Luke, as you know, like you, my first love is rare-back T206s, especially with HOF fronts. But over the last year I have branched out into caramel, confectionary, rare T cards, and the M101-4/5 and E121(ish) cards as well. And I have grown to love many of these; not as much as I love t206s, but I find collecting them very satisfying. And I have made good friends in the process.
For me, my journey into these other sets are because of players, not the sets themselves. I want to collect Joe Jackson and Honus Wagner -- that means T206 is a non-starter, so I started looking at E-90 & M101-4/5 for Jax and all the E and confectionary cards for Wags. Turns out, many of these cards have the same hallmarks I love with T206 -- front/back combos! I am currently attempting a back run of the Wagner throwing pose, which has introduced me to American Caramel, Nadja, Crofts Cocoa and Candy (blue and black (and red?)) Dockman, blank backs, E101 & E102, General Baking, Managerie, Mothers Bread, Mello Mint, E106s and the T216 variations. And the M101-4/5 and E121(ish) cards are similarly awesome with all the various backs.
In some cases, I find the E card backs even cooler than T206. I mean, I love that the card below was only given out to customers who shopped at 11 South 15th street, Philadelphia. Think about how rare that is and/or how few must have been given out and still remain today.
Back to players -- my T206 Tinker bat off, and Evers yellow sky, back runs lead me to T213, T214, and T215. I now own a handful of T213's, including a Fact 8 overprint, I own Two (2) T215 pirate backs, and I have a very rare T214 Speaker, which I love.
But the best part.... there are plenty of people, on this Board and elsewhere, who collect these cards! Not as many as T206, but I have made a number of recent connections/friendships with guys who have deep knowledge and love of E cards and rare T cards )just look at the T213-3 Fact 8 overprint thread that was popular a few days ago). Indeed, two board members helped me assemble a complete, 11-card E104-II Nadja Pirates set (I cant imagine there are more maybe 2-3 complete sets out there - and after I bought the Wagner at REA, with the help of the Board I was able to get the other 10 cards in 2-3 days, and these are RARE cards); BTW, the E104-I Nadjas Phillies are cool, and who doesnt then love the Williams and Rochester Baking, Cullivans Fireside, etc.
So, in my experience, I have found great pleasure collecting E, Confectionary, rare T, etc cards. I have made new friends and contacts doing so, and I do not find it boring, or even that hard to find what I want. I know you have branched into some other rarer T sets. I encourage you to take that deeper dive. Maybe pick a player, rather than a set, and try a back run -- its a great way to get a feel for all the different great HOF poses out there, but even better, all the cool, Americana-backs that are out there, which show firsthand the amazing history of the cards we collect.
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