What was your first pre-war purchase?

[theshowandme]

I am currently on the fence about making a larger purchase (~$1500) for a relatively scarce item.

I have wanted this player's T206 portrait card for quite some time, but a unique D/E/W card has presented itself.

What was your first pre-war purchase? What made you pull the trigger on that copy?

I'm 75% likely buying this card, just want to hear some others stories first.

[53toppscollector]

My first prewar purchase was a T206 Krause Portrait with an AB 350 back.

I had done a few months worth of research on the T206 set, and I was in the process of selling off my near complete graded 1953 Topps set. I had done my research, set up my spreadsheet in Excel, and was watching what was listed regularly on ebay. The Krause was part of a large assortment of cards offered all ending around the same time. Something about his portrait stuck out to me, and I knew I wanted my first purchase to be an off back, because I knew the backs would be something I would be focusing on with my T206 collecting project(s)

No regrets. I had almost a complete Krause portrait back run assembled before I shifted my collecting goals in the last 6 months, but I kept the AB350 back, and always will, since it is my first. It was originally in an SGC 4 holder (though it was probably overgraded) and has since been snapped out and put in my binder

[Alaskanmade]

My first pre-war cards was a T205 Bresnahan. I had decided I wanted to build the T205 Hall of Fame set, and this was the first card in that set which went up for auction.

My first "expensive" pre-war card was a T205 Mathewson (photo attached).

No regrets

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by theshowandme

I am currently on the fence about making a larger purchase (~$1500) for a relatively scarce item.

I have wanted this player's T206 portrait card for quite some time, but a unique D/E/W card has presented itself.

What was your first pre-war purchase? What made you pull the trigger on that copy?

I'm 75% likely buying this card, just want to hear some others stories first.

Mine was a cheap, low grade T206 common. I took a similar approach to E and other T sets, to help me decide if I wanted to try collecting more of them later. In hindsight, I'm glad I approached it that way. Good luck with whatever you decide, and I hope you'll share pics! -Matthew

[bbcard1]

I bought a random T206 from Card Collectors Company, which turned out to be a Snodgrass batting. That was the mid 1970s. Still have it.

[Tyruscobb]

A T-206 Red portrait Ty Cobb Polar Bear back. $250.00 seemed like a great deal at the time. I made this purchase around 2002.

[Tyruscobb]

A T-206 Red portrait Ty Cobb Polar Bear back. $250.00 seemed like a great deal at the time. I made this purchase around 2002.

[brianp-beme]

These five from one dealer at a show some decades ago, back when you could get such cards for some spare lawn mowing money (and I didn't charge that much). Having begun in a more collector friendly era, I can't imagine starting up now, but I applaud anyone that goes into vintage thinking of the long haul, and not just the possibility of a quick turnaround.

Still have them all.

Brian

[commishbob]

This Matty Dark Cap. I bought it in the late 70s, maybe early 80s thru an ad in one of the hobby publications. At the time I had plans to build a Hall of Fame collection using playing era cards whenever possible but even then, with prices laughably low compared with those today, it proved to be an impossible task once we began a family.

I still have it although I'm considering letting it go after all these years.

[Eric72]

I was at the Philly Show in December of 2011. While I didn't set out to purchase a Pre-War card, this one caught my eye. I still have it.

Since that fateful day, I've picked up more than 100 additional T206 cards. It's a fun addiction hobby. I can stop any time I want...honest.

[Rhotchkiss]

I have been collecting on and off for over 40 years, so I do not remember my first pre-war acquisition. I do recall that my first T206, which may have also been my first pre-war card as well, was a Bresnahan with bat (raw of course bc this was in the early-mid 1980's).

It was pretty beat up, but I remember thinking it was so cool because it was so old- almost as old as my grandparents, and they were old!

[Casey2296]

The first pre-war i picked up when I was 21, always gravitated towards pre-war after the seed was planted in my head as a 10 year old kid looking at the Kellogg's all-time greats 3D set, couldn't help thinking "who are these guys?!?"
_

[theshowandme]

Okay, I pulled the trigger

1909 W555 Christy Mathewson. 14 known copies between PSA and SGC

I consulted Bluejacket66, John Mangini, and ThoseBackPages on this one. They were a huge help.

I am so happy!

[abothebear]

Twelve years ago I bought this one for $28.



.

[abothebear]

Nice card!

[jingram058]

I've been collecting on and off for something like 53 years. As a kid it was all Topps. My first pre-war cards were 1933 Goudey Ruth and Gehrig for $500 in 1988, using re-enlistment bonus money at Chanute AFB. I thought at the time it was highway robbery. Who could know?

[BioCRN]

A beat the hell up (major corner rounding and a crease) T206 common of a Cubs player (Del Howard). Piedmont back, nothing special. Got it at a card show for $25 and I was blown away simply handling it.

I traded it for a slightly off-center 2001 Bowman Pujols in 2001. Financially, it was a good deal for me at the time, and it was still a good financial deal when I sold the Pujols a couple years ago for $80.

That said, I'd rather have that card back than the $80. It's a part of my personal journey as a collector that's no longer around.

I'm glad I still have my first overall "vintage" card I bought in 1988 as a 12 year old...a slightly beat up 1972 Reggie Jackson. I paid $35 for it and I could probably get $15-20 today. I wouldn't even take $100 for it, though.

[glynparson]

Street t206 portrait. Maranville Cracker Jack and speaker t206 were next purchases.

[ldrunner27]

Purchased this Foxx around 1993. The owner allowed me to make payments.

[darwinbulldog]

1933 Goudey Rabbit Maranville. Figured cards that old would cost a fortune and that this seller on eBay was a fool for selling one of a Hall of Famer for under $100.

That was about 20 years ago. It's probably still not worth what I paid for it then.

[CobbSpikedMe]

My first prewar card was this T206 Hannifan Sovereign back. I had wanted a T206 since I was a kid and when I was in college I got a catalog from Kit Young. I picked out the Hannifan because he was on the Jersey City team and I thought that was cool. No mention of the back in the catalog. I was so excited when it showed up I looked at it for weeks. Still have it to this day. I'll never part with it. Since then I've started a Jersey City team collection which I love.




.

[GrewUpWithJunkWax]

T206 Waddell throwing

The A's were my team, I wanted to finally get a T206, and enjoyrf his incredible story.



pizzazza

[fkm_bky]

My first pre-war was a t206 Chance Red Portrait off of eBay back in probably 2003. Polar Bear back and poor condition. I paid $28.

My Red Cobb is my most expensive purchase but will be outdone when I finally get a Green Cobb Port.

Bill

[Chris Counts]

At my first card show in 1974, I picked up t206s of Lajoie, Mordecai Brown and Chase, all in roughly perfect shape — the dealer, John Parks, had soaked them out of a scrapbook. I recall the HOFers were $3 each, while Chase was $1. I was about 13 at the time — I had read about those players in "The Glory of Their Times."

[refz]

My first purchase was a T206 red portrait Ty Cobb in the early to mid 1990s for $75 from a dealer in FL, Orve Johansson (rest his soul). I became real good friends with Orve and a few years after the Cobb purchase, (was working by this time) I picked up a group of Goudeys including a Ruth + Gehrig!! Orve claimed the goudeys came from Johnny Allen’s collection, a player featured in the 1934 set. How true this is I’m unsure.

Danny

[BuzzD]

My first vintage that I can remember was mid 80's show in Albany area where I picked up T206 Keeler portrait. I had no idea this would lead to 40yrs of trying to get every Yankee

[Mutton Chop Yaz]

Purchased on eBay in late 2016 when I hit my mid-30s and realized I could realistically collect cards that would have seemed impossible to obtain as a kid (I didn’t even see cards like this at the local card shops and flea markets I frequented in the 1990s), prompting a return to the hobby.

At $385, it was the most expensive card I’d purchased or owned up to that point. Of course, it seems like a relative bargain just a few years later. The 2015-2020 period will stand as a golden age for older millennials who returned to collecting during that stretch. Goudey Ruths could be had for $1,500, I tell ya.

[oldjudge]

An old hooker on the upper West Side of Manhattan when I was 17 (just kidding &#129315

[StraightRaceCards]

When I first found pre-war cards, I was referred over to net54. eliotdeutsch was kind enough to give me a great deal on a group of 3 commons and he even included an extra beat up Jack Barry with a faded backstamp on it. Pretty awesome start!

I love all these cards, (Powers, Street, McGlynn, Barry), but something about the Powers all beat up with a slit on the bottom with the mask feels like the "first one"

Been an amazing journey in this first year of collecting and made some great friends along the way here. 32 / 520 so far and slowly working my way towards finishing the monster!

Thinking all the commons will go in an album, and will planning to get low grade SGC graded cards for the HOF'ers to display. I may splurge on a nice white cap Matty one day though

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Mutton Chop Yaz

Goudey Ruths could be had for $1,500, I tell ya.

How about $500 for Ruth AND Gehrig in 1988? My best friend and my sister both thought I was insane, and I thought it was rash (I also bought a 1934 OAL ball signed by Ruth, Gehrig and Cobb at the same time) as well. As I have said ever since, who could know?

[campyfan39]

My first and only prewar card.
Wanted a card of one of the blacksox

[MattyC]

The very d304 Cobb pictured below was my first pre-war card purchase a decade ago. I didn't know anything about it or pre-war cards at the time, yet the image was just so pleasing to my eye that I bid on it and won. I had actually sold it to a friend yet was so attached to it he allowed me to get it back in a later trade. Tough card to find, and too pricey for me in higher grades, so this was always "the one" for me.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

3 1933 Goudey's for $7.50 in 1987. Bing Miller, Randy Moore and someone else. I was always trying to get "the oldest card I've ever had" and that was my first foray into anything before the late 1950's.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

T206 Kisinger, purchased for $1. I still have it somewhere.

[pokerplyr80]

Well I may have bought a couple common t206s on Ebay, this was my first significant prewar purchase, and the first card I ever bought from an auction house. I believe it was actually the last auction that Legendary ran. I still have the card, and as I've mentioned on a few threads it's my all time favorite image on a baseball card. Pictured next to my '27 Ruth

[90feetaway]

1914 Cracker Jack Evers SGC 40/3 bought roughly 12 years ago for $300 saying I wanted to own one expensive card after climbing back in the hobby. I thought I would be done after that but...we'll not so much.

[pete zouras]

paid $18 and remember thinking I was overpaying. Probably would pay about the same today.

[rats60]

Bought this Matty with a Speaker and a year later I had 519 t206s.

[puckpaul]

This card which I bought for $250 from Steve Verkman in 1989 at a small show in Manhasset, Long Island. I had collected cards as a kid in the 1970’s, and got back into it in 1989 after college. Still my favorite card, sentiment playing a big role. Thought it was the coolest thing i had seen, i had no idea growing up that cards went back that far.

[CurtisFlood]

1915 Cracker Jack Cobb.

[3-2-count]

Red Cobb portrait, T206

[Seven]

T206 Eddie Collins. Thought, and still think he's extremely undervalued considering how good of a ballplayer he was.

[Brian Van Horn]

In 1978, I purchased a 1933 Goudey #238 Hugh Critz for $20.00. The next week I purchased a 1934 Goudey Lefty Grove for $20.00. Both cards are still in my collection.

[Chuck9788]

It was a 1909 T206 Buck Herzog with pair loss on the back. The card still makes me smile.

[frohme]

First pre-war purchase, 30+ years ago, at a regional show (St Louis). 8 years before joining eBay. Its the only pre-war Pirate I held onto.

[Bliggity]

Great thread. I started getting back into cards around spring 2014. Bought a nice '54 Bowman Mantle that summer, which was by far the most I'd ever spent on a card. I had a little familiarity with vintage, but knew almost nothing about prewar. It seemed like a steep learning curve. Then I went to the Raleigh show in December 2014 and saw this T205 Mathewson in a dealer's case. It was love at first sight. I slept on it that night, and went back and bought it the next day for $325. It was in a SGC 30/2 holder at the time, and I cracked it and sent it to PSA where it (rightly) upgraded. Still have it front and center in my display case.

[steve B]

Well, it may not be much help, but here it is.

The shop In the town I'd just moved to had T206 comons for 1.50 each. I really liked them, but hadn't bought any.

Then the guys at the shop said they'd held one aside for me.
ANd it was only 20 cents! Of course, it was also heavily creased, torn, taped to keep it in one piece... but it was mine! If I'd only known where that would lead....

[1880nonsports]

90's

Richard Galasso SCD adv. I bought an N43 baseball card in VG/X

fast forward and I need but Edwards the boxer to complete a nice graded set......

[nooner10]

Bought these two in the same transaction a few years ago. No longer have the Gehrig, though.

[laserbeemer]

In 1976 I was 11 years old. Took my paper route money and was going to buy a 1953 Paige from an older kid in the neighborhood. He had 2nd thoughts and instead gave me a T206 Mathewson portrait and a 62 Musial for $30 total. That was a ton of money for me at 11, but got me hooked.