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David:

I like your insight and follow your train of thought, especially with regards to your collection plans changing as you get further along into it. This has happened to me several times over the years. I started out doing strictly traditional cards only, then gradually added a couple of postcards, then a couple of W600's and ultimately, it has become a "free for all" as I have almost every type of paper baseball collectible under the sun in my collection.

One thing that I will mention, as I can speak on this after tons of experience, is that if you ultimately hope to pick up a true "Rookie Card" such as the Baguer Lopez or Worch Medwick (not so much so with the very few impossibilities such as the Just So Young or Alpha Jennings, McGraw or Kelley) you might want to consider simply leaving the spot open in your collection until you find the card that you really want. For years, I have done what you said and settled for the "next best thing" and ultimately found the card that I really wanted but almost always wound up selling the "filler" at a loss. I'm not advocating that this collection must be based on profitability but over the course of time and many "upgrades" later, I have lost a good amount of money doing this type of thing.