Posted By:
Tom BoblittI can honestly say I didn't have a single GRADED card in my collection until about 2 years ago. MOST of the things I collect don't fit into the graded categories (T5's, W600's, N173's, etc--lots of cabinet stuff).
My T206 set (minus 75-80 cards) are all ungraded save my PSA EX5 Sovereign Red background Cobb. Pretty much all my T206's are in EX. I can tell you from looking at T206 sales online on ebay that cards that are GRADED EX5 either by PSA or SGC bring a significant premium (to where it's worth the grading fees) to those that are just described as such. Now........does that make me want to grade 450 T206's......no.........can't afford to do that in one fell swoop anyway........
I did just get back about 40 pre-1900 cards that I had graded for my collection--mostly Old Judges and Buchners but a couple N162's and an N310 Mayo boxer I picked up off ebay. Now I'm up to about 150 graded cards--all but 5 are SGC and for many the same reasons that Adam (Warshawlaw) above brought out. I DEFINITELY agree that the black insert that SGC has is one of the keys in me getting anything graded. They do frame the cards incredibly well. A nice N162 with the fantastic color looks great in the SGC holder.
In addition, After grading some high-grade Old Judge N172's I had and getting 7's and 8's by SGC, I think from a financial standpoint if you have really high grade cards and EVER intend to sell them, grading is a good way to go with them. I don't necessarily intend to sell my N172's anytime soon (and I'll call first Jay......) but you never know. So, over last two years, I've gotten all my N172 HOFers graded at shows like Sun Times and in Philly. Just can't seem to feel comfortable shipping off $10-$15K worth of cards at a time to get graded (even though I work for UPS......).
Do I think that there's anything wrong with NOT grading cards........NOPE. By far, the vast majority of all my stuff will never be encapsulated (by me). I just for some reason have liked to encapsulate the 19th century stuff. I had a couple come back as altered (N300's with color touchups) but I knew that when sending them in--just wanted to see how good the graders at SGC were--and I was pretty happy with the results even though they didn't grade them.
Anyway.....after that diatribe.......I put each of my SGC or PSA graded cards in a team set like bag that is made for graded cards that are very inexpensive--that way I don't damage the holder when I hold them or move them around. I scan every card and store on CD and put the rest in boxes in a safe. And, as Forrest Gump says, that's about all I have to say about that...........
good question Julie.........plus didn't want you talking to yourself...........you might start answering.............