You may find my collecting story odd - I know I do - but after attending shows in the late 70's as a kid I took a hiatus from about 1984 until this January. My collection remained frozen in time. I found my tattered old want list, then found this great site and I was back.
I'm going for a raw set (sans hans, doyle, plank and magie) in vg, no back damage or bad creases. So the few cards I've picked up recently that are graded will be cracked outta those things when the time comes.
Right now I need 12 Southern Leaguers, Ohara and Demmitt. Interesting - that when I was collecting a lifetime ago I think I acquired my t206's in three different raw lots - and I had exactly ONE southern leaguer (Bay). Also from more of a research perspective -out of the roughly 600 raw cards I own, most from those 3 large lots from years ago- all were Pied or SCap backs with say 10 Sov., 10 Tolstoi, 2 Carolina Brights.
Someone mentioned displaying them raw in an album - that sounds great.
One thing I found - maybe you have too -is that it is more fun to stick to your goal than to acquire a card you need but that may be a bit outside of your ideal need - e.g you want raw but buy a graded version. Or you want vg and take on a good because you get antsy and just WANT the card. The few times I have not stuck to my goal, I've regretted it.
I have about 150 raw dupes, maybe I can help you. I also have an upgrade list in case you want to trade.
What a fun thread. Good luck everybody.