Best (financially achievable) Pre-War set to collect?

[HRBAKER]

Take a look @ E95. A limited number of cards (25), a slew of big name HOFers and the cards are readily available in a range of most collector grades.
Not sure about the investment standpoint as caramels have already had a run up.

[paulcarek]

How about putting together a T201 set? 50 cards, lots of HOFers, way more affordable to complete than other tobacco issues.

[drdduet]

E95 and E96 together--great looking combined set...they go hand and hand, but would be very expensive at higher grades...

T205--cheaper than T206 and reasonably priced in Vg. It's on helluva set with good subject representation.

T202--a great and undervalued set. I'd say one of the best sets to get a feel for the game from the period. Downside is that it will always have a limited collector base due to the odd card size--what other T-set offer Vg or better Matty's at $100-$200.

My best recommendation--a T206 HOFer set minus Wags and Plank, or a T206 SLer set. With the HOFer set you could strive to get the different brands of T206 as well. These cards are always available, and have great long term potential.

[Bicem]

how about taking a bigger set like Cracker Jacks or T3's and just doing the HOFer's?

[Orioles1954]

I completed my 1933 Tattoo Orbit set (have since sold, but once was #2 on SGC Registry) for $5,000. A complete 1936 Goudey issue can be had for around $1,000. The 1933 Delong issue is attainable at $4-6K.

James

[2dueces]

T200

[Matt]

jboosted92 - there is a sliding scale of feature players/aesthetics and price. Issues that are lacking some of the major stars of the day, or aren't the most attractive are generally more affordable. If you don't want to sacrifice on players and aesthetics, then, like a few above, I'd also suggest E95/E96. If you want to sacrifice some on aesthetics, you could go after one of the ~1920 strip card issues.