Advice needed (1951 Berk Ross)

[wake.up.the.echoes]

I've got 39/40 Baseball (missing the Joe Dimaggio) as well as 23/32 of the Other Misc. sports (I've got all the Basketball, football and hockey) from this set. I've got most of the Basketball, football and hockey already PSA graded, as well as approximately 4 of the 39 baseball PSA graded. I'd say they were in EXMT condition, give or take a grade in either direction. (Comparing the RAW ones to the ones I already have graded). Is it worth getting the other 35 or so cards from the baseball set graded by PSA? I'm not a member of PSA so I'd have to join, etc. Taking that into account, is grading the set worth it? I'm just interested in opinions on this. My intentions are to keep the set, with an eye towards possibly selling it down the line, hence my question.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks. Alan

[cdn_collector]

Alan,

I don't know that I have an answer for you, but I'm in a similar situation. I am half-way into building a pre-war set that currently consists of raw, PSA, SGC, GAI and BVG graded cards. When it's all said and done I plan on keeping my set, but want them to be consistent, whether I crack out what's graded or submit and cross-over whatever is not in the holder of choice. For what it's worth, I have never spent a penny on grading.

The OC part of me would want that set to be entirely raw or entirely graded. I will make my decision when I am closer to completing the set so I can see which options are already 'most represented'.

Since I assume you don't wish to crack out what's already graded, I'd be very tempted to grade the rest if I was you.

I'm assuming you've calculated the rough cost to do this and it startled you a bit.

Can you offset that cost by buying graded cards to complete your set?
Can you offset it further by 'trading up' your raw cards to graded ones?

You can always submit a few cards at a time and grade them over time. If you're going to keep the set, there's no rush, right?

Purely out of curiousity, will you display your set or store it somehow?


Regards,

Richard.

[wake.up.the.echoes]

Richard,

Thanks for the reply. You pretty much hit the nail on the head. The cost to grade 72 cards is absurd. I sort of realized it about 2/3rds of the way through the set—when I decided that I wanted to have a graded set. Recently, I have been buying the grades already graded because it is more cost effective. I think what I decided is that rather than essentially buying empty plastic (which is what I would do if I sent in my cards for grading), that I will simply re-buy the set already graded (at least the reasonably priced ones) and build "twin" sets (one RAW/one graded). I will definitely take my time building set #2. First step for me would be to build an entire mixed-bag set of raw/graded until I have one complete set and then slowly build the second one over time. I'm going to consider it a lesson learned: for the sets I want to have in graded form, I am simply going to just buy them graded already. grading an excellent condition 72 card berk ross set would not be cost effective when calculating what I already spent building. For me, it's part of what is wrong with card grading. If I have a raw card, it isn't worth grading it. I may as well sit on it and be happy with it. If I desire a graded card, I'll buy them already graded.

As far as storage/display, I truly have no idea yet. Good question though. It's one that I am glad to consider as it's at least fun to ponder.

Thanks for your time.

Alan

[cdn_collector]

Richard,
As far as storage/display, I truly have no idea yet. Good question though. It's one that I am glad to consider as it's at least fun to ponder.


This is what got me thinking about the consistency thing in the first place. I had decided to focus solely on building this set for a while and then wondered what I would do with it once done. I still haven't totally decided whether I'll store it or display it, but I'm consider one of three options:

a.) Framed display
b.) Custom made wooden storage box
c.) Tobacco-size pages in binder

If I go (a) or (b) then I'll grade, but if I go (c) then I'll crack everything out.
As I noted earlier, I'm going to collect towards completion first and *then* decide whether I want to grade the raw stuff or crack the graded stuff.


Regards,

Richard.

[David W]

Unless your cards are pretty high end, I don't know that grading will do much for you. If they are going to grade 6-7 or under, I'd rather have them raw.

[wake.up.the.echoes]

Richard, what set are you collecting?

David, thanks for your comments and to some extent I agree.

Figure I will just go back to having fun collecting. Afterall, that's the point, isn't it?

Alan

[cdn_collector]

Richard, what set are you collecting?

Alan, I'm working on completing the 1912 C46 set. It's been in the back of my mind for 4-5 years that I'd eventually try to build the set, but I always hesitated to commit to actually doing it.

Initially, I started by trying to put together a Toronto subset (13 cards). That took me about a year and a half, and once I picked up the elusive 13th card (#2, McGinley) I decided to give in and try to build the entire set.

On January 1, 2009 I had 12 cards and by mid-March I was at 42. That's where I still sit. My goal for this year is to try to add 12 cards new cards to get me to 60%, and if I can upgrade a couple others along the way, even better.


Regards,

Richard.

[wake.up.the.echoes]

Richard,

Good luck on your quest. It sounds like a fun one.

Alan

[wake.up.the.echoes]

So I started calculating how much it would cost to grade the 35/36 baseball cards that I needed to grade from this set, and realized (AGAIN) that it would be way too much. Instead I bought (technically my fiancee bought it for me for my birthday) a PSA 6 Joe Dimaggio and finished the set. WOOHOO. My first real Dimaggio card! Sweet.

[cdn_collector]

Alan, you and I see things the same way when it comes to grading. The reason I've never sent anything in is because I always look at the cost in terms of what I could spend on cards instead.

Good choice, if you ask me. Congratulations on finishing the baseball portion of the set! On a side note, the baseball portion of the '51 Berk Ross set was the first set I completed when I returned to the hobby back in 2002 (I completed it in 2003).

And Happy Birthday, too!

Richard.

[wake.up.the.echoes]

Thanks.

Next up, 1952 Berk Ross (gonna take a while though).

Alan