Fun/Expert Advice needed

[ethicsprof]

Paul M( T206 collector) spells my choice quite well.
all the best in your quest,

barry

[birdman42]

Have you considered type cards? I can vouch for the thrill of the hunt, as can a few others on the board. You can set your goals as broad or as narrow as you want.

I collect only Washington players, so I don't worry about any of the minor league sets, or lots of the E-9x's.

Or you could choose a favorite player and go after one of each of their cards. HOFers can be pricey, but if you select someone who played for a while, you can still end up with 30-40 cards. For my Washington set I've sort of focused on Clyde Milan --> Joe Judge --> Cecil Travis. That carries me through most of the major sets (and a few minor ones) from 1907 through 1941.

Or collect only horizontal cards. Or minor leaguers in major-league sets. Or... or... Whatever strikes your fancy.

Whatever you start out with, don't be afraid to change your mind. If you buy judiciously, you'll be able to get out of your cards if you change focus. (Check through some listings on the B/S/T and see how often that "change focus" phrase shows up.)

And remember, it's a fun hobby. Collect What You Want. Start slow, by doing some research, as other posters have suggested. Then buy a few raw cards for cheap to get a feel for them. There's no substitute for running your fingers across the surface of a well-loved card.

I've been collecting for almost 30 years off and on, and I still have lots to look for.

Bill

[mrvster]

The set to collect is T206.........look no further....

Peace

Johnny

[Touch'EmAll]

The "not a set set" - aka cool type collection, focus on HOF'ers.

I would rather look at a bunch of cool random prewar HOF cards - than a bunch of pretty much the same looking cardboard.

For some reason, never been into commons.

O/T - Goodwin has some nice stuff closing Friday - fingers crossed !

[DixieBaseball]

You could collect this set in various ways with very little money. You could collect from this set a :

1. Town/City (Nashville)
2. State (Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham)
3. Team (There are 51 to choose from and I bet one near your hometown/home)
4. A series (There are 8 different series representing 8 different leagues)
5. A Pose (Portraits or In action Poses -Pitchers, Hitters, Sweaters, Jackets, etc.)

This Minor League set is comprised of 650 cards or so and has some of the most amazing looks and is relatively inexpensive, but rewarding as it will take some time once you pick a theme. (I collect Southern leaguers, but do have an example from each of the 51 teams)

Good Luck & might I suggest you take your time before you dive in, as what I have seen is most collector's change focus over and over, and eventually settle in after refreshing their collection a handful of times. (This sort of makes the hunt fun, but you can save time and money by being selective)

Best, JJ

[Maelman]

Everyone thank you soo much for all of the great replies!!! I have gone through each post and started research on all the recommended sets/sub sets/focus areas! I am starting to get that great feeling I once had about collecting cards when I was young. Since I have not followed collecting in such a long time I have lost my knowledge on the market prices like I once had. I worked in a card shop for a few years and it was sad that the card companies couldnt figure out that they were killing their following by flooding the hobby with an infinite supply of cards that couldnt possibly hold their "beckett value." It was always awful to see the look on a collectors face when they came in to sell their lifelong collection and I had to tell them what its real current value was. I think that is definitely a reason that I am soo interested in getting back into collecting in preWWII. I have noticed that right now seems like a great time to be collecting vintage cards as far as current prices? Is this correct?

[ValKehl]

I'm not a set collector, but if I were you, it would be the 1916 M101-4/5s. I like real-photo cards, and I like the many different ads on the backs of these cards (some of the ad backs have different ACC #s) (I would ignore the blank backs, which are the easiest to find, because I really like the ad backs). The set is of reasonable size - 200 cards plus a few variations, and I would go for a mix of the different ad backs (with at least one of each, which won't be easy as a few of them are quite scarce). There are lots of HOFers/lesser stars, with a great mix of players from the "dead ball" era and players who were more prominent in the "live ball" 1920s. Costwise, the drawback could be the Jackson & Ruth cards, which I would look to obtain in poor-fair condition in order to keep them more or less affordable. FYI, the M101-4/5s don't get a lotta love from the vintage collecting community, IMHO.

Also, I suggest you obtain a copy of the Standard Catalog of BB Cards and go through the vintage section page-by-page. This will enable you to quickly identify and make an initial list of several possibilities that you can then research further, including learning the pros and cons of each set.

Whatever you decide, Happy collecting!!
Val