First Vintage Set - Graded vs. Raw?

[1954 topps]

Building a 1956 Topps set in grades 4-6 would be significantly cheaper raw then graded. IMO graded makes sense if you're building a set in NM 7 or higher since those cards are going to be fairly tough to come by raw.

Grades 4-6 are much easier to find at card shows, which I'd highly recommend. Find yourself a big local show and you'll find multiple dealers with inventory. You want to see examples in hand to determine if it meets your eye appeal criteria and if you're buying multiple cards at a time in cash from the same dealer, you're going to save more vs. buying off a dealer on ebay.

It's a personal decision to build raw vs graded, I'd say EX 5 would be my threshold though to build a raw '56 set. If building an EX-MT 6 set I'd likely buy all the stars and minor stars graded and the commons raw. NM 7 and up I'd do 100% of the set graded.

Either way enjoy the journey. Who cares how many years it takes to build it? Buy the best examples you can find and you'll truly appreciate every card in your set.