What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Gilbert Maines</b><p>Why wait for down the road? Jump on the stupid wagon now!

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Anonymous</b><p>--

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Gilbert Maines</b><p>Ted is a teddy bear in a tyranosarus costume. Ask him. (from a safe distance).

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Frank Wakefield</b><p>I resemble all of Al's remarks.<br /><br />But if you go back and look at the 7th post, Al's, it is easy to see that even though he lacks all of my shortcomings, he could not answer the question. I stand by my shortsighted and intollerant comments. The question was "% raw" and Al's answer is "% graded". I may be a silly bore, but at least I can be responsive.<br /><br />Realistically, more than 3 of my cards have been graded, but only 3 remain intombed at this moment. The rest are out of their plastic purgatory, free at last. I've helped a couple of dozen escape.

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>barrysloate</b><p>I think the war between collectors who like raw cards and those who like graded ones will rage on until the current generation of oldtimers is dead and buried. While I do not collect cards if I did I would probably still prefer to keep them raw. But when I decided to sell, I would have them graded in a heartbeat. If you try to sell them raw, they will just be graded by the next guy and instead of you getting all the money he will reap everything you left on the table. You can collect any way you want, but there is only one way to sell. For better or for worse.

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Anonymous</b><p>Zero....

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Al C.risafulli</b><p>I don't lack ALL of your shortcomings. I can be nitpicky too, sometimes.<br /><br />-Al

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Frank Wakefield</b><p>You can't even dream of half of my shortcomings... but collecting slabbed cards because of the slab isn't one of them.

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Anonymous</b><p>--

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Al C.risafulli</b><p>I don't view that as a shortcoming. I view it as a matter of personal preference. It doesn't happen to be my personal preference, but I don't feel the need to make a personal crusade out of it. <br /><br />My opinion - which, granted, is being offered without solicitation - is that you spend a lot of time railing about grading, and about people who collect cards in slabs. I already know how you feel about grading. You don't need to remind me over and over and over. I get it. Frank Wakefield doesn't like grading. I remember this because you make it a point to insult anyone who does at every opportunity.<br /><br />You clearly are a knowledgeable hobby guy - I'd so much rather read posts from you where you share your knowledge, instead of posts that tell me I'm an idiot because I can't smell my cards. <br /><br />Guys, I'm sorry about participating in derailing a decent thread. I'll try and stop.<br /><br />-Al

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>If anyone cares to look about 70 posts up you will see that I believe I have struck the perfect balance. Almost 50/50 graded vs raw, but almost all of the value slabbed. I can smell, touch, and caress 1/2 of the little devils and still know that almost all of the value in my collection has been saved from my clumsy hands.....and authenticated by a 3rd party (99% SGC, the few others in other holders just came that way). This is a very easy discussion and is really so simple. If you like plastic- wonderful, you are a friend in collecting, if you like unslabbed- wonderful....you are a friend in the collecting world. I do think a lot of the old timers with all raw cards do have some condition issues they don't know about. Probably isn't any big deal to them either....it isn't to me. regards

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Frank Wakefield</b><p>I do not care for slabbing and grading. And I feel that folks that blindly look at those little labels in the plastic miss an opportunity to learn about cards and baseball history. And I do much to frequently fuss about folks that focus on grading, reports, registry, and the like. I'm guilty of all of that.<br /><br />I didn't make any negative comments personally directed at you, Al. Can you say that?<br /><br />Frank.

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Al C.risafulli</b><p>Nope.<br /><br />-Al

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>James Feagin</b><p>Grown men speaking of caressing baseball cards is a bit creepy <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14> For the record, I think Al's posts are spot on. A true collector.

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Paul Stratton</b><p>Almost everything I buy lately has been graded. I crack the PSA's and keep the SGC's holdered. They just look too good to crack. Most of my collection is raw though.

What % of your collection is still raw?
 

Posted By: <b>Gilbert Maines</b><p>If you need to rely on third party verification of authenticity: join the crowd. However, you can still learn about dot patterns without cracking the cards out.<br /><br />But you can not appreciate the differences between the thickness, texture and other characteristics of a card unless you hold it.<br /><br />So if you need the slab crutch, you certainly are not alone. But if you want to advance in your knowledge and appreciation of the cards - why isolate yourself from them?<br /><br />If you are uncertain about grades, however, keep them slabbed until that uncertainty goes away. But do not dismiss the enjoyment of a raw card, without recognizing what you opt to isolate yourself from. i.e. once you have handled several 1914 + 1915 CJs, you know the differences. At that point leave 'em slabbed if you care about the further damage you will do to them. Well, this is my recommendation.<br /><br />No spotted owls, inebreated finches nor other wildlife has been harmed in the generation of this post.<br /><br />This is Gilbert Maines, and I approve this message.