What's the "easiest" and best pre-war set to complete?
 

If someone wanted to collect complete pre-war sets on a budget, which ones would you advise?

It should be a set with enough cards to make it a true set.
Have enough Hall Of Famers to make it interesting without breaking the bank.
One that is attractive to the eye.
It has to be accessible to the collector through ebay and other sources.

Thoughts?

How big is the budget?

Can go wrong with a low grade 33 goudey set
Cheapet
I've always like the diamond stars, and no Ruth or Gehrig.

R333 Delongs are fun and not too expensive (minus a few).....

All depending upon your 'enough cards' specification and your toleration for decent black and white photo portrait cards, the 1936 Goudey set of 25, which has 8 Hall of Famers as well as a handful of other popular players could fit the bill. They are relatively common and the cards usually sell for a reasonable price.

Brian

Diamond Stars were my first entry, and I thought they worked as a nice introduction.

1936 Goudey (set of 25) is the perfect candidate for cheap and easy.
1935 Goudey 4-On-1 basic set of 36 is in color, has 4 players per card, only the Ruth will really set you back, and isn't that much larger.
1938 Goudey is also small and somewhat budget friendly, but some don't like how they look. Personally, I like them a lot (particularly the high numbers). The DiMaggio and Feller rookies will cost you a pretty penny.
1934 Goudey is under 100 cards and probably the most attractive (IMO), but there's 2 Gehrigs and a Greenberg rookie, so it will cost a bit more than some of the others.
1934-36 Diamond Stars is just over 100 cards, has a fun, art deco style of artwork, and has no Ruths or Gehrigs, but the high numbers will set you back a bit and can be elusive to find.
1933 DeLong is another good one. Small set. Pretty. But they are shooting up in price lately. I'm not sure I'd consider them as budget friendly - especially the Gehrig.

First set that came to mind was E95. Lots of hall of famers but only 25 cards (I think) so not too bad on the bank account

1935 Goudey 36 cards and only the Ruth is expensive. T201 Mecca Double Folders 50 cards and the Cobb will only cost a few hundred.

I've always been partial to the E93 set. 30 card set of which 17 or 18 are HOFers. Most of the big names of the era (Cobb, Wagner, Plank, Mathewson, etc) are included. In nice low grade you could put the set together fairly easily in the $4-5k range and the cards are readily available.

DJ

'35 Goudey base set is a great starting point. I would think you could do the whole set in VG for right around $2k.

Since you didn't specify a budget, a fairly easy set to collect is the 1936 S&S Game cards. They came 52 cards in the set, featured black & white photos of each player as well as biographical data, and included I believe about 17 or 18 HOFers out of the 52 different players shown.

They are relatively cheap and you should easily be able to put together a decent set for less than $1K. While roughly a third of the set consists of HOFers, none of the really big names like Ruth or Gehrig are included, which helps to keep the cost way down.

Though some collectors don't necessarily like them because they were part of a game, nor had color photos, they were actual photos and not the art-deco type drawings depicted on some of the other suggested sets like the Delongs and Diamond Stars. Plus, since they were issued as cards to be used in a game, they were printed on a little bit stronger and higher quality paper that was intended to hold up to the use and were made with rounded corner like regular playing cards, so they weren't subject to the dinged corner abuse most baseball cards from back then suffered. In other words, though relatively inexpensive for pre-war cards, they can usually be found in relatively nice shape also. Sort of a good match for someone trying to get their feet wet in pre-war collecting without going overboard on the cost or search.

E96. Small set and not too many HOFers. Plus the HOFers in there are minor ones (no Cobb, Wagner, Johnson, Mathewson, Young).

Lots of great ideas. I like the E96, and the 36 Goudey.

I didn't give a budget because so much can affect that. Lots of $50 cards can add up as fast as a few $400 cards.
For me, as long as it's easy to get the bulk of the set at reasonable prices. (i.e. $50 for low/mid condition for 100 or so cards or $100 for small sets) and there's only one or two cards that would set you back a few hundred, that would work perfectly.

I am not a set-builder, but if I ever did put a set together it would be the T3 Turkey Red. Every card is a work of art. Tons of Hall Of Famers. You could even find a nice way to display them. Since they often come with minor paper loss or pin-holes, you can get some really nice ones in low grades. Only a couple of them are expensive, and even those you can find rougher copies for ok prices. And...it's only 100 cards.

First set that comes to my mind is T201. 50 cards, but each card has two players, so 100 total players. All the major HOFers except Plank, Wagner and Young are there. The Cobb, Johnson and Mathewson cards are significantly less expensive than their other cards.

As far as the 1930s sets go, you can't beat the 1934-36 Diamond Stars.


Steve

When evar this question Arises...

The T200 Set Always Comes ta MiND! :/
If my OCD Will evar let me complete the E90-1 Set,
THiS iS the One Fir me! ;)

I'm with Leon on the R333 Delongs. If I ever run out of T206's to buy, that would be my next set. I've always liked the design.

Not even a little love for Play Balls, sigh.

1935 Rice-Stix. Pretty easy to complete

I really like the 1936 S & S set as well. If you can find the box for the game it's even better. Just my 2 cents.

All the ones mentioned are great in regards to cost. Also the 41 play balls should get some love as mentioned above (the 40 issue isn't attractive though IMO). I think one that's overlooked though are T205's. Second best t card set I think and you can piece together a low grade set for ~$10k if you're patient. I'm working slowly on it right now and have snagged some of the key cards for very reasonable prices. I think it's the perfect set in regards to iconic affordability and relatively easy to put together yet still challenging.

Defintely not t205 if you want an easy set. I decided to try to complete the set 3 years ago when I realized that I already had over half the set. I am still trying to finish it. The short prints are a nightmare, toughest set that I have tried to complete. I would suggest t206 set of 518 before attempting t205. I wonder how many of these sets suggested are easy or are you going to be spending years trying to finish them unless you want to hit BIN at double or triple VCP.

I think the list sterlingfox provided is a good one for sets that are relatively easy to complete and would not kill the budget, with just a dozen or so high dollar cards among them all. I would add to his list the 1941 Play Ball set, since many consider it to be attractive color set, it is only 72 cards with no rarities, and just the Dimaggio, Williams, and Reese being the cards with biggest price tags.

Brian

+1

Originally Posted by vintagerookies51 View Post
First set that came to mind was E95

+1

E95's fit most of the OP's original specifications, especially in availability, small size and attractiveness, just the extra high dollar cards in the set (Wagner, Cobb, Matty, Plank) might be budget busters.

Brian

1936 Goudey

The '40 Playball set is chug-a lug with HOF'ers. The only real expensive cards are Joe Di and Joe Jax., and the set is big enough to be a challenge to complete. Whatever you choose, have fun.

Sorry, forgot Teddy Ballgame as an expensive card in '40 Playball set.

I was coming here to post the same sets. On my T205 set, if only worried about getting a full set of fronts. Nothing wrong with the guys who like tougher backs, they jsut didn't engage me.

That's odd I've had little difficulty finding the SP's with the exception of Hobby (which I'm not going for anyways). Maybe I've just been lucky.

Where are you finding them? I have them in my watch list on EBay and I am signed up with most of the Auction Houses including Collectors Central which duplicates a lot of the prior. The only show that I go to is the National though. I just don't want to pay 2 or 3 times VCP.

I am not sure about those suggesting E sets either. They don't seem to be readily available unless you don't care about price. I'd say t202 before t205 or any of the E card sets, although t201 is easier than t202.

I haven't attempted it, but the Diamond Stars seems like a very doable set. Very underrated in my opinion and the art deco design is great. In many cases the design is better than Goudey on a lot of the players.

E96 might be another 'easier' one, but personally, I think the players all look like they are wearing blush makeup. Not really for me.

What about E220? Has anyone put together a complete set? I don't think that there are any terrible scarcities, but I might be wrong.

T205s are being really fun to collect especially trying to find just the right ones. However, with the SP's and HOF'ers I don't think it will be cheap to complete...

E220 has an insanely difficult Babe Ruth in it!


Steve

The 1933 Tattoo Orbit set is a fun challenge at 60 cards and it has that cool 1930s look to it like the Diamond Stars. While there are some SPs, prices overall don't seem to match the level of scarcity so there might be a little "undervalued" element there. No Ruth or Gehrig, which is good or bad, depending on your viewpoint: https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...ble-challenge/

To the OP: You're from Kalamazoo, so maybe you're a bit of a Detroit fan? Even if you're not, the Diamond Star set is the answer to your question.

1. The values have actually depressed from a few years ago, except for maybe the Greenberg card.
2. There's 108 cards, or 96 if you decide not to do the high numbers - a manageable number, but not small enough to finish too quickly. (Took me about two years)
3. There are variations on many of the cards if you want to really go nuts.
4. Lots of Detroit Tigers from the '34-'35 teams that do not appear together in any other set. There's even a version of Al Simmons as a bengal.
5. They're readily available on eBay both raw and graded. I prefer to buy graded and then set them free!
6. The most expensive card in very good condition will be around $300. Try finding a t205 Cobb for $300, or a '34 Goudey Gehrig, or most of the Delongs. No way.
7. They're funky. A lot of them look like they could have come out of a 1930's Batman comic.

Attachment 288414

I've worked on both E95 and Diamond Stars at various points. Both are pretty good answers to the question. E95 is quite possibly the most attractive of the early E sets. However, Cobb looks like he's having a peyote freak out, and Matty doesn't resemble Matty.

As far as I'm concerned the Diamond Stars are the best-looking pre-war set, period. Ruth is conspicuously absent, but as affordable as they are, compared to the other popular sets of the mid-30s, you'll be able to pick up the Diamond Stars in better condition and have enough left over to buy yourself a nice Ruth card if you like. And besides, Hornsby, Grove, and Foxx are no slouches. Really though it's the artwork on Stan Hack, Wes Ferrell, and dozens of others that really sets the Diamond Stars apart.

They'll eventually surface. I had a hard time with several. Joss was the toughest for what I wanted to pay. Had about 4-5 SPs that I overpaid on just to get them. You can go a few months until you see a few of them on eBay at a half decent price. The basic 208-card set was enough for me but I've added a few of the variations/errors beyond that since then.

34 Goudey

Sets
 

I had been thinking the same question as the OP a few years ago. Some of the pre-war sets are available to collect, but not very attractive IMO.

For me, I ended up doing PSA registry sets of 1934 Goudey and 1934-36 Diamond Stars. Both were fun to collect. I also did an E96 set, in mostly SGC. These were all great looking sets to collect, and prices seem reasonable these days. If you're patient you can get some low prices bidding on ebay or from the various auction houses.