of each is enough.

With a Wagner, a Mathewson, a Cobb and a Lajoie in a set of 25, along with other nice HOFers, you'll have nothing of which to be ashamed. I doubt that more that a dozen folks here have a simple set of 25 E102's. I'd doubt that more than 5 of us have what some consider a 'complete' set.

Ratz. I wanted my 500th post to be a bit more cyber-sonic than that...

[E93]

The least expensive color E set is the E96 due to the lack of any of the big name HOFs like Wagner, Cobb, Matty, and Young (no Johnson in any E set from E91-E107). E95 is probably easiest set to complete and can be done without paying 2k for any card, but you would probably be confining yourself to lower grades, at least for Cobb, Wagner and Matty - though even they may be gettable in vg for under 2k. I may be biased, but I think the E93 set is perhaps the nicest looking of the E sets across the board. Again, to stay under 2k for the top-tier HOFs it would probably mean gd/vg or less. But it is a 30 card set with 18 HOF and a ton of eye appeal. Here are some examples. Please forgive my indulgence.
JimB

[edhans]

I couldn't let this thread pass without a plug for my favorite set-E90-1. It doesn't meet your under $2k criteria since any authentic Jackson will cost multiples of that, but all of the others, including the rarities and HOFers would be obtainable, albeit in lower grades, within that threshold. The set features spectacular colors and artwork, numerous unique poses, and, best of all, many different levels of scarcity. At 120 cards, it's challenging, yet manageable. Best of luck in whatever you choose.

[tbob]

The E98 set can not be completed by purchasing cards under $2000 unless you are willing to buy cards of Cobb and Wagner which are pretty beaten up. Maybe the economy has dragged the Cobb price down some but the Wagner has been climbing for a long time. If you are willing to go with an SGC 10 Wagner, you might be able to find a Honus with back almost completely gone but nice eye appeal on the front, that is if SGC will grade it a 10, I've seen them go with authentic on some cards with major back damage.
There is no way in today's market to complete the E94 set with a 2k ceiling so I'd try to go with the E95 or E96. Joe Jax in any condition will rule out the E90-1.

[Wesley]

There are many good suggestions above; E95, E96, E93, E98 and E102 are all great.

You picked a very good time to begin working on a caramel set. I think some of the enthusiasm for these cards have died down, and overall, low grade and mid-grade E cards are a lot less expensive than they have been in recent years.