Getting Started with Vintage - T206

A couple weeks ago I attended the All-Star Fanfest in St. Louis. In a glass case they had all sorts of vintage cards shown that were to be auctioned off at a later date. The cards that caught my eye however were the 1909 - 1911 T206 tobacco cards...absolutely beautiful.

As of now the oldest card I own is a '51 Bowman Max Lanier I saw at the local shop for around $5. Being a vintage Cardinal card I couldn't pass it up. But now after seeing those amazing T206's at the Fanfest I know that is what I would like to have in my collection.

Personally I like them for the artistic value - I can care less about monetary figures at this point. However, I still don't want to make a stupid purchase. A few questions:

1. I know I will be looking into buying my first T-206 in the next month or so. Is it a bad idea to buy an ungraded card? I know a lot of these are touched up, have pin holes or markings, or have been trimmed...is there a preferred company to use for vintage (SGC, PSA)?

2. What would you consider to be good starter cards to look for? I'm looking for something under $150, a St. Louis player may be best but definately not a requirement, and I'm not looking for something grading around a 6 or 7...since this will be for my PC and personal enjoyment a 2 or 3 will be more than enough. Aside from browsing EBay I'm not sure where to look to see what's out there.

3. I see there are multiple versions of the same player released. Take Chief Bender for example...I see a "no trees" version so I assume there is a version with trees in the background as well. Some players have multiple poses...fielding, batting, etc. Are any of these actual RCs? Are some later releases than others? Or are they just varients released at the same time, some being rarer than others?

4. Any good websites out there to browse just to look at original T206s?

5. How about checklists? Any way to quickly search for St. Louis players within the set?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me - I've been collecting for a long time and never took the time to enjoy these cards. Seeing them in person really made me realize what I was missing out on!

notoriousrmb said:

1. I know I will be looking into buying my first T-206 in the next month or so. Is it a bad idea to buy an ungraded card? I know a lot of these are touched up, have pin holes or markings, or have been trimmed...is there a preferred company to use for vintage (SGC, PSA)?

Its not a bad idea to purchase ungraded, but I recommend purchasing your first few T206's graded. Bust them out and study all their details....font, colors, borders, paper type, etc. As for grading companies, I prefer SGC.

2. What would you consider to be good starter cards to look for? I'm looking for something under $150, a St. Louis player may be best but definately not a requirement, and I'm not looking for something grading around a 6 or 7...since this will be for my PC and personal enjoyment a 2 or 3 will be more than enough. Aside from browsing EBay I'm not sure where to look to see what's out there.

There are many commons you can start with. If you are looking for St. Louis, I've always found Jack Bliss' card to be interesting. His eyes look scary. Other commons I like include Rebel Oakes, Jimmy Lavender, Bill Bergen, Deacon Phillipe, and George Bell.

3. I see there are multiple versions of the same player released. Take Chief Bender for example...I see a "no trees" version so I assume there is a version with trees in the background as well. Some players have multiple poses...fielding, batting, etc. Are any of these actual RCs? Are some later releases than others? Or are they just varients released at the same time, some being rarer than others?

Bender with trees does exist, as well. As does his portrait card. There are RC's in the T206 set, but I am not 100% positive what Bender's RC is. The prewar RC debate is huge! As for release dates, T206 cards were released in different series (150, 350, and 460) between 1909 and 1911.

4. Any good websites out there to browse just to look at original T206s?

oldcardboard.com (click T cards up top, then select T206/White Borders) and t206museum.com have complete card galleries.

You can check out my Red Sox T206 cards here:

http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q319 ... T%20Cards/

5. How about checklists? Any way to quickly search for St. Louis players within the set?

t206.org has visual and text checklists filterable by team.

Click to expand...

Good luck in your quest!


EDIT: The oldcardboard.com T206 page (http://www.oldcardboard.com/t/t206/t206 ... dsetID=699) has a link to Inside T206, an amazing PDF detailing everything you want to know about the set - release dates, series breakdowns, history, backs, checklists, etc.

I agree with nearly everything Jay said.

I would add the following caveat...if you decide on purchasing an ungraded card from Ebay, be very careful of descriptions like "it doesn't say reprint on it", "it looks very old" and "I can't say for certain if it is real or not."

All three of these statements can be translated as "I am trying to seperate a sucker from their money by selling these aged reprints".

Also, if you EVER by a PRO graded card, I, and I think I speak for a majority of the board, will give you a wedgie of Biblical proportions.

Good luck and welcome to the world sof T206's!

Thanks for the advice - I'm pretty pumped after reading a little more about these! I checked out t206.org and found a checklist of Cardinal players...since I consider my self a set/player collector anyways I think I will try to make the Cardinals set, minus the Bill O'Hara as thats a little out of my price range.

Another question, I see references to the "original 150". It also appears there are approximately 460 subjects in the T206 series. Is there a way to tell who are in the first 150 cards? Starting with a Cardinals team set is all I'm going to bite off for now, but it would be interesting to know who the original 150 are in case some day I want to take on that challenge (not counting the 4 big boys).

Re: Getting Started with Vintage - T206 *Scan Added: 1st Pickup!

Well I did some digging around and got a Cardinals team checklist. Looks like this is the set I really want to start with. Spent about 5 hours browsing EBay and narrowing down my options before settling on this Sovereign back Al Shaw for $30 shipped. I got it in the mail today!





Aside from some rough corners, I see no major damage except for a pinhole right on the top right of his hat. The back of the card looks very nice as well...I'm happy with my choice. I also think I prefer the SGC label, however I would not turn down a PSA if I saw a deal.

Also, I know there is a pickups thread, but being my first true vintage card I thought it would be ok to add it here

I own a few t206.......................and i also love the multi-color artwork. I would also buy graded until you become better educated about the cards. It is just to risky buying online.

This Scot is more knowledgeable about T206's than this Scott(opotamus).

You can download his book at no charge form here. The author has given his permission for the book to be downloaded.

Scott Reader T206 book

Scottopotamus said:

This Scot is more knowledgeable about T206's than this Scott(opotamus).

You can download his book at no charge form here. The author has given his permission for the book to be downloaded.

Scott Reader T206 book

Click to expand...

With a new internet ban starting at work, this looks like a great lunchtime read. Thanked for the link!