T206 is a disease!

Now that the dust has settled from Goodwin this morning...I am absolutely in awe of the prices people are paying for scarcer/rare t206 backs...and I feel this is a legitimate medical condition?!?!

I mean when kind of sociopath would spend tens of thousands of dollars on trimmed t206's w/drum backs?!?! I was just going through the hammer prices and this one struck me:

http://www.goodwinandco.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=27390&searchby=3&searchvalue=t206&page=0&sortby=0&displayby=2&lotsperpage=100&category=1&seo=1909-11-Old-Mill-T206-John-McGraw-Glove-At-Hip-SGC-Authentic---Only-Old-Mill-Copy-Graded-By-Any-Grad

An authentic mcgraw w/old mill back sells for close to 4K...supposedly the only one graded. I mean really?!?! This card can't be one of a kind...or even 2 of a kind...or 5 of a kind...it just can't be?!?!

T206 collectors are disturbed...and if I see one walking towards me on the street...I will cross the street!

Pete, I totally agree. In the 80s when I was actively buying and selling I knew what the tough backs were, tough factories before people were into that, and unless you had a Drum or Uzit back, most collectors just yawned. Seeing Old Mills, EPDGs, Carolina Brights, etc just wasn't that big of a deal I never thought they were overly tough. My collection of t206s back then had a large number of CB, ABs and EPDGs. Not because I sought them out, but because they were around in abundance. I'm sure people will say "But look at the pop reports". Do we really need to have that discussion again? I think PSA finally distinguishing between backs is what is really driving this because now the slabheads have a reason to look at the back.

It's pure insanity, and now that I'm no longer buying, I have to admit that it's frustrating to see stuff that is complete garbage go for exorbitant prices while lots of quality material is selling for cheap. But that is life. Shrug.

Clearly, it is just two or three guys driving up the price, with the occasional extra bidder hopping on because the cards are hot. There is no telling where it will end, because it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that the prices are just going to continue to go up. The bidders who created the bidding wars begin to believe in their own story. Then everyone catches on and piles in. Next year, will it be 25k for a PSA 1 Drum back? Why not?

Well, that is life, I truly don't buy it, but we must accept that this is just how the hobby is.

goodwin brings out the worse in people.

I no longer have any T206 cards in my collection. When I was younger and didn't know 'other' cards existed, I had a few Hall of Famers. I have to say, the younger, less knowledgeable collectors I chatted with were always blown away by them. I don't think anything is going to change the way people view T206.

I considered buying Mullaney and Violat (the two Jacksonville Jays in the set) just to have something to talk about with local yocals, but that's really far on the bottom of my want list.

Being a doctor of sorts...and a former T206 "addict"...rest assured peoples...spread the word! There is a cure!!!! I repeat...there is a cure!!!!!

Sell your rare back T206's to the afflicted...hell they don't even have to be rare backed anymore...any back will do...any front will do...better yet...sell them through Goodwin!!!!!!! The massive check you will eventually receive from Bill will cure all that ails you...all of the T206 Demons will be removed...almost instantly...and then...with your new windfall...you can buy some really obscure...interesting cards of top tier HOF'ers at a fraction of the cost of a cy seymour with an old mill back...how exciting that must be!!!!!!

ullmandds wrote:Being a doctor of sorts...

Get off your high horse, dentist! 150 years ago you'd be giving a shave and a haircut (two bits).

Yes. It's true. I am an anti-dentite!

Thems fighting words, Chris! R u going to the nat'l? If so you'd better bring your cock...we're gonna fight!
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ps...mine is a yankees fan!

I say quarantine the afflicted. Isolate them on a strange board where super-egos with less than super-intellects chastise each other about their condition. Daily floggings are the recommended treatment, beatings on said board will continue until morale improves. If we can put a man on the moon surely something can be done to save these helpless souls.

As someone who came to this set quite recently, I can say that I love it and I'm glad I'm collecting it, but it has been frustrating trying to acquire anything other than a Piedmont, SC, or Polar Bear back. If you go by what people are willing to pay, those are the only backs that can be called 'commons' anymore (though I realize in terms of population that's not really the case). What it mostly comes down to, I think, is two things: 1) Sellers do a good job of making their item sound rarer than it is ('rare' might be the most overused word on ebay), and 2) collectors don't do their homework. They don't read the buyer's guides. If they did, they'd know they're overpaying.

But oh well. Let 'em. I've managed to acquire a few odd backs, but for the most part I've contented myself that my set is about the people on the front, not the brand on the back. If I score a nice Cobb PSA 1 tomorrow and it's just a plain ole Piedmont, I'll still be ecstatic.

That said, I do sometimes feel that this hobby is a bit diseased. Problem is, I enjoy the illness!

Don't get me wrong, Lucas...T206's were one of my main focii back in the early nineties...trying to collect one of each back type. Things just seem to have spiralled so out of control with prices, valuations...perceived rarity...that it just pisses me off!!!!!!!!!!

I really do not hate T206's...although I may sound like I do...I just get kinda annoyed by the over-analysis of them...as if any stray mark or off centering or print defect actually makes the card more valuable...it's insane!!!!!!

Yeah, it pisses me off, too. Something like 25k for a PSA 1 Drum, it's an insult to the hobby, really. Not that they are bad cards, but the prices are profane sometimes. But they are not that great, either. I think OJ's are way cooler, but I am in the extreme minority...

T206 is the 'gateway drug' to our hobby in most respects. How many pre-war collectors first cards were a T206? I would argue a great many, including myself.

People come to T206 and eventually branch out into whatever type of collector they want to be. Without T206, I fear the hobby would be much smaller, and in a far worse condition.

I DO agree with you, Chris!!!! ALL HAIL THE ALMIGHTY T206...for without you...there would be no me!!!!

Can't say how many Hobbyists have introduced themselves by saying "I am collecting the monster" like it is some apprenticeship for Don Quixote. To chase windmills or old mills for that matter is an exercise in futility IMO. If more were to find an accessible "gateway drug" the hobby would be healthier. Just how I see it with my poor vision.

As usual, I'm the weirdo in the group. T205 was my first t-card. Always loved the set, always will.

BigGuy219 wrote:T206 is the 'gateway drug' to our hobby in most respects. How many pre-war collectors first cards were a T206? I would argue a great many, including myself. People come to T206 and eventually branch out into whatever type of collector they want to be. Without T206, I fear the hobby would be much smaller, and in a far worse condition.

I feel like the oddball. I was exactly the opposite: I started 18 different sets, mostly from the 50's and 60's, before I finally had the gumption to take up the Monster. But I think, in general, you're right; it was one of the earliest big sets, it has a ton of HOF's, and it has Thee Card in all of the hobby in the Wagner, so it draws a lot of people in. And let's face it: We're all collectors and our sets have value, and that value is being driven up by all these folks that are coming in and spending crazy money. We're like people who moved into a choice neighborhood early, then it got popular. The increase in property taxes is annoying, but watch those resale values go up!

Another thing I feel worth noting is the reason people collect.

I assume part of Pete's issue is the amount of threads 'across the street' relating to T206.

People who post on message boards often aren't just collecting for themselves, but for the adoration of the masses. As T206 is the most collected, posting the acquisition of a new one therefore results in the most quantity of attention (though not always quality).

I know I certainly have been guilty of picking something up from time to time just to post it, and share the news with others, so I could get a +1 and attaboy from my friends in the hobby.

so I have monster locked in a trunk in my house it is missing but 4 large cards.. It's slabed and registered with a tasteful yet true name (see if you can spot it on sgc!!) I plan on saving it for my son who's not yet 2, but with the prices of late my mine is screaming to sell. I had the disease once, I sold off cards I can only dream of owning again just to finish off that set. I'm on to bigger sets now harder set but I know for dam sure if I sold.The disease would creep back in to my bones and one or two would grow to 520. There is no cure!!!

I'm with ya, T206head. I recently contemplated selling off my T206's, but I knew as soon as I did I'd be back on ebay, scoping them out and doing it all over again. It's the maze of possibility: I've seen master set estimates that run from 3,500 to 7,000 cards. When you have the general disease of collecting that all of us do, it's hard not to be drawn into a set that offers those kinds of possibilities. But maybe that's the ultimate point of this: The Monster isn't the disease, it's only a primary symptom. Collecting is the disease, and we are all sick. Very, very sick. And not really looking to recover!

Come on Pete.

When you collect the amount of years that we have you will eventually change focus.

I collected Topps many years, from 1970 when I was 5 until 2002. Have not bought a Topps issue since.

I always wanted a card of Ty Cobb and the one I found was a bat on Piedmont for 100 bucks and I still have it. Eventually I found myself at the Philly show buying 206s like crazy and then ebay. after years, many years I moved to other vintage sets. Now I mainly collect non sports.

I agree 206s have went crazy over the past 5 years but I think I will always like them but I sure wont pay the prices they are bringing today. I do remember in early 2000 getting emails asking me why I paid so much for the Lenox, Drum or whatever 206 I just bought from ebay. Everybody knew because then your id was public.

Don't sweat the 206s, focus on the e94s or something else. Don't spend you time being negative and enjoy what you are currently collecting

I don't think anyone is being negative. More on the lines of poking fun at what is a ridiculous bubble that will eventually burst. They all do.

I started talking about the collapse of the hobby back in 1989-90. Everyone thought I was insane. But it's the reason why when I was helping people build collections I always made the focus of their collection a favorite player, team, set etc. That way, when the bubble did burst, they were left with something they still enjoyed. Not something they sank a lot of money into because they thought prices would rise forever.

Just arrived to hotel in tel aviv...2.1 million for the wagner in goldin auctions last night...some would say thats a bargain?!?!

Tel Aviv? They have enough trouble over there without having to deal with you!

sweet vacay for pete.