Mid-Grade Collectors

[DeanH3]

Fantastic cards everybody. Glad to see mid-grade cards get some love.

Here are a few more.

[Marchillo]

Thanks for the comments on the Banks. I was starting to build the 54 set but I had the Banks, Kaline, Aaron left and that was overwhelming. With the recent purchases I am only left with Aaron as a big card - I've got Mays, Jackie, both Williams etc. So I am in good shape. Need to acquire some of the common players I have left. Maybe 50 or so. Those should be pretty easy and then I'll wait for a big holiday or birthday to get the Aaron. That card is simply out of my normal card budget.

Awesome 53 Mantle. I am assuming some sort of paper loss on the back? I display all my Mantles in a case so that type of Mantle would work perfect for me. What a nicely centered Mantle!

[commishbob]

Dean...that's a terrific lineup of cards!

[DeanH3]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Stephen - yes, there is paperloss in the back. But not enough to bother me with the kind of eye appeal the front offers.

[Exhibitman]

While 5 is the midpoint, I've always thought of midgrade as vg through ex-mt. Or 3-6. Sub-3 is low grade, off-grade, OBC, or collector grade. Whatever term you like. 7-8 is high grade, 9-10 is registry bait. That would all be for pre-1974 cards. Once you get into the 1974-on, I'd say there is basically no collectability below a nice looking 4 unless it is one of the really expensive RCs from the era. The rest is basically dollar box fodder. After 1980, the cut-off is basically a 6 or a 7, except for a few cards (1986 Jordan, 1979 Gretzky) that people will buy. Modern era (1989+) there is no midgrade or low grade; if it ain't near mint or better it is basically useless.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

9-10 is registry bait.

"Registry bait", good term. There was an old grading site used 10-15 years or so ago where a collector named Bruce Moreland was attempting to describe how certain terms were useless outside of the world of professional grading, and particularly with vintage cards. His point was that trying to describe the difference between a mint card and a gem mint card while raw was likely to be so purely subjective as to be absurd. Your term comes in nicely here, because those types of cards are most certainly "registry bait."

In case you couldn't guess no, I do not participate in any PSA registry quests...

[CobbSpikedMe]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Sub-3 is low grade, off-grade, OBC, or collector grade.

"OBC" for low grade...Awesome.

[drmondobueno]

The cards I owned as a kid were early’60’s and I handled the **ll out of them. We all did. So a perfect card is nothing I owned for long.

I chase VGExish stuff these days and have been selling off the high grade prewar stuff I have. There is something about a rougher card that I find attractive. Maybe it’s the idea of owning something that some other kid kinda like me liked having.

Recently I started a Japanese Menko type set, starting with die cut and round menko from the late ‘40s and early fifties. Thinking about kids who lived through the horror of WW2 brought it all home to me. I prefer cards that were played with and wonder where on the island they came from. Maybe one day I will get overseas, maybe not.

Baseball is cool.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by DeanH3

Fantastic cards everybody. Glad to see mid-grade cards get some love.

Here are a few more.

Gorgeous Mantle. If that is poor, I'll take poor cards all day long.