Looking for input/ opinions.
 

If you had complete sets of 1959 and 1960 topps baseball that were raw and high grade. All well centered and sharp. Would you further invest in the cost of psa grading the sets or be content with a high grade set in a binder?

Didn't realize how hard and expensive this was going to be and want to do it right.

For protection purposes alone, I would get them graded... Also if you ever decided to sell for , it would be much easier, and most likely get top dollar! Good luck


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If the were centered and sharpe I would never put them in a binder.and if I never thought I would sell them I would say a top loader, penny sleeve, and team bag would do the trick.

Grade the HOFers and use Card Savers in 4 pocket sheets for the rest

Thanks for the input!
So even keeping them raw, l shouldn't keep them in 9 pocket sheets in a binder? I have noticed that the cards move around alot.

I mean this in a positive way - your high grade cards will stay high grade if you leave them ungraded.

And what I mean by this is that if you've never done it before, prepare for disappointment. Not every time, but enough to make a person upset, especially your first time. My advice would be to send in your best single card from the set and your worst - grade them hard yourself, based on the standards of whoever you're sending them to, and put down what you thought before sending them in writing. See where they come in and go from there - if they're a 9 and a 8, send them all in! If this is for your own enjoyment, even more so. If not and you intend to sell, then maybe grade the biggest stars and state they are representative of the condition of the set. Grading costs reduce profit margins significantly. So choose wisely what works best for you...

If you just want protection, you can get pretty nice snap holders now that protect the card from moving inside and stack neatly for storage for pretty cheap in bulk. Make your own labels and have fun with it...

Cheers,

Tim

PS - I have some cards graded from time to time (SGC) despite knowing that they're never coming back high grade - so take my advice with a grain of salt. For me, I like testing myself as a grader of my own cards - and 3-5 is not usually worth grading for Post-War cards, especially commons (unless they're very rare commons).

To add to what, Timbegs, said, put a reasonable/unbiased, value on what you think your sets are worth, then figure out how much grading is going to cost, then deduct that from your value, and see if it is worth it?

Personally, I would do as Timbegs said. Send in your best and your worst to see where they stand. With your commons, I would use sleeves and top loaders or the snap loaders as mentioned.

Grade the stars, and cardsaver 1's for the commons.

I appreciate the input. Gives me alot to think about. What is the interest and appeal of an entirely raw set?

Agree, also go through SMR magazine, see which cards are most valuable and get them PSA graded. Maybe 75 PSA graded cards from each set.

Wait till PSA has a $6 / card monthly special.

Good Luck with your sale !

Myself, I would keep them raw in the binder. Stored correctly, can't see how they could get damaged, AND...you can handle them from time to time.

They aint making any more raw sets; they are going to be just a valuable in the future.

People love to buy high end raw from longtime collectors. The chance for 8's-9's will get you some serious action.

Cards stored in 9-page sheets in a binder can definitely get damaged, but mainly through degradation of the sheets or through humidity. Personally, if they were high grade, I would move them all to Card Saver 1s as well. Carrying the books around could also lead to surface damage by the cards sliding around in the pages.

Ignore this advice. The SMR price guide is a joke.

Grade the superstars and the key rookies to start and see what you've really got. If they pan out then consider some of the other cards. But definitely move to Cardsaver I and four pocket sheets. Niners are an invitation to creases and dings.

Thanks for all of the input.
Cards are out the binders.

I think maybe all that was meant is that SMR would help identify anything that was higher value than common, if one doesn't recognize all 'star' but not super-star names on one's own, not that the SMR is useful for the true value...

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I assume my question isn't pressing enough to warrant its own thread.

When it comes to binder sheets, since they are well known to degrade over time, what would be an optimal time frame for replacing the sheets? It would be an arduous undertaking for someone who has multiple binders, with hundreds of pages, but for someone, like myself, who does not have the money for grading, nor the desire to put each individual card in it's own top loader, it would probably be more economical to just replace the sheets every so often.

I would say if you've got them in Ultra-pro sheets and keep them in a cool location, they don't need to be replaced. The first versions of binder pages were well known to degrade/turn yellow/molt in garages.

But as long as your house is moisture free and the AC is kept in the low 70s, you probably don't need to replace the binder pages.

Unless the page contained a Steve Lyons card, 'cause Lyons don't molt. ;)

I do have the Ultra-pros. I'll keep up on keeping them cool. Thanks :)