Advice on the t206 set

[Niko]

Hey,

When I came to this forum about a week ago, I asked for advice on a 55 topps set. I originally intended to go for the set in complete psa 5/6 form. A few people essentially convinced me that it wasn't worth paying nearly double the cost of the set just to have em graded in plastic slabs. Another reason why I wanted to put together the set was the challenge. However, what is the challenge in putting together a 55 set? There's so much of it out there in so many varying conditions, I could easily put a set together with no work for like 2K - the challenge wouldn't be much of a challenge to me.

I saw someone post here about having over 500 cards in the t206 set and they said they averaged about $10 a card. While my budget would certainly restrict me to an extremely low grade set (all would be psa1/sgc10/ or the equivalent in raw), it would still be amazing to attempt such a set. I'm not sure exactly how much it would cost to get up to that point (obviously the big 4 would probably elude me forever), and if it's the right thing for me.

So, if you have attempted to or successfully put together your t206 set, please give me some insight. I've changed my mind far too many times with what set I want to put together, but this seems like a great challenge, something that would surely hold value for ever, and if I made it to even 520, it would be something to really be proud of.

Thanks,
Zach

[tonyo]

Hi Zach,

This thread: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=126837 has alot of good info that pertains to your question.

I'm always amazed when I hear that folks have so many t206's and average $10 per card or less. That certainly would be a challenge for you.

I'd say it would take incredible patience, diligence, and luck to start today, and put together even a poor condition set at an average cost of $10 per card.

Hopefully in the responses to your thread, there will be more insight as to how to acheive that $10 per card goal.

In the last year, I've collected 67 hall of famers in low, but decent, grade and let's just say the average I paid per card is ALOT more than $10.

Of course I've never even attempted flipping to fund these, either.

Also have collected 70 non-hall of famers and averaged $11 per card.

At that pace, assuming I can find the cards at $11 per card, It'll take 5 more years just to get the rest of the "commons"

That doesn't even account for the 48 southern leaguers at I don't know maybe 50-75 each? Haven't even started tracking those. Nor the remaining hall of famers I need that will probably be about another grand.

Hey, I think the Monster is whispering to me to quit


Good Luck and I'm looking forward to the repsonses to this thread!

Tony

[mintacular]

I would think $10/card or less and you are going to get some pretty hammered/thrashed cards...If you are good with that go for it...

I would recommend before starting to really pinpoint which grade you find acceptable/meets your budget before you start buying. You will lose alot of $ if you decide later on to upgrade IMO. For pre-war stuff I have found that gd/vg cards work for me as they are low grade enough to avoid paying too much $ but not so low that I wince when looking at them...I would think that $20/card for most gd/vg t206s (w/common backs) is typical btw...

In terms of the challenge aspect, I don't think you have to worry about that with this set as there are so many variations/poses/tough backs/ HOFers, etc. Good luck and like I said really start to study cards in PSA/SGC holders and figure out which low grade condition (P-VGEX) you are happy with...Also, when start out a set it is good for you to buy a big chunk to get started so you can a better price and then from their cherry pick the singles you need.

As for graded cards, figure out if you are going for raw card set or a graded one. One thing to consider is maybe buying commons raw and the stars graded, that's what I would do...Also, in most cases you can probably save $ buying cards already graded than sending them in yourself.

[ethicsprof]

yes, a major step along the way is to realize that the Monster wants you to quit.

Don't listen to it.

all the best in your quest,

barry

[E93]

I thought of it as a marathon. I finished about 25 years after I started. Now I am doing side projects with backs. Before I contented myself with an example of each of the 16 brands. Now I going for color variations of brands and series, etc. (basically every back). I am down to BL 460 and brown Old Mill.
JimB

[Niko]

I wouldn't even begin to start worrying about the backs- I would just try to get the project underway.

I'm worried that the price will be too high for my budget, and I'll be stuck at a point where I rarely have cards incoming anymore - it will definitely take COUNTLESS years to complete.

With that said, I have read countless archived threads here on net54 and have been looking a lot into the set, and the more I look, the more excited I get.