Hi Dan...
I cant dispute your rationale of the Speaker Novelty Cutlery example you wrote about...in fact while I am a HOF collector by nature, even more so than all of the sets I have worked on, I don't usually factor in rookie status at all in my purchasing decisions.
That being said, if you consider Spoke's RC to be T206...who else in that classic set would you say has his HOF RC?
Just curious
(oh and since my favorite set is T 205 are there any in there?...I cant think of any that wouldnt have already been in 06)