Are graded cards the future of vintage?

[homerunhitter]

Thanks for the great info. I appreciate it very much. That is a great option that I didn’t think about or consider. I was thinking also that if I got them graded now, then whoever gets my collection can drive/fly out to a big dealer like Burbank sports cards , or even the pawn stars shop in Vegas! Or even box them up and send them if to probstein for consignment. My though was if they are graded it would be easier to drop of a box of graded to figure out a price and sell vs drop of a box of ungraded raw cards for the same purpose. I appreciate your thoughts on this.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

Thanks for the great info. I appreciate it very much. That is a great option that I didn’t think about or consider. I was thinking also that if I got them graded now, then whoever gets my collection can drive/fly out to a big dealer like Burbank sports cards , or even the pawn stars shop in Vegas! Or even box them up and send them if to probstein for consignment. My though was if they are graded it would be easier to drop of a box of graded to figure out a price and sell vs drop of a box of ungraded raw cards for the same purpose. I appreciate your thoughts on this.

If you go to Burbank or a pawn shop, you’ll get Pennie’s on the dollar. Consign it to an auction house, sell via a top eBay consigned (Greg Morris for raw), but never to a dealer. The dealer has to pay well below market in order to turn a profit; it’s almost always the least profitable means.

There’s nothing wrong with raw or graded, do it however you like, but if the concern is for your heirs and you don’t expect to need to divest for 20+ years, you’ll want to grade later and get them in whatever the hot slab of the future is. 20 year old slabs don’t do so well these days, and that’s without any real major change to grading in the last 20 years. The signs point to software grading coming. Your heirs will likely net a lot more that way. Raw will likely sell lower if kept raw, but they also cost less. If you’re doing high end cards, graded today might be the smarter move. If you’re doing cards that are $10, $50, $350 type items, you’ll probably do better by just getting the cards you like now and grading the better ones in 20 years.