Raw & Slabs

[Louie_7]

Hello all,
Been a minute since I posted something. Just been looking around trying to find good deals.

Why out of no where there is a ton of slabs for T206. I remember a couple months back there were raw cards. Now it's hard to find some good raw cards to have in collection.

Been looking on ebay but they have everything over price on raw cards. Auctions they dont sell much raw just slabs. If they do have raw they are in a lot.

Can we just go back to raw cards for a beginner collector like me.

Well ranting and everyone have a goodnight.

[Kevin]

What’s going on, Louie? Thanks for asking that question. I’m a raw collector myself and really prefer them that way. I collect in spurts. I’ll go all in for 3 months, leave the collection alone for a year, come back to it. It seems like when I first arrived at net54 during the pandemic, the raw cards were readily available. Since I popped back on here over the summer, the slabs are what’s being sold.

Originally Posted by Louie_7

Hello all,
Been a minute since I posted something. Just been looking around trying to find good deals.

Why out of no where there is a ton of slabs for T206. I remember a couple months back there were raw cards. Now it's hard to find some good raw cards to have in collection.

Been looking on ebay but they have everything over price on raw cards. Auctions they dont sell much raw just slabs. If they do have raw they are in a lot.

Can we just go back to raw cards for a beginner collector like me.

Well ranting and everyone have a goodnight.

[dougscats]

The fact of the matter is that the pool of ungraded cards decreases every day.
Basically, every time a card is graded, there is one less ungraded card.

This is within the total pool of T206's, graded and raw, which is pretty much fixed.

So, if the supply of ungraded cards continues to decline, and if the demand remains the same, prices should go up, no?
Of course it's not that simple. And there are other factors.

Has inflation affected prices? I would guess so.

As to whether or not demand for raw cards remains the same, I can only speak for myself.
I collect ungraded cards for various reasons.
One is to be able to touch them.
One is that I love to look at my collection in a binder.
One more reason is price, which brings us back to Louie’s issue.

I’d say that prices for raw cards have gone up a little, but not much, all things considered.
I've been seriously collecting them for more than 20 years, and I'd guess prices for low-grade, raw commons [i.e., Poor +] have gone up roughly 150% over those years. E.g., comparing 2005 to 2025, say ~$15 to $35-40.

I'd also say that the present pool of ungraded cards, aside from being much smaller than in 2005, is more concentrated with lower-grade and altered cards.
I don’t think it would be easy for a collector today to build a nice set (G-VG) of ungraded cards. Nonetheless, I think it would be considerably less expensive than a graded collection, because ungraded cards, no matter how good the condition, do not command the prices that graded cards do.

If I were building an ungraded collection today, I'd consider including good-looking altered cards, which are often a bargain.

Good luck, Louie.

Doug

[npa589]

I also collect raw, as I just love being able to flip through the binder, and since I collect all Cubs (trying to get every back combination in T205, T206, and T207, etc) - it's especially great seeing them side by side in a 15 pocket binder page.

For a shameless plug, I have an eBay store with a decent amount of raw cards. I don't post things for sale nearly as often as I used to on Net54, but there have been a good steady amount of members who have reached out to me here after seeing my username coded within an eBay listing.

Ignore eBay prices too, just ask me and I'll tell you my best immediately. I much prefer to sell to Net54ers.

[parkerj33]

Nate's a great guy. i also have a ton of raw available, but anything i think would grade a 3+ i usually submit. but plenty of 2ish cards are quite beautiful and personally i collect raw too.

[Kevin]

Thanks for posting, OP. Thanks for responding Nate and Jim…

[npa589]

Appreciate that Jim! Jim is as good as it gets in this hobby!

Originally Posted by parkerj33

Nate's a great guy. i also have a ton of raw available, but anything i think would grade a 3+ i usually submit. but plenty of 2ish cards are quite beautiful and personally i collect raw too.

[Johnny T]

Agree that Nate is a top drawer dealer. Always fair in his descriptions and pricing...have bought many cards from him and highly recommend!

[ZackKirby]

Originally Posted by parkerj33

Nate's a great guy. i also have a ton of raw available, but anything i think would grade a 3+ i usually submit. but plenty of 2ish cards are quite beautiful and personally i collect raw too.

Jim is the best to buy from. I'm not able to get too too much right now but his prices are always fair and his shipping is really quick.

Thanks again Jim!

[Louie_7]

Originally Posted by npa589

I also collect raw, as I just love being able to flip through the binder, and since I collect all Cubs (trying to get every back combination in T205, T206, and T207, etc) - it's especially great seeing them side by side in a 15 pocket binder page.

For a shameless plug, I have an eBay store with a decent amount of raw cards. I don't post things for sale nearly as often as I used to on Net54, but there have been a good steady amount of members who have reached out to me here after seeing my username coded within an eBay listing.

Ignore eBay prices too, just ask me and I'll tell you my best immediately. I much prefer to sell to Net54ers.

I will have to check out your ebay store and see what i find. SGC graded ones look nice the price you have to pay for grading is a joke now. For me i like the raw cards. I consider myself a "Curator T206" guy. Like to save these guys they need a good home. I enjoy the history of them and learn a lot on them. I try to collect the low grade ones since the VG are very expensive for my budget. I just finished collecting the horizontal ones and those were hard to find in some what okay condition.

right now I'm trying to collect the Brooklyn Dodgers ones but i notice those are expensive. On eBay they start off $40 and up and those are very poor.

If you have any extra ones in decent condition let me know @NPA589

thanks again for all the feedback guys , and have a goodnight.

[Kevin]

Made some nice moves with Nate the last month. Good stuff going on there...

[Louie_7]

Hey all,

I went to a flee market down the road from me. Found a lot of dealers out there selling vintage cards. This one dealer had T206 cards at prices starting from $20 to $45. I thought i found a good deal but when I look at the cards closer I found they were re-prints. I ask him about the cards and she said they were her grandfathers. That he collected them for a long time.

The feel and smell weren't there plus I took out my loop out. She straight got mad and said she didn't want to sell them to me. The few seconds I had to review the card you could see the printing was off.

I told her sorry but I'm a new collector just trying to figure out cards. They were not happy with me and I just said thank you, and have a nice day.

Next week I will be heading to a very big Flee market and very excited about that one. Hopefully I could find me some good deals.

[T206CollectorVince]

Originally Posted by npa589

Appreciate that Jim! Jim is as good as it gets in this hobby!

But... is Jim better than Tim? haha

[shaunsteig]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Made some nice moves with Nate the last month. Good stuff going on there...

Echo that... similar solid experience buying from him recently.