Posted By:
Judge DredWayne,
Funny you should have logged in as "when it was a game" with the subject matter you proposed. WIWAG used to do upgrades on cars as well. The difference is that and it didn't cost them a penny. I'll stop there because those guys were actually nice dealers before they got greedy.
Everyone has a certain thresh hold of pain. If you go with just straight commons and nothing special on the backs then you'd be looking at 8-10 "5s" for an "8" if you follow the SMR. First off you'd have to find someone willing to make this trade. Personally, with the hype on grades and recent (inflated) valuations I don't think you'd find many people willing to make the deal. It all boils down to what you feel is equitable for a trade. You'd have to look at how much you have invested in those "5s" and decide if you really want to make this move. If you're thinking about a complete set then, unless you have deep pockets, it might not be a good time to start this endeavor. If you only want to get rid of mid grade material because you "now" place a higher priority on condition then I guess you've already made up your mind that quality over quantity is your new prevailing collecting niche.
Personally, I'd take mid grade material over the high end stuff because the mid grade material is more plentiful (and relatively reasonably priced) and I trust it much more than a lot of the encapsulated high grade material. You'll hear the following more and more if you keep up with this forum:
BY THE CARD, NOT THE HOLDER!
Who knows, you just might get an borderline "8" that really bothers you because deep down you really know it should be a "6" or "7". If this happens then good luck unloading the holder.