Being new to vintage, what should I know? + Pickup

[steve B]

Learning all you can about the cards themselves is a good start. And buying inexpensive ones is a good way to do that. It's a bit tougher now, with everything at least in a holder if not slabbed. I learned by seeing the cards loose - or - rubber banded into small stacks (Yeah, that was a long time ago!)
But handling them loose gives you a feel for how something should be.

And don't worry too much about your mistakes, we've all made several I'm sure. One dealer I know told me something interesting after I was lamenting a purchase of something I liked at a pretty steep price for the time. " You didn't pay too much, just too soon"
Being budget conscious, most of my mistakes have been in not buying something.

And the comments about learning the history of the cards and the times they were made is a really good one. Anything made is a product of the society that made it at a particular time. The design of cards from any era tells a lot about our country at that time.
1880's -90's Photos! a relatively new technology to print them on paper, in quantity, and cheaply enough to give away combined with the beginnings of people being celebrities (aside from royalty, the very rich or powerful etc)
1910 ish - A nation gripped with a light and exuberant mood, having figured out how to toss off the heaviness of the victorian age, and with several new technologies aiding in liberating large groups of the masses. The T206s are a perfect fit, with their idealised scenes including sunsets etc often in sort of pastel like colors.

When I explain my cards to non collecting friends in terms of being bits of design and general history and how they represent more than just a tiny picture of a baseball player - That's when it makes sense to them.

Steve