Type Collecting vs. Collecting wo/Focus

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

So I am getting into prewar and loving it. I have bought a few 1910 Obaks and some T205s. These two issues are great and really capture my imagination. I also find myself drawn to the D311s as well. Currently a member has a beautiful T216 thin paper for sale....sweet card! I have never fully understood the concept of type collecting. As a postwar collector I built sets, collected players, or HOF rookie cards.

So dumb question I know, but is it even remotely type collecting if I continued to buy 1910 Obaks, T205s, a few D311s, and maybe some T214s and T216s? Or does that make me a dabbler with not much focus? I also think the T210s are something I could like as well.

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[bnorth]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

So I am getting into prewar and loving it. I have bought a few 1910 Obaks and some T205s. These two issues are great and really capture my imagination. I also find myself drawn to the D311s as well. Currently a member has a beautiful T216 thin paper for sale....sweet card! I have never fully understood the concept of type collecting. As a postwar collector I built sets, collected players, or HOF rookie cards.

So dumb question I know, but is it even remotely type collecting if I continued to buy 1910 Obaks, T205s, a few D311s, and maybe some T214s and T216s? Or does that make me a dabbler with not much focus? I also think the T210s are something I could like as well.

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The T210's are beautiful. Personally I am a dabbler without much focus and love it.

[ullmandds]

I used to be a type collector and it is confining...feeling the "need" to acquire this "type" or that "type" which can be quite expensive for a common player with an unusual back.

I gave that up years ago and now I collect what I like...and I'm much happier!

Also collecting "runs" is a way to type collect and is super fun and more limiting!

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

I used to be a type collector and it is confining...feeling the "need" to acquire this "type" or that "type" which can be quite expensive for a common player with an unusual back.

I gave that up years ago and now I collect what I like...and I'm much happier!

Also collecting "runs" is a way to type collect and is super fun and more limiting!

I have to agree on this. I just buy cards I find interesting regardless of era. It may be unfocused but I'm happy with the results so far.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Guys, you are making me feel better already! There are so many cards and sets that I want a piece of that I find myself just buying whatever appeals to me. Also, at first back collecting didn't appeal to me. Now, however, it does to a degree. For example, I might like to collect the different back slogans on the 1910 Obaks, among other things!

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[ValKehl]

Robert, I now pronounce you hooked on pre-War cards, and as far as I am aware, there is no known cure!

I, too, am a pre-War type-card collector, which is one of my too-many pre-War collecting focuses. But, hopefully, a cure won't be found until I am long gone from this earth.

[drcy]

I never was a type or set collector. I bought what appealed to me and like getting new and different things.

There's no one way to collect.

[drmondobueno]

Collecting sets and Clemente items and ended up starting a type collection of Japanese menko, karuta, bromides, whatevers.

In other words, I collect what I want and can afford.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

Robert, I now pronounce you hooked on pre-War cards, and as far as I am aware, there is no known cure!

I, too, am a pre-War type-card collector, which is one of my too-many pre-War collecting focuses. But, hopefully, a cure won't be found until I am long gone from this earth.

Haha, thanks! I flirted with the idea of prewar for a couple of years. For me, it was just a matter of reading thread after thread on this site. Not a lot of posting for me, just trying to get a feel for the landscape. I am 43, and never really contemplated baseball cards existing prior to the early 1950s. Net54 has exposed me to cards I didn't know about and a multitude of ways of collecting those cards. Scanning the BST often has been a source of valuable info. At this point, there are cards from all kinds of prewar sets that I will be adding to my collection. It's probably safe to say my set building days are over as I want a taste of a lot of prewar issues. The possible exception could be the 1910 Obaks and collecting the 35 back slogans. I will also probably get as many T205s as I can..both of these have really grown on me. If I get restless, there's the D311s, T216s (just "discovering" those), and the T210s. It is pretty endless. It has been nice actually starting to show off my Obak purchases instead of just talking about it.

You guys don't always know it, but you all are really helpful and informative. I would still be doing what I always did if it weren't for you. That's not to say there's anything wrong with postwar at all. I was just personally getting bored. Net54 is the best place on the Internet IMHO.

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[trdcrdkid]

Robert --

I used to be a type collector, and in some ways I still am. See my type checklist from 1980 that I posted last week:

http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=239160

Even back then, as a kid, I didn't consider type collecting and set collecting to be mutually exclusive. I collected the Topps set from packs every year from 1977 through 1981 (and then Fleer and Donruss in 1981 as well), but I also wanted to try to get examples of as many different sets from the past as I could, because I thought it was cool to have these little pieces of the history of the game, and I liked old stuff anyway. It started in 1976 when I sent $2.95 plus a quarter for postage to Hobby Card House for one card from each Topps baseball set from 1952 through 1975. I thought those old cards were so cool, but on my very limited budget there was no question of collecting the entire sets, so I sort of became a type collector by default.

When I got back into the hobby in the 1990s, I had a bit more money, but still not a lot by any means. I was able to fill in a lot of holes in my type collection, including the more common T and E cards and some of the tougher T206 backs, which at the time didn't sell for much of a premium, even though they were hard to find. Once I had examples of a lot of sets, I figured out which ones I liked the best, and I kept picking up more cards from those sets if I happened to see them at decent prices. I quickly gravitated toward Old Judges and T cards, especially T210s, T212s, T205s, and T206s (especially tougher backs when I chanced upon them). I still collect all of those in an opportunistic way, adding more if I see them at a good price and they have decent eye appeal. The only one of those where I'm anywhere near collecting the set is T206 (I need about 70), but I don't really care if I never finish that. I just like having the cards and being able to look at them and see how the game has changed over the years. It sounds like you're a lot like me in your collecting, and like others, I would encourage you to collect in whatever way makes you happiest. That's what this is all about, isn't it?

[EvilKing00]

Im 1/2 way through he t205 set, & working on tobacco boxes from that set, but i also collect babe ruth cards as well as interesting 1800's cards.... And if I get a good price on a t3 ill pick it up as well. Im not sure what type of collector i am eiher

[Harford20]

I started similarly with set collecting of post-war cards. I then moved to a type-collector, going from OJ's forward. I seemed to stall in the T-cards (I also loved the T205, T206, T210, T213, T215 cards). I then focused on the HoF players from these sets. After "running out of findable/affordable cards" (missing only T205 HoF variants, missing T206 Cobb green/bat on [of course skipping Plank and Wagner], very few T210 San Antonio around, T213 HoF getting pricey and T215 HoF non-existent), I moved back to type-collecting. No offense to those that love the 1920's cards, but these did not grab my attention AT ALL.

Now to T205, T206 back collecting and various other T HoF cards. I have just called this the "David Collecting Style" (kinda fits my short attention span).

Dave