Assembling a combined SGC and PSA population report was the first thing that I did when I started to collect the set. My chart is several years old, though.
It helped tremendously to provide me perspective regarding the rarity of cards. At the time, I separated the cards into several categories.....those with populations of 15 and under (buy at any price, in any condition, whenever a card came up for sale), those with populations between 16 and 20 (high priority....may not see for sale again anytime soon), those with populations between 21 and 30, and those with populations greater than 30 (no rush to buy.....would probably see for sale again soon). (remember, these cutoffs were based off populations almost 5 years ago).
I was then able to gauge how much I wanted to spend, based on the likelihood of seeing another one for sale sometime soon. I would be more prone to overspend on a card that I would not see again anytime soon, and be more frugal (or pass) on a card that would be up for sale again next week or next month.
The other aspect that it gave me an appreciation for was the distribution of grades for a particular card that I needed. At the time, the Keating card had a very low population AND many of the graded cards were grade 4 and above. Therefore, I knew that the likelihood of finding a "collector's grade" Keating was even lower than its low population would have dictated.
If you are seriously collecting the set, I think it is imperative to take an afternoon and come up with this chart.
I hope this helps!
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