1911 T-205 Gold Border Set---> Have a few questions

Hey everyone I am new to this forum site and glad I came to the right place. I am working on this set and have put a small little dent into the set already. I am not looking at condition right now as I am looking for more of just getting it complete the set and then upgrade over the years ahead. I have a few questions and wondering if someone could help me.

1. What are the most difficult cards to get?
(I have the Mathewson,Johnson,Young besides those)

2. Which are the more difficult backs to find or does it matter?

If you guys could help me out fellas it be great. Thanks again

Hey welcome to the board. Some of the other guys who've collected this set could tell you more. Some of the backs are certainly more rare and go for a premium, but the premiums are not as extreme as the T206 set.

I believe that most of the cards for this set are relatively easy, which is a good thing. Sweet Walter Johnson card and again welcome to the board!

thanks. I felt it was a pretty nice set to do being a new collector to vintage felt it was a difficult challenge enough to start with. I am also going to attempt to do the 1933 Sport Kings Gum set. Already have the Ty Cobb so the Ruth will prob be the one that will be the most expensive and more difficult to find. Again thanks and hopefully i will be able to learn a lot here on this site

If you are going for a master set then the toughest card in the t205 set is the Hoblitzell with no stats. If you are just going for all the fronts and not worried about back variations, then this is group of cards is the tough short print group:

Barger partial "B"
Bresnahan mouth open
Chase no hat
Collins mouth open
Ford white cap
Grant
Harmon one ear
Joss
Raymond
Rowan
Turner
Vaughn
Wallace no cap
White, Kirb
Whilhelm
Wiltse one ear

If you go this route, Whilhelm will probably be your most expensive card as he appears on only 3 backs, Cycle, Hassan factory 30 and Piedmont factory 25. The "suffe ed" version is only found on the Piedmont back and the "suffered" version appears only on the Hassan and Cycle back. Those going for the master set have driven the price of both version to ridiculous levels making going for just a front only set fairly expensive.

As for backs, there is still some debate as to whether Hindu or Drum is rarer but I'd say that Drum is just slightly tougher. After that, Broad Leaf is next, then American Beauty and after that Cycle Piedmont factory 42. All the other backs are fairly easy to find.

The Sports King set is a great set with no real rarities in the set beyond the fact that the high numbers are harder to find.

thanks, I am going to really just get the 208 card set not worried about the backs. I figured having a regular set is good enough for me haha. But thanks now i have a slight idea whats rare and whats not

question sabrjay

Wallace no cap is that the one 1 line of stats or 2 lines of stats or they both hard to find

chase no hat? I thought chase frame ended below the shoulders and one at the shoulders which is more difficult?

Chase frame extended is the tough one. Wallace with one line I believe is the tougher, but not positive.

thanks man

Jay is correct in everything he stated. Wallace with 1 line of stats is the touugher of the 2. The Wilhelm Piedmont back is grossly overpriced and not that rare. The Wilhelm Hassan and Cycle backs are very tough. The coolest error in the set is the Moran Piedmont back with a stray line of type under the stats. This is a true erroe as you can find the Piedmont back with both the stray line and w/o. It is a great set to assemble. Dan.

yea i marked them down on my list. Glad i came by this website its been very helpful.

Congratulations to you all for showing remarkable resolve in not mentioning the infamous Mathewson "error" back.

Of course now that I have mentioned it, things can only go down hill!

To me, a typo that exists on only one back is not a variation. If that's the case, then people should be collecting every front/back combo possible in order to have a true master set. The Hoblitzell no stats back is only on the Hassan factory 30 back, but this back is radically different from all the other Hoblitzell backs. It's not just a correction to a typo from an earlier printing.

mathewson the only one i have is the polar bear back whats the error?

The Matty error says that his record was 37-1 instead of 37-11. This error is only found on Cycle backs. No one has ever found a Cycle back with a 37-11 record.

oh ic yea i have a matty im happy with what i got like i said i am just looking for the 208 cards that are out there regardless of back and condition. I will upgrade over the years.

The Matty is not really an error in my opinion as it can only be found the same way on a particular back. Same as the Wilhelm. The Cycle brand backs are tougher than recognized in the T205 issue.

The 1 true error I can think of is the Moran, as it can be found 2 different ways on Piedmont backs

dan

now looking at the backs of these cards i notice that most are in black ink, but have noticed some in red. Are red not real or they just a variation?

Sweet Caps come with black or red ink. Broad Leaf comes brown or black and American Beauty comes green or black.