Crossroads on selling my collection since childhood
 

I'm 78, in reasonable health, and have a collection of cards since collecting as a kid from 1953-1959.
I have 55 baseball cards that sat in a cigar box for decades when about 10 years ago I transferred them to penny sleeves and top loaders and put them in a baseball album.
Players range from 1951 Bob Feller Bowman, 53 Mantle, Ford, Campanella Topps, 54 Robinson, 55 Ted Williams, Koufax, 56 Mantle, Mays, 57 Mantle, Aaron, Clemente, Drysdale, 59 Mantle, Koufax, 61 Mantle, and Maris. I have a 62 Maris that I acquired in 62 because of his stats on the back. The rest are semi-stars not commons.
The condition is used by a boy to handle, trade and enjoy them as everyone did then. but upon inspection none have any creases. Doubt any would go above 3-4 in condition.
No one in my family is interested in them and wondering if I should go to the expense of grading or not. Grading was unheard of then and I still enjoy the feel of a raw card that these fingers touched way back then. I get nostalgic at times and these were an important time in my life.
Your thoughts please.

sorry, wrong picture
 

Wrong picture

Great story and beautiful cards. If you are going to sell them, I would definitely get them graded.

Just want to make sure I'm reading this thread right. Whoever cleans the SUV in the first pic will get the cards in the second pic as payment, correct?? My soapy sponge is rarin' to go!!!! :D:D:D

Definitely grade them for maximum return. (Someone is inevitably going to suggest that you should think of placing them for sale as is in the B/S/T section, so there's that, too.)

It is probably worth grading every card in that photo other than the 1961 Roger Maris. Great collection and good luck with the sale.

Very nice cards. Agree with poster above. It is nice that you still have your boyhood cards and they are in decent shape.

The question about grading or not is kind of simple, if you will get more for them graded, than what the grading costs, then do it. I agree with the others, get them graded if you are selling. Good luck, nice collection!!
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Maybe just to give you some thoughts about which grader to use, it seems like the primary factors should be cost, speed, and whether the stuff from that grader sells at a discount compared to slabs from other graders.

From what I'm seeing and based on your narrative, it mostly looks like midgrade 50s and 60s. Probably a lot of stuff in the 3-6 range, give or take?

As a practical matter, I would rule out Beckett, simply because their stuff sells at a significant discount when it comes to vintage. At present, I think you can probably also rule out CGC as well. While they might get there in the near future, the market doesn't seem to be quite ready to pay full price for stuff in their slabs.

That really leaves you with PSA or SGC. Given that they're now under the same corporate umbrella makes it fun, although they seem to still be operating very separately at the moment. PSA will take a long time or cost a lot of money (or both). If you submit to PSA at the bulk service level, your timeline is probably around 4 months, give or take, and it could be quite a bit longer, just depending on the randomness involved in when the grader decides to pick up your submission.

That leaves you with SGC. SGC seems like their turnaround times have grown a little lately, but still seem to be under a month door to door, which is pretty zippy by comparison. Their fees, while not crazy low, also seem to be rather reasonable by comparison. And while there's certainly some good data that their stuff sells at a discount at the top of the pop charts, for midgrade vintage stuff, the discount seems like it is usually small to miniscule. Assuming that you don't have forever to be patient on getting them graded, SGC seems like it could hit the sweet spot between the important factors at play here.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Thanks
 

Thanks to all input. I'll keep you posted.

Surely get them graded for resale but if your keeping them without the intentension of selling them just enjoy the collection. That's what I do.. Nice collection..

Would get the HOFers graded with SGC. Least hassle / forms to fill out, and cheaper than PSA. These look nice enough that you're not trading much value for SGC vs PSA slabs in my opinion. Excited to see them hit the market. Id be bidding when they do.

All is see is a bunch of common cards……nothing of value……I’ll give you 5 bucks for the lot lol…….but NO PSA all the way…..you’ll get more back in the long run