Personal Pre-War Set and Collector Survey

[BobC]

Originally Posted by jayshum

I probably started collecting pre-war about 18 years ago. In 2009, I sold off a number of sets I had to help pay for an addition to our house, and about 5 years later, I started putting the sets back together. I probably have about 1300-1400 pre-war cards including the following sets:

1909 T201 set
1911 T3 Turkey Red set
1933 Rittenhouse set
1933 Delong set
1934-36 Diamond Stars master set
1935 Goudey master set
1939-1946 Salutation Exhibit set
1939 Play Ball set
1940 Play Ball set
1941 Play Ball set
1941 Double Play set

I'm currently working on 1927 Exhibits, T202s and T205s, but not up to 75% for any of them yet.

I'm not sure what I would consider the most significant pre-war card that I own from the sets I have, but the T3 Cobb and the 1927 Exhibit Ruth are 2 of my favorite cards in my collection.

Very nice Jay! You have some great sets and a fanastic collection. I hear you about working on sets that aren't even close to 75% yet. For example, I've been working on an N172 Old Judge set and just trying to get at least one card of every player that was ever included in the set. The OJ set is slightly bigger than even the 520 card T206 set, with I believe the last Krause/SCD catalog from 2017 listing 525 different players in it, and there could be another player or two discovered since then that I'm not even aware of. Anyway, I've currently got OJ cards for 50% of the players in the set, but there are many known cards in the set that are so rare and/or expensive that I know the set is impossible for me to ever finish. So I'm planning to just keep going and see how many different player cards I can eventually acquire, without worrying about the card grade or condition too much. Figure I'm halfway now and starting to close in on 300 different player cards, and if I can eventually get to 400 different player cards, I'll be pretty satisfied.

So what do you do in the case of collecting a set where you know up front there is a card(s) that is so rare or expensive that you'll probably never be able to complete the set? For example, you mentioned working on a T205 set. So what do you do about the Hoblitzell "no stats" variation, which is almost impossible to find, let alone afford? Do you just get one of the more common Hoblitzell variations and consider Hoblitzell off your want list and the set complete without all four of the variations, or do you get all the other 3 more common Hoblitzell variations and just disregard the "no stats" variation in completing the set? Kind of like what some T206 collectors do in considering their sets complete at 520 cards and just ignoring the"big four". Interested to hear how you look at things like that.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by BobC

So what do you do in the case of collecting a set where you know up front there is a card(s) that is so rare or expensive that you'll probably never be able to complete the set? For example, you mentioned working on a T205 set. So what do you do about the Hoblitzell "no stats" variation, which is almost impossible to find, let alone afford? Do you just get one of the more common Hoblitzell variations and consider Hoblitzell off your want list and the set complete without all four of the variations, or do you get all the other 3 more common Hoblitzell variations and just disregard the "no stats" variation in completing the set? Kind of like what some T206 collectors do in considering their sets complete at 218 cards and just ignoring the"big four". Interested to hear how you look at things like that.

I do like to complete sets so I usually only collect sets that I think I can complete. It's probably one of the reasons I haven't ever collected T206s. Since the T205 set can be considered complete at 208 as a basic set without the different variations, I can probably convince myself that I completed it if I eventually get all but a few of the high priced variations, but to be honest it will probably still bug me a little if I don't have them all.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by jayshum

I do like to complete sets so I usually only collect sets that I think I can complete. It's probably one of the reasons I haven't ever collected T206s. Since the T205 set can be considered complete at 208 as a basic set without the different variations, I can probably convince myself that I completed it if I eventually get all but a few of the high priced variations, but to be honest it will probably still bug me a little if I don't have them all.

Jay, that makes perfect sense, set your collecting goals as you like, and don't worry about what anyone else does or thinks.

One of the big advantages of my working on so many sets at once is that whenever I look online, at an auction catalog, or attend a show, I literally always seem to be able to come across something that is reasonably priced and in presentable shape that is either needed for a set I'm working on, or is a type card of some set I don't already have an example of. I truly embrace the feeling that the thrill is in the hunt, and not as much so in the kill, to use a metaphor. My downfall is I use the Krause/SCD catalog as my checklist template from the one year they also sold the catalog as a CD (2009 I think). Makes it nice to just highlight items on the pdf file to check off what you have. And you can add notes and comments as you like, and print off any pages for reference or to take with you. The problem is you now have the entire freakin' catalog as a digital checklist so you start checking off everything in it that you already have, and it encourages you to keep collecting and checking more and more things off. Definitely gives you something to keep busy at. LOL