In last week’s article, I wrote about what I would do if I was starting a T206 collection with $100. Today, we’ll take a look at the same scenario, but this time with $500. If you read the first two, you know that I’ve settled on a grade range of right about GOOD. If you want to collect higher or lower grades, just adjust the numbers up or down a little and use the same general approach. Last week, I broke it up into two different sections for raw cards v.s. graded cards. The reason is that with a budget of $100, it makes a pretty big difference in terms of how far your money will go. With $500, I don’t think it makes as big of a difference, so for this one, I won’t distinguish between graded or raw cards.
Here are three different ways that I might approach starting a T206 collection with $500:
Start with one major centerpiece Hall of Famer:
Making a big splash can be a fun way to kick off your collection. There are a bunch of different ways you could go. A nice lower grade Johnson, Mathewson, Speaker, or Young would fit the bill. A nicer (Vg-Ex or so) copy of Eddie Collins, Keeler, Lajoie, or Tinker would also be a great option.
Buy a few Hall of Famers:
$500 can also get you a group of Hall of Famers. You could specifically target certain players, or just be patient and wait for some nice deals to come along. Another option would be to knock out all the poses of a given player. You could buy both Joss poses, both Keeler or Waddell poses, or all three Bender or Chance poses.
Start with a big group of commons:
Putting the entire amount toward a stack of commons is also a nice way to get started and build some momentum. $500 should get you somewhere between 20 and 30 cards depending on condition and whether you’re buying raw or graded.
Mix and Match
Of course, you can also add some Hall of Famers, and some commons. This method has some appeal because it allows you to get one or two big name players, but also assemble a nice stack of cards.
Be an opportunist
This approach focuses less on which cards you’d ideally like to buy and more on which cards come to market. If you’re patient, and don’t have a strong preference for any of the above strategies, this method can build your collection faster because you’ll be finding bargains you otherwise might have missed. If you prefer to start with just Hall of Famers, or just players from a certain team or city, then obviously this approach won’t work for you, but it’s something to consider for most people.
Among the above options, my preference would be to tackle a small group of Hall of Famers first. I still remember the feeling of awe I had when I bought my first few T206 Hall of Famers. It’s hard to describe the feeling of flipping through your first handful of T206 Hall of Famers. While commons are extremely cool in their own right, there’s just something special about holding 100 year-old cards of the legendary players I read about as a kid.
In practice, most people will probably go with a mixture of these approaches. It’s good to plan out how you’d like to attack the set, but when you start shopping, you can only buy the cards that are actually available at the time. Also, in practice, people don’t usually start with a $500 chuck on money to spend. Usually it’s $40 here, $160 there, take a little from this paycheck, etc. All that being said, I think it’s smart to spend some time thinking about how you’d ideally like to build your collection before you get started.
