Wow, I'm shocked as well Pat. Can you post the scan (as long as the owner wouldn't mind)?

T206 REF....To Grade, or not to Grade....that is the Question regarding T206 set(s)
 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * T206 REFERENCE....Reflections, Theory's, Surveys, etc. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

.https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...SC150x30xz.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...ohnson208x.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...t150x12xxx.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...raphicbldg.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...yab350x19x.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...1910COUPON.jpghttp://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...ITxSGC30xx.jpg
.... Sweet Caporal ...... Sovereign ......... Piedmont___The "House" that created these Tobacco cards___American Beauty ... COUPON ...…...... UZIT


I had a great National Show in A/C.....the majority of cards I sold (as usual) were T206's. Graded T206's, and mostly Un-graded T206's. Rare backs and common backs.
Talking T206's with customers, I was surprised to find, that many of the cards in their collections were Not-Graded. This does create some ambiguity as to the accuracy
of pop reports reflecting the true numbers of many T206's. Most of these conversations were with collectors who had near-complete sets.

As many of you know, I have completed 3 sets.....PIEDMONT....SOVEREIGN....SWEET CAPORAL, Factory #30 (no Wagner's). I would never consider stacking 1398
plastics containing all these T206's. The majority (97%) of them are in plastic sheets in binders. Especially arranged according to the 6 series of the T206 set. There are
approximately 60 cards Graded among all 3 of these sets.

Enough said.....please chime in and tell us your story regarding your preference.....T206 cards GRADED, or Not Graded ? ?



Examples of the nicer looking Ungraded cards in my All - PIEDMONT set.
http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...iedmont150.jpg----http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...llinsSCx25.jpg----http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...ackjohnson.jpg


TED Z

T206 REFERENCE....convenient access to T206 checklists
.

I previously put together a near complete set of 1953 Topps graded PSA 5-7. I was within 10 cards or so of finishing. The cards were in 2 of those big BCW cardboard boxes, and I honestly never ever looked at the cards after I received them and put the slab in the perfect fit sleeves. They just went into the box and sat there.

When I got very close to completion of the set, I realized that I had spent exponentially more time looking through my Excel file, remembering what cards I needed, what grades things were in, what I had paid for them, than I had actually looking through my set and enjoying it. That was kind of the tipping point and why I ended up selling the set over 6 months or so. When I turned to T206, I decided that if I was going to invest the time and resources into collecting another big set, I needed to actually get more enjoyment out of the cards themselves, and a binder would be the only way for me to do that. That was easier for me to do because I decided I was going to focus on lower grade sets and sub-sets of T206.

Looking back on it, it was the best decision I've made. I look through my T206 binder multiple times a week, every week. When a new card comes in, I flip through the binder pages until I get to the spot with the paper placeholder slip, then I insert the new card into its page, and then I continue flipping through the rest of the pages.

If my focus was collecting the set in PSA 6 or higher, or I had cards worth $20k+, then I would probably leave them in the graded slabs. Buying lower grade examples removes this worry for me at this point.

Ungraded for my set and I love the rare and unique. I’ve always wondered how many binder sets there are out there. Here are a couple shots of the fun sides…

My T206's cards are close to 50-50 personally I prefer ungraded by far but I do sell and trade my cards and even though I think the gap has narrowed in most cases the difference in prices realized is enough to justify having them graded.

I removed several of my plate scratch cards and when I sold the doubles I kept the ungraded examples and sold the graded if I had one.

Attachment 531314

This is a topic i am currently struggling with...where to move from here in my t206 efforts....i have a 521 set, with most hof graded, but a mix of sgc new/ sgc old / psa slabs. my pref is new sgc slabs....also a mix of off and common backs. yet i have a second set (minus maybe 15) which is also a mix.....what to do? sell off extras and only do binder? do both graded and raw separately? i think i will create a separate post to get ideas.

To Grade, or not to Grade....that is the Question regarding T206 set(s)
 

Pat

Since 1999, I have been acquiring GRADED cards, the majority of which I have cracked open. I lost count years ago; however, somewhere
I have stashed away more than 1000 "flips".
Most of them are T206's. And if I have intentions of eventually selling (or trading) a given card, it stays in Graded plastic. If it's a "keeper"
of any significance, I pop the card out and insert it in Hi-Quality mylar.

I would guess that you have cracked open many, many more than 1000 graded cards.


https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...e/TPGflips.jpg


TED Z

T206 REFERENCE....convenient access to T206 checklists
.

I would only grade if you were selling. My set has 5 graded cards that I bought already graded. Everything else is raw and will stay that way until they go to an AH to sell.

I would get all of the HOF'ers in your best set slabbed by SGC for sure if that is the slab you prefer. I would not spend $30 a pop for commons. If they were still grading low value cards at $10/each, I would grade the entire set but at triple that it is just not worth it. I would not break any out of slabs unless you intend to have the PSA graded cards graded by SGC. Sorry, it is just not smart to break cards out of slabs just because you like them raw. The slabs protect the cards from damage and make them much easier to sell if you pass away and your heirs decide to sell them.

Oh no Ted, most of the crack outs I've done were for the plate scratch research but I still left the majority of the graded plate scratches in their holders.
Even after I cracked some of them out over a third of the plate scratches I had were graded.

Here's are images most of the ones I had before I sold some of my doubles.

Attachment 531399

Attachment 531400

Attachment 531401