[jingram058]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

It seems most of us have adjusted our collecting practices of late. I know that I have. My current project is an all ungraded '50 Bowman set that averages in the VG neighborhood. A few years ago, I would have aimed more in the ex/exmt range. However, cardboard costs a bit more these days. It's more than that for me though. I find that I actually prefer low to mid grade ungraded cards. Most of what I do is related to set building. I like wear on my vintage cards. I like them to actually appear vintage. That makes it feel like more of a hobby to me. I always wonder about where all they have been, who has owned them before me, etc. With this '50 Bowman set, I like to imagine the boy in 1950 who first opened them up from their packs. Like him, I'm just a temporary caretaker. Hopefully whoever owns them after me will enjoy them as much as I do.

And ^^^ this ^^^ sums it up for me. This says what I couldn't find the words to say, why I don't care about graded cards. I want them to look like what they are, old, with creases, rounded off corners, thumb tack holes, tape, whatever. I want to hold them in my own hands and look at them, not through a plastic slab, from time to time as I did with my cards as a kid. I don't care about card grading. I don't care one iota about the flip and the bar code, if they're trimmed or even worry if they're fake. Could not care any less. That's not why I collect. I am all over beaters, many of which I have "picked up" from folks right here on net54, just look at my signature. I treasure all of them, they are priceless to me, and I love the stories and bios of the players, when it was baseball in it's absolute glory My wife and daughter will be all set when I up and croak. And not from selling off my cards, either.