Do any of you find graded cards convenient for set building/storage?
 

I posted this over on the football board because that is where my collecting bug has taken me, but I wanted to get thoughts from you all here as well. I know baseball sets of the 60s are often much larger than football, so think in terms of smaller baseball sets, not the 598 card sets.

I really don't intend for this to be another tired graded vs. ungraded thread, but in looking at 60s football sets I want to build, I see that many of them are relatively small and manageable, especially compared to many baseball sets from the same period.

I have always liked the idea of a binder but find myself growing a little leary of them when it comes down to actually doing it. I do have a set in a toploader binder and another set in Cardsaver I s in a Unikeep via 4 pocket pages. Both of these set ups are ok but a little clunky at times.

I am not someone who has ever been big into grading, but last year I bought a complete set that was 100% graded and a large partial of another set...again all graded. From a uniformity and storage standpoint, I am surprised to find myself really, really liking it. My emerging OCD likes the way the cards look in the slabs in those white boxes. I can take them out, stack them, lay them out beside each other, flip through them quickly, etc. The cards and their attributes will always be way more important than the holders in which they reside.

I also started looking on the bay at cards from sets I am interested in and found that in some (not all, but some) cases that PSA/SGC 6- 7 or so graded cards are not that much more expensive than their ungraded counterparts. Not interested in registries or anything like that, but I just view slabs as a means of a decent holder for cards and a reasonable means of storage. I know some don't like how heavy graded cards can get. This hasn't been an issue for me.

Anyone else find graded cards convenient for these reasons?

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Slabs and OCD are a good mix.

Don't discount the registry completely. While the competition angle might not appeal to you, consider scanning all of your cards, entering them into the registry, and then creating a digital album. That way, you can sit on your couch (assuming you have a couch) and virtually flip through your cards anytime you want. Here's a link to a digital album. :)

The digital album could be cool I guess, but I am pretty hands on when it comes to looking at my cards/sets. I guess if I didn't want to have 100% graded, I could keep the commons in Cardsaver I s (or toploaders. ..there have been many threads on which is better for long term storage ).

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In my early/mid 50's baseball sets, I have been getting all of my HOFers and higher priced non-HOFers (Martin Hodges, Yankees team card, etc) graded. I do all PSA 6 & 7 and, as you stated above, there is not a ton of difference in the cost of graded vs non-graded. Since I have had mixed results on the actual grade of a raw card (ExMt tends to be about VG/EX - so I have to buy NM raw to get the equivalent of ExMt graded - which makes the cost negligible), I just buy the grade card and I know what I have.

I keep them in clear containers with lids and have them to look at. I make photo copies and put the photo copy in the binder (along with the raw commons of the set) to help me deal with my OCD tendencies.

As I get to older issues and smaller sets, I will probably start buying most, if not all, graded. The 48 Bowman set is 48 cards, PB 41 set is 72 cards, 33 Delong is 24 cards. I can see getting all of these cards in graded examples unless I run across the right deal and the raw cards are in good shape.

Good Luck in your collecting!