How much influence does the grade of a card have in your purchase?

[Al C.risafulli]

None of the options apply to me.

For most of what I collect, I try and pick up the card with the nicest eye appeal as possible. Although I prefer to collect cards and have them graded by SGC, I generally don't care what the number is, only that it's graded accurately. I try and avoid certain types of flaws, like ink and pinholes. Usually if the grade is too high I can't afford the card. And I avoid purchasing certain graded cards when they're in certain grading companies' slabs, because I don't trust the grade.

There are two sets I collect where the above does not apply.

For 1938 Goudey I collect the highest graded examples I can afford, provided that the card is graded accurately and has the right eye appeal in terms of centering and toning. I believe that I've built a near-complete '38 Goudey set that rivals anything in the hobby, with grades generally ranging between 6 and 8, with a few copies slightly lower and a few slightly higher. In that set, condition is vitally important to me, and it's why it's taken me something like four years to get where I'm at - and I still need 6 cards and would like to upgrade two more. I should also note that I have occasionally replaced a high-grade '38 Goudey with a nicer-looking example in a lower grade. For instance, I replaced a Charlie Gehringer in 8 with a 7 that had much less toning and better centering, but slightly weaker corners. Both cards were graded accurately but the 7 fit my set better.



For Henry Johnson Confectioners, I collect whatever example I can find, with a goal of completing the set. Condition is not important to me at all. All I care about is that I can see the front and the back of the card, and in the case of my Rogers Hornsby and Tris Speaker, I can barely see the fronts. The cards are simply too scarce for me to worry about condition when I don't have any idea of how many surviving copies there are of each card. It has taken me nearly three years to obtain 50 cards and there's no telling how many cards it will take to get the set complete. Once I acquire a card I cross it off my list, and make no attempt to upgrade.

-Al