[bundy462]

Ray,

I personally collect T206 HOFers in PSA grade 4 only. I've occasionally purchased 4s in other TPG holders for tougher backs, but did cross each over to PSA. I'm sure some board members would cringe at the thought or find it silly, but hey...whatever works for you, right? You'll notice most of my BST sales fall into that category. I do this for three reasons.

First, I'm highly obsessive about organization and things being uniform. From work, to home, and now to card collecting. Having every card in the same grade is attractive to me. Whatever the reason, it is satisfying for me and makes collecting enjoyable...for me.

Second, it helps me pace myself in the hunt. If I have a smaller potential set of possible cards out there on the market that fit what I'm collecting, it makes the daily hunt a little more fun, much more challenging...and ultimately takes more time and spreads the bankroll out. Especially since I've started accumulating different backs, it's often months between acquisitions. When I started a few years ago, I was blowing out my "card allowance" literally in minutes each month because there are so many out there.

Third, I'm relatively new to the pre-war world. When I first started, I was buying all T206 and 1933 Goudey in different TPG grades and raw. Coming right in as a new collector and trying to keep all different TPG grades price scales across multiple sets and then throw in raw cards on top of it was simply too much. I found myself making mistakes and also missing out on good deals at times. Focusing on a small group of cards, within a certain set, within a certain grade has really helped me get a hang of the pricing market, making it more of a hobby and less of a job.

The great part about collecting is YOU define YOUR set, and there's tens of thousands of possible ways to go at it.