Before the days of TV's and iPads and iPhones, US consumers were forced to keep themselves occupied without screens (can you imagine!?).

In the late 1800's and early 1900's board games were quite popular in the states. 

Between 1904 and 1906 a company named Fan Craze out of Cincinnati, Ohio offered its own spin on the table game movement.

The less popular 1904 Fan Craze game featured a set of cards without player images. Each card included a baseball play (such as 'Bunt' or 'Homerun') and players would take turns selecting a card to advance their batter on a playing board (shown below).

(side note, PSA has erroneously labeled the 1906 Fan Craze AL set as 1904 Fan Craze and still does to this day even though both the AL and the NL sets were released in 1906).

The most popular pre-war tobacco card set is the 1909-1911 T206 'White Borders' set.  

Known as 'The Monster' for its large size (a complete set is 524 cards), collectors remain drawn to the beauty and mystique of the set. 

The popularity has never wavered, even in times of stress in the sports card market, as we are experiencing at the moment.

The low existing supplies and the high demand from collectors have kept prices on a steady upswing over the years. 

Those with existing investments in T206 cards are more than happy to see prices rise.

Yet, for those looking to enter the T206 game, the high costs of many of the key HOF cards can leave many budget-minded collectors out of the loop.

Today, we estimate the cost to build a near complete 520 card T206 White Borders set to be $65K.

Note that these estimates are for a T206 set consisting of 520 cards. This leaves out the big four (Wagner, Plank, 'Magie', and Doyle NY), which are scarce and cost prohibitive.

Most vintage collectors, at one time or another, have had their eye on the T206 White Borders set.

For set builders, the complete 524 card set is nearly impossible, unless your pockets are lined with gold. 

The reason?

The elusive holy grail card of Honus Wagner will cost at a minimum in the many millions.

Not to mention a very cost-prohibitive and rare Eddie Plank card.

And two very, very hard-to-find (and expensive) error cards of Sherry "Magie" and Joe Doyle (N.Y. Nat'l variation).  

Thus, some collectors land at a target of 520 for the T206 set, skipping the impossible four of Wagner, Plank, Magie, and Doyle.

Known through the hobby as the 'Brown Background' set, the T207 issue took a step back in terms of the beautiful colors offered in the previous two issues. 

Instead, ATC produced a rather dark and somber 200 card set that left out some of baseball biggest stars of the time.

Cards are prone to cracking due to a glossed card front and backs offer different advertising variations, some (Red Cross) are nearly impossible to find. 

Still, collectors of prewar tobacco cards view the 1912 T207 cards as an exciting challenge due to some of the tougher to find cards and back variations.