My childhood collecting years were 1971-1980. I love the cards from that era so I collect them. I started back up with all four sports about 6 years ago and at the time bought a lot of slabbed cards. I've since decided that I am better off and enjoy raw cards more except for the superstars, so I am selling off the slabs and replacing with raw cards instead. So my Ryan run is slabbed but my Blylevens are raw. I don't get too hung up on technical grades, I just want them to look like they did when I opened the packs, so centering is a nice but unnecessary thing.
In terms of prewar, I've always preferred a bunch of lesser grade cards to one high grade cards. Take Babe Ruth: when I decided to fill in a bunch of his cards about 10-15 years ago, I went for lower grade in quantity. I suppose it has to do with my childhood collecting. I did not see high grade cards from the 1920s-1930s, I saw g-vg cards. I 'feel' those. And I far and away prefer having a stack of Babe Ruth instead of one card. I left a lot of money on the table not going higher grade I suppose, but WTF, it is my fun not my career.
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