Tricks, Tips, and Rules to buying T206's

[Bridwell]

I think it is cool that we can buy a baseball card that is over 100 years old, and get it for only $10. Here's a few tips, for buying low-cost T206's:

a. Buy cards you like, and want to look at in your collection. Take your time since there are many available.
b. Don't assume they have any investment value, although you can probably sell them later without losing money.
c. A little paper loss on the back is a deterrent to the big collectors, so grab those cards at cheap prices.
d. Don't bother having them graded. No sense spending $10 to grade a $10 card. If you can find any graded cards for $10-15, grab those since somebody else spent more than that on them.
e. Watch out for the reprints, especially the HOF players. Watch out for oversized super white borders and phoney looking aging.
f. Buy cards with bold color and good centering.
g. Ebay has lots of T206's to buy, but avoid low-rated sellers and high shipping fees.
h. Avoid bidding wars. Pass and bid on something else.
i. Any HOF players for under $50 are worth it.
j. You might consider buying PSA 2-3 grade commons or SGC 30-40 in the $15-$30 range since they usually have nice eye appeal compared to poor cards and the grading helps you know the cards are authentic.
k. Remember to have fun, and not take it too seriously!
l. Search net54 archives. There are many good threads about T206.

Hope that helps.